National culture: Its impact on public administration in American Samoa

The purpose of this study was to help public administrators become more effective managers by enhancing their understanding of cultural influences derived from the environment in which their organizations are embedded. An investigation of the impact of national culture on public administration was the primary goal of the study. The study site was the American Samoa Community College (ASCC) located on the island of Tutuila, American Samoa. American Samoa is a United States Territory and a Pacific island country with its own Polynesian language and culture, known as the faa-Samoa.; This exploratory study utilized a qualitative research design. Employing the critical incident technique, 100% of the ASCC public administrators (total of 41) were interviewed with a set a forty-four questions. In addition, data was collected from two student focus groups and documents review. Content analysis and ethnographic focused coding were the methods used to analyze the raw data. For its pragmatic value, the empirical data was reviewed using Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal's four frames theoretical framework. The three study objectives were: (1) to examine American Samoa's national culture; (2) to obtain empirical evidence of both positive and negative cultural influences at the workplace; and (3) to review the empirical data utilizing the four frames of Bolman and Deal's Theoretical Model for pragmatic reasons.; According to the study respondents, the national culture of American Samoa is comprised of both the American culture and the faa-Samoa. Moreover, the traditional values of faa-Samoa, such as the matai system, were considered as important to them as the values they considered American, such as higher educational opportunities and modern technology. The study findings indicated that American Samoa's national culture had both positive and negative influences on ASCC's entire organization. When viewed from Bolman and Deal's four frames, the empirical evidence confirmed the effects of cultural influences of American culture and the faa-Samoa on the human resources, structural, political, and symbolic domains.; Bolman and Deal's four frames theory was strongly endorsed by ASCC public administrators as a practical and comprehensive tool for understanding the impact of cultural influences on an organization.