A multi-country, multi-sector replication challenge to the validity of the cultural tightness-looseness measure

• Published in: Asia Pacific journal of management Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 735 - 764
• Main Authors: Treviño, Len J., Egri, Carolyn P., Ralston, David A., Naoumova, Irina, Furrer, Olivier, Li, Yongjuan, Darder, Fidel León, de la Garza Carranza, María Teresa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business and Management; College students; Cultural differences; Discriminant analysis; Management; Teachers; Validity; Mexico; Netherlands; United States > US; China; Russia; Spain; Cross-cultural research; Cultural tightness-looseness measure; Measurement issues; Validation study
• ISSN: 0217-4561; 1572-9958
• DOI: 10.1007/s10490-019-09682-0

In this study, we assess the internal and external validity of Gelfand et al.’s ( 2011 ) recently developed measure of cultural tightness-looseness (CTL). Our study is composed of six countries (China, Mexico, Netherlands Russia, Spain, U.S.) with three subsamples (business professionals, K-12 teachers, college students) per country. For these 18 subsamples, confirmatory factor analyses failed to support the unidimensional structure of the 6-item CTL measure. Exploratory factor analyses provided further evidence that the 6-item CTL measure does not have a unidimensional structure across cultures. Additionally, inter-rater agreement analyses did not support the use of aggregated scores to construct country-level scores for the CTL index. We also found that country rankings of CTL scores (in total and for subsamples) were substantively different from those reported by Gelfand et al. ( 2011 ). Further country-level correlation analyses yielded mixed support for the external validity of the CTL scores. We conclude with a commentary on the implications of our study for cross-cultural research.