In this study, we examine the effect of national culture on managerial decision-making
through the lens of cost stickiness. Recent studies document that managerial discretion in
adjusting resources leads to costs that are “sticky” in that costs respond less to decreases in
activity than to increases in activity. We analyze how different dimensions of societal culture
explain cross-country variation in cost stickiness. Using a sample of firms from 39 countries,
we find that cost stickiness is less pronounced in countries with higher uncertainty …