Week 3 - cultural dimensions

Question 1

model of influence of culture (3)

Answer 1

o Culture: dimension, norms, values, ideology, belief system
o Individual: personality, feeling, thinking, attitude, intentions
o E-WOM communication: genre, conventions, language use

Question 2

iceberg model

Answer 2

surface and deep culture

Question 3

proxemics

Answer 3

people from different cultures perceive space differently

Question 4

monochronic culture

Answer 4

order, schedules, promptness

Question 5

polychronic culture

Answer 5

multiple things happen at once, stress completion of transactions

Question 6

high-context culture

Answer 6

communication is implicit and relies heavily on context

value harmony, hierarchical values, indirect communication, non-verbal cues, person’s background

Question 7

low-context culture

Answer 7

explicit verbal communication

value honesty, assertiveness, candidness, direct pattern of speech

Question 8

contextualisation communication style

Answer 8

continuum

Question 9

points of criticism: Hall (6)

Answer 9

o	Research method
	Qualitative: observations, anecdotal evidence
•	Often based on one specific case
	Method not documented
o	Concepts
	Somewhat ambiguous
	Dimensions are not exhaustive per se
	Lack of comparative quantitative data
	Limited validation

Question 10

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (6)

Answer 10

o Power distance (index)
o Individualism – collectivism (dichotomy)
o Masculinity – femininity (dichotomy)
o Uncertainty avoidance (index)
o Long term orientation – short term normative orientation (dichotomy)
o Indulgence – restraint (dichotomy)

Question 11

Hofstede’s onion

Answer 11

o You have to work through the layers to get to the core
o Layers: symbols, heroes, rituals, practices
 Symbols: words, clothing, hairstyle, gesture, pictures
 Heroes: people (alive or dead, real or imaginary) that have high value
 Rituals: greetings, social and religious ceremonies, the way you serve tea
 Values: honest, good, clean
 Practices: give outsiders insight into the symbols, heroes and rituals to learn about their values

Question 12

individualism vs collectivism

Answer 12

whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of I or we

Question 13

masculinity vs femininity

Answer 13

 Masculinity: preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success, society is more competitive
 Femininity: preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life

Question 14

long term vs short term normative orientation (LTO)

Answer 14

 Long: pragmatic approach, encourage thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future
 Short: maintain time-honoured traditions and norms, view societal change with suspicion

Question 15

indulgence vs restraint

Answer 15

 Indulgence: free gratification of basic and natural human drives (enjoying life and having fun)
 Restraint: suppression of gratification of needs, regulated by strict social norms

Question 16

power distance index

Answer 16

degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally

Question 17

uncertainty avoidance index

Answer 17

degree to which members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity
 Strong UAI: rigid codes of belief and behaviour, intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas
 Weak UAI: more relaxed attitude, practice counts more than principles

Question 18

how did Hofstede come up with the dimensions?

Answer 18

actual research (contrary to Hall): survey

Question 19

points of criticism: Hofstede

Answer 19

cultural attribution error
o Culture =/= nation =/= language
o National culture =/= homogeneous
o One company approach
o Outdated data collection (1966): culture does not stand still
o Limited questionnaire
o In-built western bias (dimensions are chosen from a western point of view)

Question 20

cultural attribution error

Answer 20

Fallacy of cultural attribution: I encounter a difference, therefore this is a cultural difference

Question 21

consequences of criticism Hofstede (5)

Answer 21

o Take the dimensions as hypotheses, not necessarily as explanatory factors
o Be aware of points of criticism and mention them
o Always express findings in terms of relativity
 Relative terms: in culture X there is more Y than in culture Z
o Making many observations instead of only one
 Corpus survey
 Large sample
o One swallow does not a summer make: one expression does not a culture make

Question 22

Hall (1980)

Answer 22

cultural dimensions: monochronic vs polychronic and high vs low-context cultures

Question 23

Hofstede (1981; 200)

Answer 23

six cultural dimensions

onion

Question 24

Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey (1988)

Answer 24

communication styles in relation to the cultural dimensions

Question 25

learning a culture (5)

Answer 25

o	Values and norms are learned via language
o	What is important?
	Politeness, roles, guilt, correctness
o	Who is important?
	Parents, peers, outsiders
o	How is this importance emphasised?
	Inside group, outside, intimate, private, public, formal, informal
o	Where is this importance emphasised?
	School, home, work, media

Question 26

style

Answer 26

verbal interaction style reflect and embody the affective, moral and aesthetic patterns of a cultures
contextualizes how messages should be interpreted

Question 27

four communicative styles

Answer 27

direct vs indirect
succinct vs elaborate (vs exacting)
personal vs contextual
instrumental vs affective

Question 28

direct vs indirect

Answer 28

 Direct: speaker formulates goals, intentions and wishes explicitly
• Explicit, precise, to the point, categorical
• ‘I’ takes first place
 Indirect: more implicit phrasing of goals and intentions
• Implicit, ambiguous, modest
• ‘I’ is not expressed

Question 29

succinct vs elaborate vs exacting

Answer 29

 Elaborate: flowery language
• Flowery, rich, expressive
• Many comparisons, many adjectives, many repetitions, ritual language use, exaggerations, intensifications, creativity
 Succinct: understatements, pauses, silence
• Concise
• Sometimes less than needed, understatements, pauses, silences
 Exacting: speaker’s contribution contains neither more nor less information than is required
• Precise
• No more, no less than necessary

Question 30

personal vs contextual

Answer 30

 Personal: emphasis on expression of sender’s identity via personal pronouns and adverbs of place and time
• Preferred in egalitarian society
 Contextual: emphasis on prescribed role relations, not everything is explicit, much can be deduced from the context
• Reflects hierarchy/asymmetrical relations

Question 31

instrumental vs affective

Answer 31

 Instrumental: goal-oriented and sender-oriented language
 Affective: receiver-oriented and process-oriented
• Sender and receiver are working together

Question 32

Direct vs indirect language + low vs high-context + individualism vs collectivism

Answer 32

• Direct: individualism + low-context

* Indirect: collectivism + high-context

Question 33

Succinct vs elaborate (vs exacting) + low vs high-context + uncertainty avoidance

Answer 33

• Succinct: high-context + high uncertainty avoidance -> high apprehension level of unpredictable situations
o Novel situations: understatements and silence to manage the situation
• Elaborate: high-context + middle/moderate uncertainty avoidance -> fight-flight camouflaging verbal style to approach uncertainty situations
• Exacting: low-context + low uncertainty avoidance -> exacting and up-front, authentic and honest

Question 34

Personal vs contextual style + power distance

Answer 34

• Personal style: low power distance

* Contextual style: high power distance

Question 35

Instrumental vs affective style + individualism vs collectivism + low vs high-context

Answer 35

• Instrumental: individualism + low-context

* Affective: collectivism + high-context

Question 36

predictions by Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey (1988)

Answer 36

o Cultural dimensions: individualism vs collectivism
 Communication style: instrumental vs affective
 Communication style: direct vs indirect
o Cultural dimensions: power distance
 Communication style: personal vs contextual
o Cultural dimensions: uncertainty avoidance
 Communication style: succinct vs elaborate
o Cultural dimensions: high-context vs low-context
 Communication style: instrumental vs affective
 Communication style: direct vs indirect
 Communication style: succinct vs elaborate

Question 37

conclusion Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey (1988) (3)

Answer 37

o Language styles are mainly qualitative in nature
o All styles occur everywhere, but are preferred differently
o More theoretical and empirical work in intercultural teams are needed, including research into specific language situations (genres)

Question 38

black box in Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey (1988)

Answer 38

model of influence of culture

Question 39

criticism Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey (1988) (8)

Answer 39

o Cultural attribution error
o Overlap in dimensions (i.e. confounds)
o Unclear definitions of dimensions, linking language expression styles
o Tendentious, not based on empirical research
o The chapter is written from a North American point of view
o Most studies mentioned were based on qualitative research
o Hofstede’s dimensions are based on outdated, company-specific data
o Communication may be different nowadays e.g., social media has made communication more accessible

Question 40

armchair approach

Answer 40

research method
o	Secondary literature
o	No empirical research
o	Only anecdotal evidence
o	No empirical basis besides reasoning

Question 41

cultural dimensions may impact communicative style, but what remains?

Answer 41

variation with respect to genre or individual style