The Influence of Power Distance on Top and Middle Managers’ Strategy Communication: An Insight from Kuwaiti Context

We examine the role of power distance in regulating strategy communication practice among top and middle managers from a social practice perspective. We argue that power distance cannot be treated as a material factor that can be controlled and easily measured beyond the organisation boundary; rather, it is the accumulation of social interactions between organisational members that needs to be internally understood. Based on a single case study with 27 interviews drawn from a public sector organisation in Kuwait, we find that strengthening the communication practice among organisational members and aligning both individual- and group-level cognition are key drivers for the successful communication of strategy in public sector organisations. Furthermore, we found that in a high power distance culture, the most powerful individuals make decisions in a dictatorial manner. Equally, organisations with high power distance cultures are prone to deliberate mismanagement and high cultural tension. Our exploration therefore pushes the field forward by enriching the under-researched area of power distance and the cognitive understanding of social practice.