SAUDI ARABIAN vs U.S.A. PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS: An Exploratory Cross Cultural Analysis

Abstract

Stafford & Waifs (1985) research focused on delineating what constitutes a social problem. ‘Issues managers’ will benefit greatly from an improved understanding of the characteristics which delineate issues as social problems in the eyes of the public, the public being only one of their stakeholders (e.g. public, customers, suppliers, government, shareholders and employees) Greening & Gray (1994). This research is an international or cultural extension of the Stafford & Warr research on a U.S.A. sample to a Saudi Arabian sample. Saudi Arabia is a distinctly different culture in values and language from the U.S.A. and therefore offers some interesting cross‐cultural contrasts and comparisons with regard to perceptions of social issues. As many organizations go global, they must develop an understanding of what constitutes a social problem within each of the cultures they operate in. The results of this study show significant differences between what Saudi's and U.S.A. citizen's perceive to be social problems/issues. These findings strongly support Stafford & Warr's three part scheme for delineating social issues.

Citation

Marshall Hunt, D. and At‐Twaijri, M.I. (1996), "SAUDI ARABIAN vs U.S.A. PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS: An Exploratory Cross Cultural Analysis", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 3-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb008405