Collectivism Research Articles

That’s so Gucci: a comparison of cultural values and the influence of perceived values on luxury goods attitudes and purchase intention among Korean and Dutch millennials

Millennials’ increasing interest in luxury goods is extensively changing the luxury landscape. This cross-cultural study obtains a deeper understanding of which value perceptions influence South Korean and Dutch millennial consumers’ purchase intentions for luxury goods. To reflect trends and the characteristics of millennials, this study analyzes four perceived values associated with luxury goods: investment, functional, individual, and social values. The findings reveal similarities and differences in the effect of the four perceived values on attitudes and purchase intention for luxury goods among Korean and Dutch millennials. Four dimensions of individualism versus collectivism (horizontal individualism, vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism) are discussed by comparing cultural differences across the two countries. The results of this study contribute to the fields of luxury goods consumption, luxury consumer behavior, luxury goods marketing, and millennial consumer behavior.

Culture and COVID-19-related mortality: a cross-sectional study of 50 countries.

Using a cross-sectional sample of 50 countries we investigate the influence of Hofstede’s six-dimensions of culture on COVID-19 related mortality. A multivariable regression model was fitted that controls for health-related, economic- and policy-related variables that have been found to be associated with mortality. We included the percentage of population aged 65 and above, the prevalence of relevant co-morbidities, and tobacco use as health-related variables. Economic variables were GDP, and the connectedness of a country. As policy variables, the Oxford Stringency Index as well as stringency speed, and the Global Health Security Index were used. We also describe the importance of the variables by means of a random forest model. The results suggest that individualistic societies are associated with lower COVID-19-related mortality rates. This finding contradicts previous studies that supported the popular narrative that collectivistic societies with an obedient population are better positioned to manage the pandemic.

The experience of late life remarriage and its meaning for older Arab Muslim widowed men in Israel

Late-life remarriage is one form of repartnering later in life, a phenomenon that has developed with the increase in life expectancy and other modernization processes, such as the shift from an extended to a nuclear family structure. Knowledge on the phenomenon of repartnering is based on research conducted mainly within Western societies living by individualistic values. It has also been studied in societies such as Israel, which value self-determination alongside familism. How the phenomenon is experienced within a more patriarchal, collectivist society undergoing modernization processes, such as the Arab Muslim society in Israel, is yet to be explored. The aim was to understand the meaning of late-life remarriage and how it is experienced among older Arab Muslim widowers in Israel who remarried at old age after a long-term marriage and raising a family. Using a phenomenological approach, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 14 Arab Muslim widowers aged 70–80 at time of remarriage, to never-married, middle-aged women. Three themes were identified: The first theme addresses motivations for remarriage, the second theme examines continuity and change from a lifelong marriage, and the third theme refers to the meaning they attribute to their current wife. Each theme addresses participants’ inner world, their relationship with spouse and offspring, and their perception of the society they belong to. Conclusions address late-life remarriage as a solution for older widowers to receive care within the extended collectivist family. Thus, the phenomenon reflects a reaction to modernization processes alongside a way to preserve patriarchal gender roles.

Individualism Versus Collectivism and the Early-Stage Transmission of COVID-19.

We propose a perspective based on the individualism versus collectivism (IC) cultural distinction to understand the diverging early-stage transmission outcomes of COVID-19 between countries. Since individualism values personal freedom, people in such cultures would be less likely to make the collective action of staying at home and less likely to support compulsory measures. As a reaction to the public will, governments of individualistic societies would be more hesitant to take compulsory measures, leading to the delay of necessary responses. With processed COVID-19 data that can provide a fair comparison, we find that COVID-19 spread much faster in more individualistic societies than in more collectivistic societies. We further use pronoun drop and absolute latitude as the instruments for IC to address reverse causality and omitted variable bias. The results are robust to different measures. We propose to consider the role of IC not only for understanding the current pandemic but also for thinking about future trends in the world.

Personality traits, ESOP attributions, and psychological ownership in the U.S. and South Korea

This study examines linkages from personality traits to employee attributions of employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and to psychological ownership for the organization (POO) between the U.S. and South Korea. By analyzing survey data collected from 693 employees in two countries, we found that agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience are positively related to POO directly as well as indirectly through commitment-focused ESOP attributions. Also, those mediational linkages are more pronounced among employees in South Korea, which is a collectivist society. Finally, our supplementary analyses confirmed these results by indicating the same pattern of results in the South Korean sample, but not in the U.S. sample. Our findings provide theoretical implications for diverse scholarships such as employee ownership, human resource attributions, and international human resource management.

The Impact of Individualism and Collectivism on Employee Radical and Incremental Creativity

Although individualism-collectivism orientations play pivotal roles in determining individual creativity, the conclusions on the topic are inconsistent. Based on sensemaking theory, our research aims to examine how individualism and collectivism differentially affect individual creativity by classifying creativity into radical creativity and incremental creativity. Time-lagged data from 342 Chinese employees and their supervisors indicated that vertical individualism has a stronger positive impact on radical creativity than on incremental creativity, whereas horizontal individualism has no significant effect on radical or incremental creativity. Meanwhile, the positive effect of vertical collectivism on incremental creativity is stronger than that on radical creativity; in contrast, the difference between the effects of horizontal collectivism on radical creativity and incremental creativity is insignificant. Our research further underscores the crucial theoretical perspective of multifaceted creativity for explaining how individualism-collectivism values drive employee creativity and highlights the vital implication for predicting employee creativity on the basis of employees’ cultural values (individualism vs. collectivism).

The Protective Effect of Culture on Depression During Covid-19 Pandemic: A Romanian National Study

Previous studies indicated that collectivism represents a protective factor against depressive disorders, even among vulnerable populations. The protective effect of collectivism in relation to depressive disorders is often attributed to the social support networks available to individuals in collectivistic societies. The current study aims to investigate the protective effect of collectivism in the relationship between psychological vulnerabilities and depression. Moreover, we examined whether the protective effect of collectivism in relation to depression can be explained through the mechanism of social support. We measured individualism-collectivism for 42 Romanian counties ( n = 2,882) before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for irrational cognitions, depression, and social support were collected online during the lockdown in Romania ( n = 5,310). All instruments showed acceptable measurement and scalar invariance across regions. In a multi-level regression model, county-level collectivism was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms b = −.032, 95% CI [−0.045; −0.019], while irrational cognitions were positively associated with depression b = .474, 95% CI [0.438; 0.510]. The interaction between irrational beliefs and collectivism had a significant and negative effect on depression, b = −.004, 95% CI [−0.008; −0.000]. The indirect effect of collectivism on depression via social support was tested in a two-level SEM model. Explicit and implicit social support were not significant mediators. Collectivism was negatively associated with the perceived availability of explicit social support, b = −.043, 95% CI [−0.074; −0.012]. The results support a general protective effect of collectivism on mental health but cast doubt that the mechanism for this effect is related to social support.

A phenomenology of Filipino military grandparents’ disciplinary practices to their grandchildren

ABSTRACT While scholars recognize that great diversity exists in how grandparents are involved in their grandchildren’s lives, grandparenting in the military context remains a blank spot in the literature. This paper argues that investigating the dynamics of grandparenting in a highly collectivist society like the Philippines could generate valuable insights and perspectives, thus expanding the knowledge frontiers on skipped generation grandparents. Driven by a phenomenological design, this study sought to characterize the disciplinary practices of a select group of military grandparents. Six (6) purposefully recruited military grandparents were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. Field texts gathered in this study were subjected to phenomenological reduction via cool and warm analyses. Interestingly, this study afforded the development of a clear-cut Taxonomy of Military Grandparents According to Disciplinary Practices, which is an intersection of the involvement of both grandparents and parents in the lives of their grandchildren. Implications of the emerged typologies of grandparents, namely: independent, involved, intrusive, and inclusive, are discussed in this paper.

How Culture Shapes Social Categorization and Inductive Reasoning:A Developmental Comparison between the United States and China

ABSTRACT Social categories allow us to make sense of the social world and generate predictions about novel encounters. Yet, how people use particular social categories varies by culture. The current study examined how social categorization varies across traditionally individualistic and collectivistic societies among young children and adults. Using a triad picture task, American and Chinese children and adults made categorization and inductive reasoning judgments based on categories perceived as biological (e.g., age and gender) or categories perceived as social (e.g., occupation). The developmental trajectory of social categorization varied by culture: American adults were more likely than American children to categorize based on biologically-relevant categories, whereas Chinese adults were more likely than Chinese children to do so based on socially-relevant categories. Chinese participants also relied on socially-relevant categories (occupation) to make predictions about physical properties more than American participants. The current findings suggest a broad cultural influence on the perceived meanings and structures of certain biologically- and socially-based categories.

Cultural personal values and switching costs perceptions: Beyond Hofstede

Firms operating internationally need to ascertain effective relationship marketing (RM) strategies for their foreign operations. One set of RM strategies is based on understanding and using switching costs perceptions. Based on data from 1,630 customers across 16 countries, we examine the interplay between culture and switching costs perceptions using Triandis and Gelfand’s four cultural personal value dimensions (CPVs), horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. These CPVs are assessed on external switching costs (ESC) and internal switching costs (ISC) perceptions along with additional important outcomes, including commitment and share of wallet. We find vertical individualism (VI), horizontal collectivism (HC), and vertical collectivism (VC) positively relate to ESC, and VI and VC positively relate to ISC. VI produced the strongest relationship with both switching costs. Our findings indicate the importance of including the horizontal/vertical dimension in studying cultural values. Implications for RM strategies internationally are offered.

Why keep silent? Voices from Thai EFL students in an English-medium instruction university

ABSTRACT In a collectivistic society such as Thailand, quiet students are considered as demonstrating negative academic performance in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms. This phenomenological study attempted to provide insights relating to the silence of Thai EFL students in a university context where English is the primary medium of instruction. In-depth interviews and self-reflection of 35 first-year students were carried out at an autonomous public university, situated in the north of Thailand, where this is the case. Given this context, students were quiet in the classroom for several reasons such as personality traits, learned behaviors, situational factors, the role of the teacher, and the teaching approach. Additionally, cultural factors were identified as a significant reason for this behavior in English intensive courses. The pedagogical implication for the EFL context is also discussed.

Theory of collectivist society formation (on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Zakhar Ilyich Fainburg)

The 24th of January 2022 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of the famous philosopher, sociologist, culturologist, political economist, Doctor of Philosophy and Candidate of Economic Sciences, Professor Zakhar Ilyich Fainburg (24.01.1922 10.09.1990). The years of his life chronologically almost coincided with the time of Soviet socialism. His scientific work from the student times until his death was devoted to one topic the socio-economic mechanisms of social development during the transition or shift from individualistic societies to a collectivist-type society. These mechanisms covered the entirety of society development processes from changing the nature of labor at work to overcoming religious-like social consciousness. The results of the scientific search of Z.I. Fainburg are system-based, because they contain various aspects of the structure and functioning of modern society in their unity / solidarity, and, moreover, they are characterized as essential, because they provide the modern researcher with heuristically valuable methodology and social knowledge instrumentarium. There has been analyzed the characteristic features of Z.I. Fainburgs systemic approach concerning the scientists examination of the nature of labor and the formation of its new historical type; the culture and core values of the individual, as well as the personality development concept in a post-economic society and the prospects for the collectivist society formation as a new social reality. Serious attention is paid to semiotic problems related to the use of thought experiment methods in socio-philosophical science fiction and the construction of concepts of new social knowledge.

ASSESSMENT OF INDIRECT EFFECTS OF PESHAWAR MASSACRE ON PARENTS DUE TO MEDIA COVERAGE

The aim of the present study was to assess indirect effects of Peshawar Massacre on parents due to media coverage. For this purpose, 480 parents having age 25 to 55 years and their children were also school going children were selected through purposive sampling method from Rawalpindi. Inclusion criteria of parents was that at least they had one school going child. Data from parents were collected using Urdu version of Post-traumatic stress disorder checklist (PCL-C) (Mushtaq & Rehman 2005). Reliability of Urdu version of (PCL-C) was 0.84 and inter scale correlation among subscales was 0.68, 0.73 and 0.74 that shows high construct validity of the scale. The results of chi square analysis that parents experienced indirect effects of Peshawar Massacre due to media coverage but significance means differences do not existed among groups. Fathers reported high PTSD as compare to mothers. The possible reason of this is may be due to the cultural differences as culture of Pakistani society is residing on collectivistic society and social terms are strong among people. Another possible reason is the belief system of the people that it happened by the will of Allah or predestined to happen.

Gene-driven Social Connectedness in the Divergence Between East and West

The divergence of Eastern and Western civilizations is conventionally explained by a combination of historical, economical, and geographical factors. Here I explored the contribution of DRD2 and CYP2A6 gene variations, that were shown to contribute to homophily and heterophily in friendship in social networks and differ in their frequencies in East Asia and European ancestry populations. Modeling suggests that allelic frequencies, profoundly affect the abundance of predicted social connections in the two populations: in the European ancestry populations, the total number of predicted connections was almost twofold higher than that of the East Asian population. A plausible hypothesis is that abundant connections between individuals, likely supersede the coherence of hierarchical structures in societies, promoting individualism. In East Asia, the reduced prevalence of DRD2-associated connections favors a more collectivistic society at which the hierarchy is not compromised by the complex interpersonal relationships among individuals. These trends were reenforced by the observation that in the European populations only, the predicted social connections derived by the actual DRD2 genotypes were elevated compared to those calculated by the corresponding frequencies of the DRD2 alleles. The presence of the heterophily-linked CYP2A6 variations in the EUR population may also contribute to this as it may operate as a “social disruptor” gene, conferring to the establishment of relatively isolated clusters, increasing the overall complexity of the resulting social network. These approaches may provide paradigms contributing to our understanding of cultural divergence between populations.

Analysis of student attitudes towards cooperative learning in a collectivist culture: a case of South Korea

PurposeThis study concentrates on South Korean university students' attitude towards cooperative learning by utilizing the “Student Attitudes toward Group Environments” survey (n = 427–181 female and 246 male) originally developed by Kouros and Abrami (2006).Design/methodology/approachThe purpose of this study is to unfold what factors affect the cooperative learning environment in the Higher Education context of South Korea, which is known as a collectivist society, and conduct comparative analysis on gender, department type, GPA level and school year as variables in the perception of cooperative learning. The factor analysis findings demonstrated that there are four factors influencing students' attitude about cooperative learning environments in South Korean higher education; “frustrations with group members”, “peer support”, “fairness” and “quality of product and process”. Moreover, the gender, type of department, school year and GPA variables were yielded statistically differentiating results.FindingsThe overall results showed that effective cooperative learning strategies depend on the type of culture and other demographic variables including learner's gender, department type and school year. In South Korea, known to have a collectivist culture, fairness has appeared as a new criteria needing to be considered when designing a cooperative learning environment, which is a different case than in individualistic cultures. Thus, when employing cooperative learning strategies in South Korea, educators should take learners' culture into consideration. For this, educators might utilize the final instrument of this study as a guideline or criteria to establish an effective cooperative learning environment.Originality/valueThis article provides an example from South Korea which is known as both a collectivist and high-tech country.

Cross-cultural differences in leadership and management of agricultural projects in Africa

Purpose. The paper explores leadership in the face of cross-cultural differences in the management of agricultural projects in Africa. Cross-cultural differences are a result of the diversity of cultures. The differences are especially in behaviors, attitudes, functioning, and communication in the management of agricultural projects across Africa.
 Results. Cultural varieties are observed in the leadership of agricultural projects based on the leadership style of the manager or leader. The leadership styles range from servant leadership, and charismatic to transformational leadership, these differences sometimes cause conflicts. The culture of the community or society has an effect on the management of agricultural projects as well. This is witnessed in the case of individualistic versus collectivistic societies; these two cultures bring about cross-cultural leadership differences. Misunderstandings arise due to their different beliefs, backgrounds, or values. To address cross-cultural differences, both the leader and follower must do something, for a greater impact on agricultural projects in Africa.
 Scientific novelty. The paper highlights that cultural intelligence has a great deal of impact in management of agricultural projects in Africa. However, cross cultural leaders in this space need to demonstrate cultural intelligence beyond linguistic intelligence to have interpersonal, intrapersonal and spatial intelligence to effectively deliver in the cross-cultural agricultural world.
 Practical value. This paper entails ideas that will help leaders of agricultural projects in Africa overcome cross cultural difference for effective management of the projects. The followers also have a role to play in managing cross cultural difference so to achieve greater impact in agriculture projects in Africa. Flexible leadership and culturally sensitivity while promoting creativity and motivation there will be great achievement to project goals. To achieve great success in a cross-cultural environment, mutual respect, leadership and effective cross-cultural communication is required.

COVID-19 regulations, culture, and the environment

The economic and social disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are immense. Unexpectedly, a positive outcome of the stringent Covid restrictions has come in the form of air pollution reduction. Pollution reduction, however, has not happened everywhere at equal rates. Why are lockdown measures not producing this positive externality in all countries? Using satellite-based Aerosol Optical Depth data and panel analysis conducted at the country-day level, we find that the countries that have adopted stringent COVID-19 containment policies have experienced better air quality. Nonetheless, this relationship depends on the cultural orientation of a society. Our estimates indicate that the effect of policy stringency is lower in societies imbued with a collectivistic culture. The findings highlight the role of cultural differences in the successful implementation of policies and the realization of their intended outcomes. It implies that pollution mitigation policies are less likely to yield emission reduction in collectivist societies.

Nurturing Pagpapakatao and Pagkakakilanlan among Filipino Learners: Weaving Thomistic Prudence on Reflexive Pedagogy and Hidden Curriculum

The utilization of various forms of pedagogy has been accentuated far and wide as a significant component of the educative process and student formation. However, the exclusive exercise of traditional pedagogy in the classroom has been widely criticized since it is geared to produce would-be theoretical and technical specialists who cannot confront the ethico-moral forces of their undertakings. Today, more than ever, prior studies have repeatedly typified that a greater emphasis must be accorded to morally inclined and culturally sensitive pedagogies. This article attempts (1) to portray how educators can anchor on the precepts of Thomistic Prudence to cultivate the Pagpapakatao (Humanity) and Pagkakakilanlan (Identity) of learners through the exercise of Reflexive Pedagogy and Hidden Curriculum in the classroom; and (2) to provide an insightful characterization as to how the Filipino philosophical lens and cultural configuration will come into play as the educators attempt to carry out the Western educational modalities in a collectivistic society such as the Philippines.

Collectivism, individualism and COVID-19 prevention: a cross sectional study of personality, culture and behavior among Canadians

ABSTRACT Background Collectivism has been identified as a protective factor against COVID-19 – perhaps due to increased conformity with social norms regarding prevention behaviors. Other studies have also found that individualism can inspire uptake of preventative behaviors as a means of personal protection. It is possible that these cultural orientations may promote different patterns of prevention (e.g. mask wearing vs. social distancing). Furthermore, existing studies examining the role of individualism and collectivism during the COVID-19 pandemic have frequently failed to account for other psychological processes, including differences in personality, which could help provide a better understanding of the psychological process underlying prevention behavior. Methods Participants were recruited using social media advertisements. The Cultural Orientations Scale measured individualism–collectivism and hierarchism-egalitarianism. The Ten Item Personality Inventory measured the five factor model of personality. Multivariable models, dominance analyses and structural equation mediation tests were used to identify the most important predictors of COVID-19 prevention behavior (i.e. mask-wearing, hand-washing, reducing social interactions, physical distancing, staying at home and social bubbling), controlling for demographic and situational factors. Results Among 774 participants, most (i.e. 60–80%) reported uptake of COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Higher vertical (hierarchical) collectivism was associated with staying at home and higher horizontal (egalitarian) individualism was associated with mask-wearing and reducing social interactions. Neither Vertical Collectivism nor Horizontal Collectivism were significantly associated with any of the prevention behaviors when controlling for personality traits and confounding variables. Agreeableness was identified as a key mediator of the correlation between these cultural orientations on general uptake of COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Conclusions Cultural orientations (e.g. collectivism-individualism, hierarchism-egalitarianism) and personality traits (e.g. Agreeableness) are salient correlates of COVID-19 prevention behaviors and therefore should be accounted for in the development, design and delivery of health promotion messages aiming to increase uptake of these behaviors.

The Characteristics of Society in Indonesian Based on the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions: Measuring the Five Indonesian Island

There is culturally plural happens in nowadays life context in many ethnicities, in the same space. This cultural diversity leads to different communication and attitude in social society. The difference between the two cultures, the bigger between two cultures exist, the bigger challenge to adapt. Previous research stated that Indonesia is one Hofstede cultural group. But based on its location, Indonesia has various ethnic and historical sites. By seeing all of them, this paper has aimed to measure, to classify, and to do mapping on Indonesian cultural dimension characteristics. It has some of research steps by considering culture, management, and clustering of Indonesian cultural dimensions. The measurement using Hofstede was conducted to on 805 respondents, analyzed by using principal component analysis and been clustered by using principal component analysis and clustered using the agglomeration hierarchy clustering method. Respondents were coming from Indonesian native live in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Kupang and Ambon. The result showed that Indonesian culture could be categorized into 4 cluster groups; furthermore, it can be classified into 2 dimensions: intrinsic characteristics (1); environmental and future characteristics (2). The dimension of intrinsic characteristics consists of the power distance index (PDI), collectivism (COLL), and masculinity (MAS). At the same time, the dimension of environmental and future characteristics consists of uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and long-term orientation (LTO). The result of this study is a cultural mapping in Indonesian society that a potentially contribute to developing cultural pattern in smart cities.