University of Twente Student Theses
Team members' agile values and behaviours : A cross-cultural study in Italian and Dutch organisations
Marini, Francesca (2024) Team members' agile values and behaviours : A cross-cultural study in Italian and Dutch organisations.
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Abstract: | While most studies have examined the impact of organizational culture on agile methodologies, fewer have analysed the influence of national culture on agile practices, typically using Hofstede’s framework to study single cultures. However, this framework entails several limitations, such as the assumption that individual values derive from national culture ones. Therefore, this thesis addresses the literature gap by exploring the effects of Dutch and Italian national cultures on agile values and behaviours, by adopting Schwartz’s framework. A concurrent mixed-method approach was employed, simultaneously incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative component involved semi-structured interview to 8 Italian and 8 Dutch participants. Only interviewees who worked agile for at least one year were selected. During the interviews a more quantitative approach has been used, namely the Q-Methodology; interviewees were asked to rank a predefined set of agile values and behaviours according to their importance. Dutch and Italian participants were first interviewed about their individual values based on Schwartz's framework and their experiences with agile methodologies. In the second part of the interviews, participants ranked agile values and behaviours according to their perceived importance using the Q-sort methodology. The findings reveal minimal differences between Italian and Dutch participants in terms of Basic Human Values, with Italian respondents showing slightly higher Self-Enhancement values. Similarly, the rankings of agile values and behaviours were not significantly different between the two groups. Quantitative analysis identified four statistically significant items, namely: Altruism, Being physically present, Visualising status and progress, Making decisions autonomously. However, qualitative insights suggest these differences are influenced more by boundary conditions such as individual roles, team maturity, and sector-specific and organizational characteristics and national culture. The observed similarities between the two groups can be explained by social identity theory, which posits that individuals tend to align with the values and behaviours of a specific group to which they belong. In this case, agile team members prioritize agile culture over their national culture, underscoring the distinct identity of agile teams compared to standard teams. |
Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
Subject: | 85 business administration, organizational science |
Programme: | Business Administration MSc (60644) |
Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/100553 |
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