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Organizational culture is widely acknowledged to be a driver of organizational effectiveness. However, existing empirical research tends to focus on investigating the links between individual, isolated culture dimensions and effectiveness outcomes. This approach is at odds with the theoretical roots of organizational culture and does not do justice to the complex reality that most organizations face. This issue is addressed by this dissertation, which is comprised of four studies. Study 1 investigated the psychometric quality and cultural equivalence of three culture measures in a German context, based on a sample of 172 employees in a bank. The results suggested that the German versions of the Denison Organizational Culture Survey and the Organizational Culture Profile performed satisfactorily, while results regarding the GLOBE survey fell short of expectations. The study contributes to facilitating cross-cultural research on organizational culture by providing evidence on instruments that can be applied in international settings, which is an important prerequisite for investigating relationships between culture and effectiveness in an increasingly globalized economy. Study 2 reviewed the literature on the link between culture and effectiveness with a focus on studies that treat organizational culture as a holistic phenomenon. The review yielded four kinds of holistic approaches (aggregation-based, agreement-based, moderation- or mediation-based, and configuration-based). For each approach, main findings, theoretical foundations, and specific avenues for future research are provided. Study 3 investigated how a change in organizational culture induced by an M&A project impacts employee commitment. Based on a sample of 180 employees in a German organization, the findings suggest that individuals perceive cultural change differently, that cultural stability is positively related to employee commitment, and that group-level leader-member exchange and individual self-efficacy moderate this relationship. The study thus contributes to the literature by enabling a better understanding of how cultural change affects employee-related effectiveness factors and by illuminating important contextual factors at the group and the individual level. Study 4 introduced a new theoretical perspective (set theory) and a novel methodology (fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis) to the field of organizational culture. Across two samples (1170 employees in a financial service provider and 998 employees in fashion retailer), results indicated that culture dimensions do not operate in isolation, but jointly work together in achieving different effectiveness outcomes. The study offers new theoretical and methodological impulses for investigating the culture-effectiveness link. In sum, this dissertation contributes to the literature by providing novel insights that can help researchers to analyze the relationship between organizational culture and effectiveness in a manner that acknowledges both the complexities of organizational reality and of organizational culture´s theoretical roots. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and promising directions for future research are identified.
