An Examination of Country and Culture-Based Differences in Compensation Practices

This study explores the relationship between country-based and culture-based differences in pay practices. Pay data from forty-one manufacturing industries in twenty-eight countries across five different culture clusters were examined. Although significant differences were found between countries in terms of pay level, the largest portion of the variance in the relationship between wages and benefits is due to cultural affiliation. The implications for cultural clustering theory and internationally pay decisionmaking are discussed.© 1990 JIBS. Journal of International Business Studies (1990) 21, 667–678