Argumentation Rationality in the German and Korean Automotive Industry

Abstract

To be successful and to gain support by their reference groups, managers back their decisions by arguments. These managerial argumentations mirror the thoroughness of the decision preparation. In short, they reveal the decisions argumentation rationality. Obviously, the argumentation rationality or the thoroughness of the decision preparation, respectively, can vary. Among other things, cultural and institutional factors will impact the level of argumentation rationality in management decisions. Studying Germany and Korea, this paper identifies differences between the two countries with regard to certain aspects of national culture and corporate governance which can be related to decision preparation behavior. Based on this research, hypotheses on the argumentation rationality differences between German and Korean management decisions are developed and tested using data drawn from publicly available accounts. Altogether 356 accounts were selected which report on three types of change actions in the German and Korean automotive industry and were published between 1990 and 1997. Intra- and inter-country analyses were carried out for revealing typical patterns and country-specific differences of argumentation rationality. Inter alia, it turns out that differences between the decision preparation of German and Korean managers cannot be captured in a simple black-white manner. Rather results of comparing argumentation rationality in the two countries vary with the aspects of decision preparation considered and indicate the usefulness of a differentiated perspective on the studied phenomena