Examples of low-context cultures include Germany, the United States, and Australia. For the sake of completeness, Figure2 displays the (un)standardized coefficients of the discussed relationships in the model. First, it is expected that participants from a higher-context culture will like the complex ad better than participants from a lower-context culture (H3). Self-reliance; responsible for conduct of own life; independence, Balanced Competition In communication theories, the important role of comprehension has been acknowledged. In the example above between the two sisters, they are using high-context communication; however, America is considered a low-context culture. A high score (Masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organisational life. With a score of 66 Germany is considered a Masculine society. The Influence of High-/Low-Context Cultu . https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2017.1296985. endstream endobj 313 0 obj <>stream Germany Germany is one of the so-called " low-context " cultures. . Learn more about our academic and editorial standards. Co-determination rights are comparatively extensive and have to be taken into account by the management. In a comparative survey-based study, Dutch and Belgian participants read and judged 12 full-color advertisements that were taken from two advertising databases. Multi-cultural teams need . Those in management are expected to have both, while also keeping an open mind to respectful critiques and challenges. The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau. This article was peer-reviewed and edited by Chris Drew (PhD). While a lot of resources are in the realm of international relations and business, there are some valuable high and low context culture lessons to glean for community engagement. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Low-context cultures (such as those in North America and Western Europe) depend less on the environment of a situation to convey meaning than do high-context cultures (such as those in Japan, China, and Arab countries). As expected by context theory, perceived complexity was lower for Belgian (a higher-context culture) than for Dutch participants (a lower-context culture), and participants' personal context culture score fully accounted for this difference. For an outsider, it is easier to enter into low-context cultures because one does not need to be aware of the shared history/values of the group. Germanys need for structure is again seen in its moderately high uncertainty avoidance. Germans tend to think and argue deductively, using theoretical knowledge to build an argument. Which countries have low context. More important, we will test whether the effect formulated in H1 is indeed mediated by participants' context-culture scores (H2): Figure 1. Conclusion Cultural Communication is always a challenge. Cite this Article in your Essay (APA Style), Privacy PolicyTerms and ConditionsDisclaimerAccessibility StatementVideo Transcripts. Anchor Press/Doubleday. By considering each of these dimensions, youll be able to create a localization strategy that focuses on key elements of German society. This can be quite confusing to an outsider, especially someone from a low-context culture who is used to communicating via explicit messages. Phillips & McQuarrie, Citation2004). Fourth, in future empirical studies on the role of context theory in comprehension and persuasion, it may be worthwhile to vary the ways in which message comprehension is measured. Remember that culture is dynamic, and that every individual within a culture is unique and may not conform exactly to the general characteristics of that culture. However, scholars have noted an increase in the use of complex advertisements; for instance, through visual images (Phillips, Citation1997; Scott, Citation1993). Low-context cultures can seem slightly more formal due to the explicit & precise nature of their messages. It has to do with whether peoples self-image is defined in terms of I or We. Finally, place focus on personal achievement, success, and competition, values which drive the German business world. The visual in the ad displays a piece of clothing with blue liquid detergent in the form of a crocodile attacking a brown, coffee-like stain. They also displayed pictures of individuals, while high-context websites foregrounded group pictures. The use of short scales is consistent with recommendations in the marketing literature (Bergkvist & Rossiter, Citation2007). Finally, the present study focused on ad liking as a form of persuasion, which makes sense from Hall's predictions about comprehension and appreciation. In countries like Germany, it is a sign of respect and professionalism to speak clearly and leave no room for misinterpretation especially in a difficult conversation. In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only. Germany is valued around the world for its precision engineering, especially in the auto industry. n The five areas of future research relate to the study of context culture on the nonlinear relationship between comprehension and persuasion, the selection of complex message components other than visual metaphors, the measurement of context culture on an individual level, the measurement of message comprehension, and the measurement of persuasion. Unlike the linear communication style preferred in low-context cultures, high-context communicators may use spiral logic, circling around a topic indirectly and looking at it from many tangential or divergent viewpoints. Information is transmitted not through words alone but also through non-verbal cues such as gestures, voice inflection, and facial expression, which can have different meanings in different cultures. In this study, we follow their classification: Belgium is expected to be a higher-context culture than the Netherlands. It is understood that advertising messages targeted at audiences from different parts of the world do not always travel, which increases the need for adapting messages across the globe instead of standardizing them (e.g., Agrawal, Citation1995; Hornikx & O'Keefe, Citation2009; La Ferle, Edwards, & Lee, Citation2008). Cultures and languages are defined as higher or lower context on a spectrum. Which one of the following countries is considered a low context culture? All articles are edited by a PhD level academic. Wurtz found something similar while analyzing website design. Desire for stability and caution toward change, Value of academic accomplishments and formal knowledge, Punctuality (reflects reliability and discipline), Strong distinction between public space (formal at work) and private space (informal with family and friends), Healthy balance between work and leisure time, Thoroughness in decision making (analytical, theoretical, deductive), Detail orientation; tendency toward perfectionism, Honesty (may be perceived as overly critical and blunt), Legacy of former communist East (GDR) and capitalist West Germany (FRG), Formality among older generation (use of Sie) vs. informality of the younger generation (use of Du), Strong sense of order and discipline vs. crowding and pushing when standing in line, Lack of mobility vs. open employment market across the European Union (EU), Sophisticated language indicative of social status vs. increasingly pervasive use of D-English (use of Anglicisms), Traditional Christian culture vs. increase of religious diversity entering mainstream society, particularly Islam. Edited by Liz O. Baylen and Mike Benoist. German directness is a particularly noticeable cultural standard. This proved to be the case (F(1, 287) = 5.85, p =.016, 2 =.02). Wurtz studied McDonalds online advertising in various countries such as Japan, Germany, the United States, etc. Being autistic seem to be a lot easier in low context cultures (USA, Germany) and a lot harder in high context cultures (France, Japan)." She found out that in high-context countries, the advertising campaigns used more colors, movements, and sounds to provide context. Beyond Culture. 312 0 obj <>stream Hofstede Insights enables you to solve Intercultural and Organisational Culture challenges by utilising our effective and proven frameworks. A major limitation of the studies providing this evidence is that they drew their conclusions on the basis of groups of people: consumers from a country with a presumed lower-context culture versus consumers from a country with a presumed higher-context culture. Privacy Policy. (_CC The lower part of Figure1 models the relationship between receiver nationality and ad appreciation. Low-context countries, on the other hand, relied more on linear processes and verbal communication. gut (good) rather than fantastic.. Hall, E. T. (1976). This concept was first advanced by Edward T. Hall in the 1950s. (2012). In other words, the Federal Republic is well-known for an extremely direct way of speaking about things. For instance, if an ad contains a slogan in a foreign language that the recipient does not recognize (let alone understand), more effort will not result in better comprehension and better liking. About half of the participants were female (56%). This actually implies that context theory is a powerful explanation for differences in perceived complexity and liking of ads. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Copyright 2023 Helpful Professor. From the same gender distributions in the two samples, it might be considered unlikely that, for instance, one sample contained predominantly arts students (which are mostly female students) and the other predominantly engineering students (which are mostly male students). Increased complexity in advertising has been found to affect consumers' comprehension and liking of ads (e.g., Lagerwerf & Meijers, Citation2008; McQuarrie & Mick, Citation1999; Van Mulken, Van Hooft, & Nederstigt, Citation2014). Callow and Schiffman (Citation2002) examined the degree to which consumers infer meaning from images in advertising. That is, not only were ads with more complex metaphors better liked than ads with less complex metaphors, but ads with too complex metaphors were liked less than ads with less complex metaphors (Phillips, Citation2000; Van Mulken etal., Citation2014). In particular he is known for his high and low context cultural factors. Van Mulken etal. and the German culture is referred to low context and status-oriented cultures [Kulikova, 2006; Kotthoff, 2003; Gnther, 2002; Khorrami . In the current comparative survey-based study, participants were exposed to 12 different product ads; asking for actual comprehension of all of the ads might have revealed the purpose of the study. Also remember that although cultures are different from one another, no culture or cultural characteristic is better or worse than any other. In. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Van Mulken etal., Citation2014) or to ask them to write down what they think is the meaning of the message (cf. The German society is a truly Individualist one (67). #o2G]K(@Z1 The Belgian participants had a higher context score (M = 3.07, SD = 0.49, n = 174) than the Dutch participants (M = 2.92, SD = 0.52, n =.115). In low-context cultures, people are used to messages that are direct and simple; for them, interpreting metaphors is relatively more demanding. In low-context cultures, people are said to prefer explicit, task-related language. Note: Comparison of low- and high-context cultures reprinted from Business communication: Process & product (p. 64) by M.E. A 2005 study by Elizabeth Wurtz demonstrates how cultural differences shape marketing and advertising. This, in turn, may make employers (particularly of smaller companies) very cautious and selective when hiring people. YbpIIV 9x~G6 Croucher, S., Bruno, A, McGrath, P, Adams, C, McGahan, C, Suits, A & Huckins, A. Renewable, clean energy has become a key talking point for every nation, and Germanys push puts itself at the forefront of a new economic boom. Germanys high score of 83 indicates that it is a pragmatic country. Understanding German business protocol is the first step toward success in Germany. Bill McDermott, the CEO of SAP, details his methodology when he began working with the German company, saying, When I present to a U.S. audience, I try to inspire them quickly, get them engaged right from the beginning. Individual Orientation High-context cultures, on the other hand, depend on both the spoken words and the context of the situationincluding the shared values/assumptions of the groupto convey meaning. increasing your ability to "read the air". This result supported H1. The mean scores for perceived complexity and ad liking were submitted to regression analyses for the direct effect of nationality on perceived complexity (H1) and ad liking (H3). An expert on metaphors in advertising checked the ads on the metaphors that were included, and another expert ensured the cross-cultural equivalence of the material in the Netherlands and Belgium. Performance and target-based; subject expertise important; in public/government institutions, length of service is one aspect of performance appraisal. A person's culture shapes their beliefs, as well as the way they express themselves through communication. Belgian participants have a lower perceived complexity than Dutch participants, and this national difference is explained by the participants' personal context score. Cultural map of the world according to the World Values Survey, describing Germany as high in "Rational-Secular Values" and low in "Self Expression Values" Germany is a modern, advanced society, . This dimension is defined as the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, based on the way they were raised. The present study had an approach taken in a number of other studies (e.g., Le Pair & Van Mulken, Citation2008; McQuarrie & Mick, Citation1999, Study 2; Van Enschot & Hoeken, Citation2015): participants were asked to report the degree to which they understood the message. $suH\ (The Netherlands in the referent category). In the studies that did investigate the role of context culture in comprehension and persuasion, individuals' nationality was measured but not individuals' context culture. This is why complex messages are sometimes more effective than less complex messages. In combination with their low Power Distance, where the certainty for own decisions is not covered by the larger responsibility of the boss, Germans prefer to compensate for their higher uncertainty by strongly relying on expertise. Communicators in high-context cultures pay attention to more than the words spoken they also pay attention to interpersonal relationships, nonverbal expressions, physical settings, and social settings. EJ]?SGfekI NTj\*5~RGzN%#QeOJkLPvYwA9xCk9?FM~0xtCxjg-G3'Uw?g`#IcN!Yr%{U4`8sDUTEP^ In K. Berardo & D. K. Deardorff, eds. This methodological limitation makes it impossible to assess whether it is indeed context culture that is the explanatory factor of the results obtained. Respect for authority; yet open and even confrontational discussions between subordinate and superior are accepted if they are fact-based and related to the subject-expertise of the subordinate. What is an Interculturally Effective Person (IEP)? That is to say, despite these small (but significant) differences in context score in this study, these context scores proved to be the explanation for the national difference in both complexity and liking of the ads. Honesty is also valued highly because German communication as a whole is incredibly low-context. Sourabh Yadav is a freelance writer & filmmaker. You can often convey more information with fewer words. The result is a highly structured and punctual culture, which plays into the high masculinity. First, whereas the present study took a linear relationship between comprehension and liking as a starting point, future research may examine nonlinear relationships. Although the use of understandable messages is commonplace in advertising and communication, complex messages are regularly used; for example, through the use of jargon, foreign languages, or verbal or visual metaphors. Jeffrey, "High context cultures are more common in the eastern nations than in western and in countries with low racial diversity. Examples of high-context cultures include Japan, Korea, and India. Communicating with high-context cultures can require you to focus on politeness strategies that demonstrate your respect for readers and listeners. Managers are expected to be decisive and assertive. Two Types of Reflective Writing Assignments, Additional Resources for Improving Writing, Consistency in comparatives and listed elements: Parallelism, A Note on Punctuating the End of List Items, Hofstede Insights country comparison tool, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oYfhTC9lIQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvqDv4vbEg, https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/42958_2_The_Cultural_Context.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, Tend to prefer indirect verbal interaction, Tend to understand meaning at one level only, Tend to understand meanings embedded at many sociocultural levels, Are generally less proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Are generally more proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Communication in highly structured messages, provide details, stress literal meaning, Communication is simple, sometimes ambiguous, messages; understand visual messages readily, Define cultural context (Guffey et al., 2013, p. 64), Contrast communicate styles for low-context and high-context cultures (Meyer, 2017, p. 59), Explain how cultural differences can affect workplace communication (Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau, 2014). (2014, May 9). Germany's high score of 83 indicates that it is a pragmatic country. Repeat key points. According to Hall (Citation1976; Hall & Hall, Citation1990), the extent to which such complex messages are comprehended and appreciated depends on context culture. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. While some traditions and norms are important to Germans, they can also be adapted to suit solutions that are dependent on time, situation, and context.

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