Culture's consequences for emotional attending during cross-border acquisition implementation

Building on psychology research about culture's influences on emotional expressions and experiences, I considered culture's consequences for acquirers’ emotional attending during post-merger integration. Analyses of cross-border acquisitions by multinational companies from the United States showed support for a subtle role of culture – on the one hand, cultural differences constrain emotional attending during post-merger integration; on the other hand, when acquisitions are made in cultures that are characterized by more humane orientation, U.S. acquirers seem to adapt to this local context and showed more emotional attending than in less humane-oriented cultures. The findings further suggest that these effects depend on an acquirer's multiculturalism.