The Effect of National Culture on the Creation of Positive Emotions: A Study Involving a Selection of States in India

Abstract

Having a broad range of emotions gives our lives color and texture, and perhaps makes them meaningful. Through the phenomenon of jumping from one emotion to another can be difficult to fathom at times. Emotional conflict can result in arising of a whole gamut of feelings and emotions; veering from love to fear, upset to joy, happiness to sadness and more is the virtual transformation of the internal emotional conflict (Fredrickson, et al., 2003). Positive emotions change the boundaries of the way that people perceive and operate within the world. They create the necessary space to allow for the blossoming of the individual (Fredrickson & Kahneman, 1993). The purpose of this paper is to examine the interrelationship between selected indexes of the national culture, and positive emotions. The sample group consisted of one hundred Indian expatriates living in the Kingdom of Bahrain and working in the healthcare sector. Four subgroups, each consisting of twenty-five people, represented the four States, from different parts of India. Although work has been done on comparing emotional indices of national culture, it seemed interesting and worthwhile to examine the variation within a nation state, clearly, the more aware we are of cultural influences, and their impact on emotional state, the easier it is to foster good relations, both on a personal level, and in the workplace. A research model examining the impact of cultural dimensions on positive emotions has been created, based on previous studies. Quantitative as well as qualitative methods have been used, in an attempt to achieve the objectives. A comparison of culture compass analysis between the four States has been conducted. The results have shown that there is a noticeable difference between them, in terms of the level of incidence of positive emotions.