This paper explores post-acquisition cultural
change following international acquisitions. Despite the acknowledged
complexity of the cultural encounter in acquisitions, less is known
about cultural change following acquisitions by global organizations
where a tension between espoused vs. practiced cultures co-exists. Our
study leads us to identify the drivers, outcomes and directions of
post-acquisition cultural change amid such contexts. In contrast to a
seemingly singular, monolithical perspective, we present
post-acquisition cultural change as a dyadic, bipolar process, whereby
acquired firms cohabit the space between espoused and practiced values.
Reflecting the acquirer’s cultural regime, targets align with either the
acquirer’s espoused or practiced culture. Further, whereas previous
research parallels cultural change with explicit initiatives, we find
that cultural change results from all post-acquisition integration
activity. Given the power of practiced over espoused culture, the
findings call for recognition that in global organizations leveraging
culture goes beyond leveraging values only. The findings are based on a
large-scale qualitative research program, wherein eight international
acquisitions conducted by four Finnish, globally-operating industrial
acquirers were studied, totalling 166 interviews.