Abstract
Studies of social norms are common in the communication literature and are increasingly focused on cultural dynamics: studying co-cultural groups within national boundaries or comparing countries. Based on the review of the status quo in cross-cultural measurement development and our years of experience in conducting this research among a co-cultural group, this paper describes a Model for Culturally Contextualized Communication Measurement (MC3M) for intercultural and/or cross-cultural communication research. As an exemplar, we report on a program of research applying the model to develop a culturally derived measurement of social norms and the factors impacting the norm-behavior relationship for members of a unique population group (i.e., ethnically Tibetan pastoralists in Western China). The results provide preliminary evidence for the construct validity and reliability of the culturally derived measurements. The implications, benefits, and shortcomings of the MC3M model are discussed. Recommendations for advancing both conceptual and measurement refinement in intercultural and cross-cultural communication research are provided.
Highlights
Social norms research has rapidly garnered popularity in the past several decades in multiple disciplines, such as communication, social psychology, public health, and economics (Chung and Rimal, 2016)
As well as group identification and group orientation, were considered as key constructs in the study because prior research has shown they enhance the influence of social norms and appear to be critical in studies of cultural dynamics (Cruz et al, 2000; Lapinski et al, 2007) and conceptualizations were shaped based on the results of the indepth interviews
A crosssectional survey was conducted with our study population in order to complete Steps 4–7 in the MC3M: The hypothesis is proposed: H: The measures of perceived descriptive norms (PDN), perceived injunctive norms (PIN), outcome expectations (OE), group identity (GID), group orientation (GO), and behavioral intentions (BI) will yield valid and reliable unidimensional scales
Summary
Social norms research has rapidly garnered popularity in the past several decades in multiple disciplines, such as communication, social psychology, public health, and economics (Chung and Rimal, 2016). The conceptual definition of the key study constructs and the measures, including social norms, norm violations, individualism-collectivism, and tightness-looseness, were adapted from existing literature developed in the U.S and translated into each country’s official language following the procedures outlined by Brislin (1986); validity and reliability evidence was provided. As well as group identification and group orientation, were considered as key constructs in the study because prior research has shown they enhance the influence of social norms and appear to be critical in studies of cultural dynamics (Cruz et al, 2000; Lapinski et al, 2007) and conceptualizations were shaped based on the results of the indepth interviews. A crosssectional survey was conducted with our study population in order to complete Steps 4–7 in the MC3M: The hypothesis is proposed: H: The measures of perceived descriptive norms (PDN), perceived injunctive norms (PIN), outcome expectations (OE), group identity (GID), group orientation (GO), and behavioral intentions (BI) will yield valid and reliable unidimensional scales
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