The success of a productivity intervention may depend on the fit between the intervention and the country in which it is implemented. In particular, a country's horizontal collectivism may influence the intervention's effectiveness. Results based on a database of 90 organizational units from seven different countries in which ProMES, a productivity intervention, was implemented indicated that in general, ProMES is more successful in some European countries than in the United States. Furthermore, results indicate that this effect may be due to an interaction between power distance and social collectivism. The degree of collectivism plays an important role in predicting whether ProMES succeeds in countries with relatively low power distance. In countries that score relatively high in power distance, the intervention succeeds regardless of the degree of collectivism. Lastly, whether a country's level of uncertainty avoidance has implications for the success of ProMES is also explored. Implications are discussed.
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