Search results

In this research the starting point was that a certain gap between military and civilian culture could exist, because of the inevitable difference between typical military values and new values arisen in contemporary societies, with special reference to Western affluent societies. It seems that this hypothesis belong to the culture-free side, since it rests on the concept of a military culture made of specific values, which are the same in every society. There is anyway a different viewpoint, following the trends of studies developed in the intercultural relations domain, mainly dealing with business internationalisation and cross-cultural management topics, generally known as the culture-bound thesis. In the culture-free assumption the consequence should be a pressure of social change on a supposed unique military; in the culture-bound conception a mutual and systemic adaptation of different institutions within each inclusive society driven by one's own culture could be expected. Findings in this research show that if a relative gap can be observed between military and civilian students, this varies greatly according to different groups of countries. Distances seem to be larger in countries belonging to the post-modern cluster (Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands), and lowering down in modern countries such as Slovenia, Bulgaria and Poland, and even less appreciable in Romania, South Africa and Turkey. This could give some support to the culture-free thesis, according to which military culture is specific and find more convergences with so-called traditional societies than with modern or post-modern cultures. But results are not as sharp as needed, and the culture-bound thesis cannot anyway be rejected.

Extant research shows that acquiescence response style (ARS) is culture-bound and may bias the results of comparative cross-cultural studies. Conventional measures of ARS are difficult to apply in practice. To overcome this limitation, the purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative, practice-oriented measure, namely, pARS. The authors apply Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Hofstede et al., 2010) to test whether pARS is culture-bound. The cross-cultural study provides a high level of cross-cultural generalisability due to the extensive number of surveyed countries (n=30) and subjects (n=236.089). The authors run multi-level analysis to identify within- and between-country-level predictors.

On the individual level, the authors use data of a large-scale cross-cultural study, including 236.089 consumers from 30 countries worldwide. The authors apply several methods to test for the culture-boundness of pARS. First, they apply correlation analysis to replicate existing cross-cultural results and to ensure nomological validity. Second, applying ordinary least square regression, the authors simultaneously test the six Hofstede cultural dimensions (Hofstede et al., 2010) and investigate interactions between the dimensions. Finally, they use multi-level analysis to confirm the stability of culture-bound results, controlling for individual- and country-level variability.

The paper introduces an alternative measure for acquiescence (pARS), which is particularly suitable for shorter questionnaires. A large-scale consumer study with 236.089 respondents in 30 countries supports the culture-bound validity of pARS. The authors confirm construct validity and the nomological network of pARS. Contrasting existing studies, multi-level analysis demonstrates that a high level of power distance majorly leads to ARS. Therefore, cross-cultural researchers need to control for ARS in countries high in power distance, especially when paired with high uncertainty avoidance.

A large-scale consumer study with 236.089 respondents from 30 countries shows that respondents from various countries differ significantly in their level of acquiescence. The study confirms that power distance is the most relevant cultural dimension to explain these differences. Although ARS may bias the results of comparative cross-cultural studies, it is rarely controlled by market research studies outside the academic realm. The present work proposes and establishes the validity of a practice-oriented measure of acquiescence, namely, pARS. pARS is particularly suitable for shorter questionnaires. In contrast to prior approaches, applying pARS does not require adding non-substantive items to the questionnaire.

Global marketing is based on cross‐cultural similarities instead of cross‐cultural differences. For a company encountering markets with similar cultural values it is easy to standardise the marketing program. Typically, however, most markets have different cultural values. The global marketer therefore has to decide how to coordinate its marketing program in the best way possible. This case study shows how a global retailer has coordinated its marketing program in an industry which has resisted the forces of globalisation more than most other industries.

Purpose – This chapter has two central purposes. The first is to suggest that western, as well as non-western, illness categories are culture bound. The second is to elucidate the diagnostic and treatment implications associated with adopting a reductionistic diagnostic approach, including for psychiatric as well as nonpsychiatric illnesses.

Approach – A comparative approach is used to highlight the differences between American psychiatry's diagnostic system (i.e., DSM) and French child psychiatry's diagnostic system (CFTMEA). The analysis begins by identifying the overarching differences between the systems, then analyzes the differences between their respective versions of the Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder diagnostic category, and ends by tracing the diagnostic and treatment implications of those differences.

Findings – This analysis reveals that the systems differ in three significant ways: (1) theoretical orientation (biological vs. psychodynamic), (2) the view that symptoms should be counted as opposed to understood, and (3) the presence of symptom checklists versus their absence. Additionally, these differences encourage American clinicians to both administer the ADHD diagnosis to a greater number of symptomatic children and to treat these children with psychiatric medications.

Contributions to the field – The analysis makes three contributions to the field: (1) the comparative analysis highlights the limitations of the DSM's ADHD definition; (2) it strengthens the case for seeing western diagnostic categories in general, and the DSM categories in particular, as cultural artifacts; (3) it elucidates the profound relationship between diagnostic systems and both diagnostic rates and treatment practices.

Service customers perceive quality in the moment of interaction with the service provider. In times of globalization, it is important for a growing number of service companies to ask if the perceived service encounter quality differs among customers from different cultures. Particularly needed is information about whether problematic “culture shocks” occur in service encounters due to culture‐bound expectations and perceptions. To answer this question, a model of inter‐cultural service encounter quality is presented. In order to test the assumption of “culture shocks” in inter‐cultural service encounters, an empirical study applying the critical incident technique (CIT) was conducted. The unexpected results of this study lead to a further development of the model presented. This gives insights into why, and under which circumstances, inter‐cultural encounters are perceived as less problematic than intra‐cultural encounters. Finally, managerial implications and open research questions are discussed.

The purpose of this article is twofold: to identify the characteristics of research on organisation and management in Arab countries and to find out whether research results support the culture‐free hypothesis or not. A thorough search of sixteen journals, research monographs, books and theses produced only 35 empirical studies. Most of these studies were exploratory, descriptive, and used small convenient samples. Although some findings supported the culture‐bound hypothesis, major conceptual and methodological weaknesses in these studies throw doubt upon the validity of their results.

Psychology, both as science and practice, has been largely developed in one cultural area of the world: Europe and North America. As a result, the discipline is culture-bound, limited in its origins, concepts, and empirical findings to only this small portion of the world. The discipline is also culture-blind, largely ignoring the influence of the role of culture in shaping the development and display of human behaviour. These limitations have resulted in the dominant position of a Western Academic Scientific Psychology (WASP) in relation to other cultural perspectives on human behaviour. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper draws on concepts and strategies in psychology (particularly cross-cultural and intercultural psychology) to propose some remedies to problems arising from the dominant WASP position. For example, of what relevance is such a limited perspective to understanding human activity in other cultures; and how can such a limited understanding serve the purpose of effective intercultural interactions?

The eventual goal is to achieve a global psychology that incorporates concepts and findings from societies and cultures from all parts of the world, one that will permit a valid understanding of people within their cultures, and permit effective intercultural across cultures.

The paper presents some criticisms of the dominant western psychology (WASP), and proposes that the achievement of a more global psychology may be within reach if some concepts and methods now available in psychology from both the dominant western sources and from those working in the rest of the world are used.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if consumer buying motives regarding organic food in emerging economies China and Brazil are culture bound or determined by key characteristics of the product.

A survey was collected in Guangzhou, China, and Porto Alegre, Brazil. Data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling, checking for measurement invariance between samples.

The reasons why Brazilian and Chinese consumers buy organic food are strikingly similar to what is found in Europe and North America. Consumers’ attitude toward buying organic food is strongly linked to beliefs about its healthiness, taste and environmental friendliness. Also, consumer attitudes toward buying organic food are positively related to what Schwartz’s “Universalism” values in all studied cultures.

Correlational (survey) data do not allow conclusions about causality and conclusions are limited by the covered countries and products.

Key consumer value propositions with respect to organic food seem cross-culturally valid and universally accepted by a segment of customers that share these values. Hence, organic food can be marketed globally based on a universal set of key value propositions. The same could be true for other global products sharing similar types of certifiable value propositions.

New insights of value for the cross-cultural marketing of “green” and ethical consumer products.

Fills a gap in research regarding the extent to which consumer purchase motives are culture bound or determined by the characteristics of the product.

The health status and medical care of migrant populations is an increasingly important topic in light of the recent emergence of a number of global epidemics. This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of diseases, injuries, and other health problems in the Caribbean‐American population of Miami, Florida.

A sample of 290 Caribbean‐born permanent adult residents of Miami, representing 17 different Caribbean countries of origin, was interviewed at three health clinics regarding current health problems and treatments. Demographic data were also collected.

In total, 38 percent of the respondents indicated past or current health problems requiring professional medical care, while an additional 7 percent engaged in self‐care. The 62 different reported conditions ranged from lung cancer to ulcers, kidney stones, clinical depression, scoliosis, and diverticulitis. The most frequently stated disorders were hypertension, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis. Anti‐hypertensives, cardiac modifiers, and analgesics accounted for the majority of the 26 reported prescription medications. A smaller number indicated the usage of chemotherapy, insulin, allergy medicines, and other individualized prescriptions. A total of 62.5 percent of the respondents employed traditional medicinal plants for preventive and therapeutic care or to supplement biomedicines in the treatment of culture‐bound syndromes.

The epidemiological profile of this sample suggests a positive correlation between genetically‐influenced degenerative disorders and urbanization.

This research reveals the health profile of a previously unstudied population and hopefully will guide future treatment plans for this and similar communities.

This is the first of a two‐part article on cultural aspects of alcohol use and includes information on alcohol consumption among Koreans, British, Americans, Jews, Italians, Irish and Hispanics. Drinking practices and customs, like all other lifeways, are culture bound, multi‐faceted, and learned behaviour. People from all ethno‐cultural groups use alcohol in some form, even in those societies where drinking is highly stigmatised or tabooed. Behavioural problems with alcohol misuse are as important as the physiological and psychological variants. There is remarkably little correspondence between the amount of alcohol consumption and behavioural problems encountered when cross‐cultural comparisons of drinking are examined. Learning about cross‐culture comparisons of alcohol use and misuse can have the potential to promote more responsible and sensible drinking behaviour.