Cultural differences in implicit theories of citizenship performance: A comparative study of MBA students from the Czech Republic, India and the United States.

The purpose of the present research was to (a) develop a culturally-universal measure of implicit citizenship performance theories and (b) examine cross-cultural differences in the construct. The final measure consisted of four factors---Discourtesy, Interpersonal Harmony, Conscientiousness, and Initiative. Cross-country comparisons using the new measure revealed differences in interpersonal harmony, conscientiousness, and initiative between the American (N = 312), Czech ( N = 160), and Indian (N = 195) participants. Country-level collectivism accounted for variation in implicit theories of interpersonal harmony and conscientiousness, and country-level power distance accounted for variation in implicit theories of interpersonal harmony and initiative. The present findings question the assumption that job performance is a culturally universal construct and suggest that some behaviors constituting the job performance domain may be perceived more or less desirable depending on one's culture.