Effect of South Korean Corporate Culture on Employees at Subsidiary Firms in China

Abstract

This paper investigates the organizational culture of subsidiary South Korean companies operating in China as defined by Denison’s (1984, 1990) four “traits” of involvement, consistency, adaptability and mission. During the summer of 2016, a survey was conducted with indigenous employees working for South Korean companies in China to measure respondents’ views, beliefs and values regarding Denison’s organizational culture traits and their relationship to the respondents’ organizational “commitments” of job performance, job satisfaction and job retention. A total of 373 responses were collected. Path analysis was used to test the effects of the four independent traits variables on the three dependent commitments variables. The results provide evidence that organizational culture (based on Denison’s four traits) is measurable and correlates with the given job outcomes.