Chapter 4: Dimensions of Culture (Global Marketing and Advertising)
Key
Things that were underlined and starred in the chapter will be highlighted in yellow
My commentary on some things will be highlighted in blue
I organize my notes very vertically, it typically goes heading → subtopic → stuff relating/building off the subtopic
I’m not exactly consistent w capitalization, pls bear w me idk what i’m doing either
Introduction
When companies find two different nations with similar purchasing power buy products differently, companies examine the culture
In Europe, differences in mineral water sales can be explained by the culture (they do not go into this)
I’m assuming its also like how companies have different packaging for different countries or something
“not-invented-here syndrome”
Classifying Cultures
“Cultures are described according to their descriptive characteristics”
Cultures are best described by expressions like metaphors apparently.
French wine, the Russian ballet, the Italian opera, Spanish bullfights, Japanese gardens
Dimensions of National Culture
Ronald Inglehart (leads the World Values Survey) arranges the world in two broad categories
“traditional” v “secular-rational”
“quality of life” (ranging from “survival” to “well-being”)
An early analysis was by Alex Inkeles and Daniel Levinson determined common basic problems worldwide:
a) a relationship to authority b) concept of self c) primary dilemmas of conflict and dealing with them (whatever the fuck that means)
Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck proposed five value orientations on the basis of their investigations of small communities
a) perception of good and evil, b) relationship between man and environment, c) time orientation, d) orientation to environment (being and doing), e) hierarchical v individualistic
Later recognized by Fons Trompenaars presented these theories as several values: universalism-particularism, achievement-ascription, individualism-collectivism, emotional-neutral, specific-diffuse, time orientation, and orientation to nature
He was not useful cus u can’t create data from his categories
Fiske proposed four forms of sociability that occur across cultures:
1. communal sharing, 2. authority ranking, 3. equality matching, 4. market pricing
Edward Hall distinguished patterns of culture according to context, space, time, and information flow.
Hall did not develop country scores, but context orientation related to individualism-collectivism, one of Hofstede’s dimensions
Models Applied to Cross-Cultural Marketing and Advertising
Dutch scholar Geert Hofstede was the first who developed 5 independent dimensions of national culture
power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long/short-term orientation
indulgence/restraint was added later
Israeli psychologist Shalom Schwartz developed seven values viewed as three dimensions (viewed as ends of a spectrum, the book refers to it as poles)
embeddedness v intellectual and affective autonomy, hierarchy v egalitarianism, and mastery v harmony
The most recent large scale dimensional model is GLOBE developed by Robert House.
Searched for dimensions similar to Hofstede’s model and developed questions relating to them
Came up w/ nine cultural dimensions (with the same labels as Hofstede’s but different meanings??)
uncertainty avoidance, power distance, two types of collectivism, gender egalitarianism, assertiveness, future orientation, performance orientation, and humane orientation
Hofstede’s model was developed from empirical data, GLOBE was developed on basic ideas
Minkov describes an analyzes dimensional models and defined three dimensions
exclusionism v universalism (like individualism-collectivism), monumentalism v flexumility, and indulgence v restraint
flexumility: A portmanteaux of flexibility and humility. it did not explain this, i had to look it up
indulgence was added to Hofstede’s database bc of Minkov
Later Minkov added another dimension: hypometropia (shortsightedness) v prudence, and renamed indulgence v restraint to industry v indulgence
All models overlap a little but have distinct features
The explanatory value in each dimensional model varies, they don’t all equally contribute
High-Context and Low-Context Cultures
Hall distinguishes cultures according to degrees of context in communication
high-context communication is fast, very little is made explicit
Ex: Japan, China, Korea, “Most Asian cultures”
“an unknown high-context culture can be completely mystifying, because symbols not known to the observer play such an important role”
low context communication has the meaning explicitly in the code of the message
Ex: The United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, “More Western cultures”
“The Western world has had a long tradition of rhetoric that places central importance on the delivery of verbal messages” (this is underlined but i could not tell you what this means in context)
In advertising, argumentation and rhetoric are found in more low-context cultures, while symbolism and indirect verbal expressions are found in more high-context cultures
Hofstede suggested a correlation between collectivism and high-context cultures
Dimensions of Time
Different cultures have different concepts of time
Western advertisers use clocks in their international advertising to symbolize efficiency
Clocks are not recognized as symbols of efficiency in cultures with a different sense of time
Hall distinguishes different types of time: biological time (day-night, summer-winter), personal time (how time is experienced, and sync time (how every culture views time)
Closure
Americans are driven to achieve “closure,” meaning that a task must be completed or it is seen “wasted.”
American novels or films always have a “happy ending,” including solutions to problems, but conclusions like that are rare in Japanese novels.
Time Orientation Towards the Past, Present, or Future
Okay so it seems like there’s two forms of orientation here (short term v long term and then past term v present term v future term) but they’re actually the same thing referring to a principle of Hofstede’s (long-term v short-term orientation). They didn’t explain it in this section so I’m explaining it here
“Long Term Orientation stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular, perseverance and thrift. Its opposite pole Short Term Orientation, stands for the fostering of virtues related to the past and present, in particular, respect for tradition, preservation of 'face,' and fulfilling social obligations" (Hofstede, 2001, p. 359).”
Long-term/future-term basically values traditions and long-term goals
Short-term/past & present-term doesn’t really hold traditions as that importance and looks for “near-instant gratification” with successes (career promotions rather than long term wealth for generations)
North Americans tend to be future oriented (the future guides present action).
Their time horizon is short-term (The old is discarded, the new is embraced.)
Many Europeans are past oriented (believe in preserving history and past traditions)
Japan has a very long term future time horizon like China, but China looks to the past for inspiration.
China tends to combine both past and future into one holistic view of life (reverence for forefathers, long-term responsibility for future generations
Destiny is an aspect of time referring to the future
Most cultures in sub-Saharan Africa are short-term oriented
“the concept of time is simply a composition of events that have occurred, events that are taking place now, and events that are immediately to occur. The future is absent because events which lie in it have not taken place.”
Generally most Latin American cultures are short-term oriented.
Time as Linear of Circular
Asian culture sees time as circular, Western culture sees time as linear
The concept of linear time causes people to see time as compartmentalized, schedule dominated
beginning, turning point, climax, and end
They talk about Japan’s time being circular but I can’t make heads or tails of whatever they mean but it’s underlined so here it is in its entirety
“In Japan, time is not circular and is related to the special meaning of seasons. Japanese time thinking is not in terms of today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. The seasons form an automatic, upward spiral; everything returns automatically. Saying ‘back to the old values’ in Japan does not imply a step backward but a step forward. It means progressing through an upward spiral, using what was good in the past for progress.”
Monochronic and Polychronic Time
Hall distinguishes between monochronic and polychronic time cultures
Monochronic cultures do one thing at a time
organized and methodical
days are structured to do one thing after the other
ex: Germany
Polychronic cultures do things simultaneously
“time is more like an never-ending ocean, extending in every directions”
ex: Spain, Pakistan, South America
In Japan, work is on monochronic time but personal life is on polychronic time
Cause and Effect
“Things don’t just happen. Something makes them happen.”
appears a lot in North America
Symbolic and mystical explanations of events are not accepted
often results in suboptimization
In China, cause and results don’t have to follow each other
Japan uses a “holistic cause-and-effect model that takes into account a multitude of causes that have a joint effect” whatever that means
Relationship of Man with Nature
There are three types of relationships between humanity and nature
mastery over nature (man is to conquer nature)
harmony with nature (man is to live in harmony with nature)
subjugation to nature (man is dominated by nature)
North American relationship to nature is that it should be conquered and controlled for human convenience
For North Americans, “to move a mountain” is not a metaphor for the impossible, but rather an optimistic challenge.
harmony with nature draws no distinction between human life, nature and the supernatural
Japan
Many African cultures are dominated by nature
supernatural forces play a dominant role
the belief that nothing can be done to control nature
The Three Major Large-Scale Dimensional Models
The purpose of Hofstede’s model was to understand the differences in work motivations of all level employees caused by the nationalities of the employees
Shwartz was a psychologist, so his model focuses on how societies differ
House, initiator of GLOBE was interested in effectiveness of leadership styles
“He wanted to find out if charismatic leader behavior was universally acceptable and effective”
Samples of the models of the models were different
Hofstede matched groups of employees in seven occupational categories from one company in 66 countries
doing it in one company, he “eliminated influence of corporate culture” (which i don’t believe for a second)
Schwartz used students and teachers across 54 countries
GLOBE surveyed middle managers in food processing, financial services and telecom services in 62 societies
They all asked different questions
Both GLOBE and Shwartz in question refer to society where respondents live
Hofstede asked respondents for personal behavioral preferences
Schwartz asked respondents for the guiding principles in their lives with respect to social issues
The GLOBE researchers asked respondents to report on how things were actually done in their society and how they should be done
Continuing on with GLOBE copying Hofstede’s homework and doing it a lil different, Hofstede used terms called practices and values which are expressions of culture (“the "hardware" of values that can be viewed as the "software" of the mind”)
GLOBE’s “values” are norms
Description of Dimensional Models
Hofstede's label individualism-collectivism can be used as an umbrella term for the various values covered by comparable dimensions of the other models.
Schwartz autonomy-embeddedness
GLOBE institutional and in-group collectivism measures
The term power distance measures values related to people’s relationships with elders or authority and dependence values
called power distance in Hofstede and GLOBE
Hofstede’s and GLOBEs are different. GLOBE’s about control of others, not expectations of authority
called hierarchy v egalitarianism in Schwartz
It mentions long term v short term orientation but I went over it earlier
GLOBE calls it future orientation
Several dimensions measure differences of degrees of assertiveness, performance orientation of people, and relationships between men and women
Hofstede’s masculinity-femininity dimension measures both assertiveness or achievement orientation v quality of life as well as role differences between males and females in a society
Schwartz’s mastery pole of his dimension mastery-harmony overlaps some with masculinity-femininity w both measuring assertiveness and ambition
Does not cover the role differences between genders
GLOBE’s gender egalitarianism dimension measures equal opportunity between genders
GLOBE’s assertiveness dimension measures how much individuals in organizations or societies are assertive, dominant and aggressive in social relationships
also relates to a direct (low-context) communication style
Japan scores low on this but high on masculinity-femininity
GLOBE’s performance orientation also relates to this.
High-performance oriented cultures value education, emphasize results, take the initiative and prefer low-context communication
Japan and Korea score high in this, but their culture is not low-context
Both Hofstede and GLOBE use the term “uncertainty avoidance” but they mean much different things and have a reverse correlational relationship
Hofstede’s is the extent to which people feel threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity and try to avoid those situations
GLOBE’s dimension is a variance of collectivism, with high interest in in-groups and lack of interest in out-groups
“defined as the extent to which members of collectives seek orderliness, consistency, structure, formalized procedures, and laws to cover situations in their daily lives”
Minkov added a 6th dimension to Hofstede’s model called indulgence v restraint (IVR)
Indulgence also includes degree of happiness in people’s experience, the control people have over their lives, and the importance of leisure
Low IVR includes buying something only if really needed, High IVR includes paying more for extra quality and overconsumption on the latest things
GLOBE dimension humane orientation is the degree to which an organization or society encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, friendly, generous, caring, and kind to others.
The Explanatory Function of Dimensions
Magnusson, Wilson et al. analyzed several models like the ones listed above
They found that Schwartz and GLOBE suck at predicting markets.
Hofstede’s model is the most useful for business
I’m so tired of hearing abt Hofstede so I’m going to cut a lot of fat out of the next few. I’m not gonna highlight cus everything would be highlighted so just read everything
Individualism-Collectivism
There are more than 100 competing models for measuring individualism-collectivism and the same label is used for many conceptual variations
One of the reasons for variations is the area they’re studying (east v west, America v Europe, ethnic group v ethnic group)
Most important dimension for understanding differences in communication
In individualistic cultures, people look after themselves and their immediate family
in collectivist cultures, people belong to in groups which look after them in exchange for loyalty
more explicit communication in individualist cultures, communication in in group in collectivist cultures is less explicit
The roots of individualism is in England
between 70% and 80% of the worlds population is more or less collectivist
Only the “Anglo-Saxon” world is individualistic
“Americans, more than most, seem dominated by the need to shape other people in their own image.”
Americans individualistic and achievement oriented, Danes are individualistic but less oriented toward success and more to social justice
For sales, individualistic want to get to the point fast, collectivists want to build a relationship first
Individualism is linked to wealth
Power Distance
Power distance measures how less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally
High power distance cultures accept hierarchy more
Asian, Latin American, and African countries score high on power distance and Anglo-Saxon world scores low
In high power distance cultures, status symbols are very important (luxury brands, scotch whiskey)
in low power distance cultures, children are raised to be independent and are seen more as equals
low power distance cultures play more sports
the “rightful-place concept implies that in high power distant cultures, being the number one brand is important.
better to enter the market early in high power distance
brands have easier time in low power distance cultures w a “we try harder” approach
degree of power distance decreases w education
the relative power distance differences between countries are not expected to change
low power distance read the news more than high power distance and use the internet more
Long/Short-Term Orientation
in short term oriented cultures people are more religious, with a belief that god will solve their problems regardless of what they do themselves
short term cultures are more oral with communication while long term are more literate and rely on written communication
Facebook is most popular in the short-term oriented cultures
long term oriented people are more price conscious
short term cultures parents guide their children with internet usage, long term less so
procrastination in favor of short term pleasurable activities is an aspect of short term orientation
China
pragmatism tends to overrule respect for tradition
Mao had all books destroyed and 463 philosophers buried alive in attempt to remove traditional Confucian thought from the collective Chinese memory
The emperor died after 11 years, and the scriptures of Confucius and other philosophers, which had been memorized, were reissued
pragmatism in accepting foreign habits in China has a limitation.
“Good ideas applicable to China must be promoted; corrupted and inapplicable ideas must be discarded”
Assertiveness and Male-Female Roles
Machismo and the masculinity concept are not the same.
they both can be associated w chauvinism, aggression and hypermasculinity it can also be associated with dignity, honor, responsibility and treating others with respect
Assertive societies are viewed as dominant, as are masculine cultures
The US is an assertive culture
Assertiveness can be associated with direct communication
Both feminine cultures and those that score high on gender egalitarianism use the internet more
in more feminine cultures, people don’t wanna stand out
Tylenol commercial aired in America where woman gets employee of the month 11 times in a row because she never missed a day
Femininity explains a 52% variance of the proportion of men who spend time on shopping activities
women be shopping
If advertising doesn’t reflect the right male-female roles, it doesn’t work well
US researchers are reluctant to use the masculinity dimension
Can be referred to as the “gender of nations” or “tough v tender”
Uncertainty Avoidance
reminder that Hofstede’s and GLOBEs uncertainty avoidance are different
In cultures with strong uncertainty avoidance (high on index) in Hofstede’s, they need rules and structure and believe in experts
more interested in how things work than the results
higher level of anxiety
more intolerance and distrust
GLOBE’s dimension is more a variance of collectivism
“the extent to which members of collectives seek orderliness, consistency, structure, formalized procedures, and laws to cover situations in their daily lives”
more society focuses than individual uncertainty
Hofstede’s dimension points at consumers adapting to new technologies, GLOBE’s doesn’t
Cultures with high uncertainty avoidance have higher standards for who is considered an expert
In Europe, with increased wealth and improved quality of tap water, there’s a correlation between mineral water consumption and uncertainty avoidance
in higher uncertainty avoidance cultures, mineral water is advertised for purity
high uncertainty culture’s focus on health is on purity of food and drink and using more medication
low uncertainty focus on fitness and sports
strong uncertainty avoidance + individualism = rules are explicit and written
strong uncertainty avoidance + collectivism = rules are implicit and rooted in tradition
uncertainty avoidance influencing upholding and saving “face” as does individualism
risk avoidance is not included in this dimension
It mentions indulgence v restraint but everything covered I alr wrote down
Summary
Classifying cultures is necessary to understand the differences between them
The Hofstede model has proven to be most useful for comparing cultures with respect to consumption-related values and communication
Reading Guide Questions:
Fill in the blank: When companies find differences in sales or product usage across countries with similar purchasing power, they should examine the exploratory function of culture.
Explain the difference between high-context and low-context cultures. Which parts of the world tend to be high-context and which parts tend to be low-context? High-context and low-context culture classifications deals with how a culture communicates. High-context communication tends to be quicker, but more context and symbols based. Low-context communication explicitly lays out the meaning of the message. More Asian cultures tend to be high-context and more Western cultures tend to be low-context.
What is closure? Is this a universal principle? Defend your answer. Closure means that a task must be completed or it is seen “wasted.” It is not a universal principle, it is seen in American culture the most. American novels and films always have a “happy” ending that wraps up problems, but that is rare in a Japanese novel. In Hopi villages there are many unfinished houses. In Turkey (and other collectivist cultures), additional rooms are built only when the family needs it.
Explain the differences between linear and circular views of time. “A linear view of time sees time as a straight line, progressing steadily from the past through the present and into the future, with each moment occurring only once and never repeating, while a circular view of time perceives time as a cycle, constantly repeating itself where the past, present, and future are interconnected and events can recur in a cyclical pattern, like the seasons.” - Gemini cus I’m gonna be real I don’t really get this.
How is a polychronic (P-time) culture different from a monochronic (M-time) culture? In what way can Japan be classified as both an M-time and P-time culture? An M-time culture sets their schedule around doing one task at a time sequentially. A P-time culture instead does several things at once, basically “multitasking” their way through life. In Japan, their work culture is run on M-time, while their personal time is run on P-time.
For each of Hofstede’s five dimensions of national culture, list the dimension, define the dimension, and offer at least one concrete example of how this plays out in advertising or other forms of communication.
How is the role of advertising different in an individual culture versus a collectivist culture? How does the importance of establishing trust before a sale compare in individual culture versus a collectivist culture? How does the importance of corporate versus product brands vary by individual culture versus a collectivist culture?
Describe and explain the correlation between power distance and exercising or playing sports. Low power distance cultures play sports and exercise more. Cultures that score higher on masculinity also exercise more.
How do internet use and news consumption vary by power distance? Newspaper readership and internet usage is higher in low power distance cultures. Wealth also highly correlates with these factors, but in countries with similar wealth, the one with a lower power distance will read more news and use the internet more.
Explain the “rightful place” concept. How does this relate to power distance? The rightful-place concept implies that in higher power distance cultures, being the “number one” brand is important. A brand that has entered markets early, and is viewed as the number one brand, will remain so more easily than it would in low power distance cultures where challengers are favored with a "we try harder" approach.
Describe and explain the correlation between uncertainty avoidance and bottled water consumption. Higher uncertainty cultures focus their health on purity of food and drink. In England, bottled water and mineral water is consumed more because its promoted as being “more pure.”