Stereotyping in American, British, and Japanese Corporations in Hong Kong and Singapore

Abstract

The auto- and heterostereotypes of 806 local and expatriate managers in 89 American, British, and Japanese companies in Hong Kong and Singapore were compared. Disparities were computed as Euclidean distances to identify similar and dissimilar perceptions of groups, and dissimilarities were further examined by comparison of the stereotype perception profiles. The disparities were also used as dissimilarity data for a multidimensional scaling of the auto- and heterostereotypes, yielding a two-dimensional map of the stereotype profiles that is helpful for summarizing and comparing the profiles. The results and the methodology may be useful to multinational corporations in identifying sources of potential conflict and misunderstanding between different cultural groups working together.