Integration Approach&Performance In Cross-border M&As:The Role of Social Exchange Processes

Previous research tends to assign low cross-border M&A performance to strategic and financial factors. We compliment previous analyses by using social exchange constructs to explore the link between integration approach and post- acquisition performance. The analysis also considers the role of context by incorporating Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to explain differences in employees’ desired identity-supporting resources. Using four of Hofstede’s dimensions, we identify when an integration approach results in a match/mismatch between the employees’ desired identity-supporting resources and those actually provided by the organization. The match/mismatch impacts post-acquisition performance through its effect on the acquired firm’s employees’ post-acquisition job performance and organizational commitment via trust and perceptions of organizational support. Perceived psychological contract violation moderates the relationship between a match/mismatch and perceptions of organizational support. Levels of anal...