Organizational Impacts of New Communication Technology: A Comparison of Cellular Phone Adoption in France and the United States

Abstract

This study tests the multicultural applicability of Huber’s technological imperative framework by comparing the effects of the adoption of a new telecommunication technology, cellular phones, on the behavior of the sales force in several industry sectors in France and the U.S. The study investigates three areas of interest. First, the study finds that, though the sales strategies are the same in both countries, the actual behavior of the sales force to attain these strategic goals differs. Second, a comparison of these differences with the variables in Huber’s theory shows that the differences in the variables are consistent with the sales representative behavior in the two countries. Third, the study asks what effect the use of cell phones has had on sales force behavior. Analysis on all the data combined shows the predicted results of new technology adoption—a shortening of decision-making time occurs in both countries. When the data is stratified by country, however, changes in variables in the U.S. support Huber’s theory, those from France do not. These results indicate a cultural bias in the generation of theory that has important implications for cross-cultural research.