A configurational and experimental approach to compare British and Chinese cultural profiles of generation Y

This paper provides new activity-based classifications for cultural differences and similarities, in contrast to the cultural dimensions of hierarchy, group behavior, uncertainty avoidance and timeorientation.
Cultural activity types have been classified by Lewis (1999) into linear-active, multiactive
and reactive cultures. Moving away from a country perspective based on political boundaries to
a cultural community approach, it is not only task-orientation, but also the way cultures communicate, negotiate, and contract that is dominated by activity types. This article conceptualize, hypothesize and test observations with a set-theoretic tool (fsQCA). Our analysis focuses primarily on British and Chinese cultural profiles to start with. This should give us an initial approach towards understanding the similarities, differences and overlaps of cultural behavior. The outcome shows that future managers from Britain and China have more similarities than so far portrayed. Cultural dynamics are at the centre of a cooperative outlook towards managing across cultures.