Collectivism Research Articles

Work–family and family–work conflict and negative attitudes toward having children: A multilevel cross‐national analysis

AbstractThe relationship between work–family and family–work conflict and attitudes toward having children has been established; however, how it varies by different national cultural dimensions remains unclear. This study seeks to address this gap by examining the moderating effects of two cultural dimensions, individualism–collectivism and indulgence‐restraint, across a sample of 40 countries and regions. Data from the 2012 round of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) are utilized, encompassing 30,613 participants (M = 43.33 years old; SD = 13.22). Multilevel modeling is employed to integrate individual‐level and country‐level factors and examine the cross‐level moderating effects. The findings demonstrate that both work–family conflict and family–work conflict are positively associated with negative attitudes toward having children. Moreover, these relationships between work–family and family–work conflicts and negative attitudes toward having children are more pronounced in individualistic societies compared with collectivist societies. Furthermore, these relationships are stronger in restrained societies as opposed to indulgent societies. These results underscore the significance of addressing work–family and family–work conflict both at the policy and practice levels and emphasize the need for considering cultural dimensions.

Caregivers’ Perceptions of Do Not Resuscitate Orders: A Qualitative Study in Rural Southwestern Kenya

The need for palliative care services has increased with the rise of patients with terminal illnesses. Unfortunately, there is a need for more research in palliative care, especially on end-of-life care. Conversations during that period present an ethical and cultural challenge in both collectivistic and individualistic societies. Worldwide, the laws regulating Do Not Resuscitate orders differ from country to country. The perceptions also vary from society to society. Studies have shown the need to involve families in this era of rising advocacy for patient-centered care. Caregivers have an essential role in decision-making and are involved in end-of-life decisions. This study aimed to describe caregivers' perceptions of Do Not Resuscitate orders. The study used a qualitative approach and phenomenological research design. It involved eighteen caregivers of patients receiving palliative care. The sampling procedure was non-probability purposive. Data was collected using in-depth interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Overall, two themes emerged from the findings. The first theme was a lack of awareness of the Do Not Resuscitate orders and the resuscitation techniques, and the second theme was subjective perceptions based on caregivers' beliefs and emotional responses. Caregivers need counseling, preparation, and education on Do Not Resuscitate orders and resuscitation methods to improve Do Not Resuscitate discussions. Healthcare providers need to be empowered to hold those discussions.

Neural substrates of marriage on self-parents processing and the association with a parents-oriented perspective shift in a collectivistic culture

Relationship with parents is a special bond that shapes self-other representations and have an impact on adult-child’s marriage, especially in the early stages of marriage. This study sought to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying self-parents processing as well as their relationship with marriage. Seventy-eight premarital Korean participants were scanned in functional MRI while evaluating traits of the self and parents. Then, 21 of them returned after being married to engage in the identical task three years later. The precuneus and temporoparietal junction were identified to activate stronger for parents than self at both marital statuses. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, parietal operculum, and caudate activated more for self than parents before marriage, but their activities changed during marriage. The activation increase of the parietal operculum between marital statuses in the parents condition was negatively correlated with the level of marital dissatisfaction, and this association only appeared among participants with a child. Self-parents processing may recruit brain regions involved in autobiographical memory and self-other distinction, and marriage has an impact on the way individuals process rewards and multimodal sensory information during this processing. Marriage may lead to changes in brain function that affect the processing of emotions toward parents and a more parents-oriented perspective shift in collectivistic societies.

Adopting global perspectives in school psychology.

This introduction to the special issue on global perspectives frames the collection of articles around recent calls for expanding the focus of research in psychology in general, and school psychology specifically, beyond Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries and cross-cultural comparisons with non-Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic Confucian East Asian countries (cf. individualistic vs. collectivist societies; see Krys et al., 2024), while neglecting populations in Latin American, Eastern Europe, Africa, Middle East, South Asia, and Oceania. The articles in this issue represent research from China, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malaysia, Ukraine, Vietnam, and the United States and address topics as diverse as teacher consultation, implementation science, adapting evidence-based interventions, parent-teacher and teacher-child relationships, bullying, behavior management, school climate and equity, resilience during war, newcomer immigrants, refugee status in transit countries, and social media use. Research methods represented in this issue include correlational, case study, comparative (cross-country), mixed methods, and participatory approaches. We hope that the articles in this internationally focused collection heighten school psychologists' knowledge of and interest in a world where science and practice expand beyond borders, and that the global-intercultural perspective represented herein can facilitate collaboration across cultures and contexts as we advocate for the rights and well-being of each child. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Website Localization Strategies to Promote Global E-Commerce: The Moderating Role of Individualism and Collectivism

Website localization plays an important role in guiding firms on how to customize websites across countries in which they have a local presence. However, few studies on website localization have systematically examined this topic from a theoretically grounded perspective. Drawing upon the theoretically driven consumer-company identification perspective, we propose that three website localization strategies (web similarity strategy, web distinctiveness strategy, and web prestige strategy) have positive effects on local users’ perceived website localization, which, in turn, is related to local users’ website loyalty. We further investigate the effects of these website localization strategies in a cross-cultural setting, focusing on the individualism-collectivism dimension of culture. Based on our online experiments in both the United States and China, we find that these website localization strategies have significant impacts on consumers’ perceived website localization, which is related to consumers’ website loyalty. We also find that web distinctiveness and web prestige strategies are more effective for people from collectivistic societies than for those from individualistic societies, whereas web similarity strategies do not differ across societal types. These findings highlight the importance of website localization strategies for customizing websites for global e-commerce.

How Do Gain-Loss Frames and Cultural Arguments Persuade? Designing Effective Messages to Weaken College Students’ Binge-Drinking Intentions

To design effective health messages, this study investigates the effects of gain-loss framing and relevant moderating effects in the context of college students’ alcohol use. Specifically, based on an online experiment, we tested the moderation effects of message-sidedness and binge-drinking behaviors using a mediation model in which the association between gain-loss framing and behavioral intentions is mediated by attitudes toward binge-drinking. Four hundred thirty-four Korean college students participated in this study. Hayes’ PROCESS Macro for SPSS was employed for the analysis. The results show that loss-framing significantly increased participants’ unfavorable attitudes toward binge-drinking in the one-sided message condition. Moreover, attitudes toward binge-drinking were more significantly associated with behavioral intentions to binge-drink among heavy drinkers than among non-heavy drinkers. Our findings suggest important theoretical and practical implications for the development of message-framing strategies in health campaigns designed to prevent college students’ binge-drinking in collectivistic societies where the cultural meaning of drinking extends beyond the individual realm to the larger social context.

Managing Organisational Change: The Role of Polyphony and Emotional Reflexivity

Despite the profound impact of polyphonic practices in helping leaders and organisational members to achieve a successful organisational change effort, many organisations are still unable to engage in excellent change communication activities. As such, the organisations will face difficulties in achieving their short and long-term goals, create more misunderstandings among employees, and diminish both employees and customers’ trusts. Previous research studies have also progressively highlighted cultural factors has been one of the influential factors that affect the communication behaviours of organisational members and leaders during change. Since research that focuses on middle managers’ polyphony practices especially those in a collectivistic society has been minimal, this research was conducted to examine how polyphonism is practiced by the studied organisation during organisational change. Using middle managers’ conversations on emotional reflexivity during change, this research was conducted to obtain a rich understanding on the studied phenomenon. Communicative Constitution of Organisations the Montreal School (CCO TMS) theory was used to guide the present research and semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirty middle managers of a Malaysian (aerospace component manufacturing) organisation were carried out. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The data revealed polyphony are strongly enforced by the respondents and their leaders through five steps of practice: mutual recognition, mutual trust, dialogic sessions, mutual understanding, and mutual agreement. The respondents also acted as polyphonous leaders: leader and decision maker of subordinates’ interactions, and leader for ideas’ diversity. The themes also reflected the emotional reflexivity practiced by the respondents which are self-consciousness, empathy, self-control, motivation and social skills. This research helped to contribute new traits to the unique face of Malaysians’ identities. It also shows the importance in attending to middle managers’ conversations on change since middle managers’ acceptance towards change are being influenced from their emotional reflexivity and organisation’s polyphony practice.

Mental health recovery in a collectivist society: Saudi consumers, carers and nurses' shared perspectives.

In 2019, the World Health Organization urged a global shift towards recovery-focused practices in mental health care. In Western nations, this transition often prioritised individualism over collectivism. In contrast, collectivist societies prioritise recovery through community and social support. This study explored mental health recovery from the perspectives of consumers, carers and registered nurses in a mainly collectivist society (Saudi Arabia) using a qualitative exploratory descriptive design. Sixteen consumers, ten carers and eight registered nurses participated in online semi-structured interviews. Inductive thematic analysis was employed to analyse English-translated versions of the 34 interviews. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies 32-item checklist were used. The study found that recovery was perceived as a process of transforming towards living a meaningful life of goals and values supported by trusted people who share moments of comfort and empowerment. A unique finding was the 'bond of recovery' a collectivist value that aid consumers' community integration in society. Saudi consumers' experiences of recovery were similar to consumers' movement narratives of recovery. Future research should establish a recovery-focused educational program that incorporates our findings into a recovery-oriented approach. This will facilitate providing a collaborative care between consumers, carers and nurses that centres around consumers' recovery goals and values.

A replication and extension of the prosocial effect of online social interactions among Chinese and American emerging adults

ABSTRACT The recent global crisis has had a profound and widespread impact on humanity, eliciting a heightened appreciation for the importance of prosociality. In response, interdisciplinary scholars have called for further research to investigate strategies for cultivating kindness, generosity, and cooperation. To answer this call, we conducted a study examining the potential prosocial impact of online social interactions (OSIs) in two distinct cultures. Through a survey of 644 emerging adults from China and the United States, we found that OSIs positively led to prosocial tendencies in both samples, with social connectedness and trust serving as significant mediating factors. Nevertheless, among the American sample, trust can serve as the sole mediator linking OSIs and prosocial tendencies. Conversely, among the Chinese sample, the development of prosociality stemming from OSIs requires the intervening facilitation of social connectedness. This divergence may speak to cultural research regarding the essential role of interpersonal relationships in fostering trust and prosociality in collectivist societies. This study contributes to prosociality scholarship by highlighting the role of OSIs as a crucial enhancer across two distinct cultures, clarifying the underlying mechanisms, and identifying cultural differences in the process of prosocial development. The results have implications for both prosocial theory and practice.

Public stigma toward women, mothers and non-mothers, with serious mental illness in Jewish Ultraorthodox society

ABSTRACT The study aimed to investigate stigma toward women with serious mental illness (SMI) within the Jewish Ultraorthodox community. It explored the impact of target motherhood, observers’ parenthood, and psychological-flexibility on stigma. 150 participants were presented with a vignette depicting a woman with\\without SMI and as mothers\ on-mothers, then surveyed for their attitudes and social distance. High levels of stigma were found toward women with SMI regardless of their motherhood status. Interestingly, observers’ parenthood correlated with increased social distance, and high psychological flexibility was linked to lower stigma. A third-level interaction was found in which there was a moderating effect of psychological flexibility on the interaction between target person’s motherhood, target person’s SMI, and stigma. The study highlights the need for culturally sensitive approaches and emphasises the significance of considering parenthood and psychological flexibility in combating stigma toward individuals with SMI in collectivistic religious societies like the Jewish Ultraorthodox community.

Exploring self-care and cervical cancer prevention attitudes and practices among Moroccan and Pakistani immigrant women in Catalonia, Spain: a comparative qualitative study.

Self-care and preventive health strategies may trigger health inequities when individuals' cultural values and health beliefs are not fully understood and considered. In the case of cervical cancer (CC) screening programs immigrant women have shown lower attendance compared with native women, which increases the risk of late diagnosis and, consequently, a lower probability of survival. HPV self-sampling for CC screening has been recently added to the World Health Organization's (WHO) list of self-care interventions as a promising tool to reduce this disparity and improve screening coverage. In Catalonia, Spain, the introduction of HPV self-sampling as a part of the new population-based CC screening program, is a significant step. However, there is a lack of research addressing self-care and prevention among immigrant populations in this region. This study aims to fill this gap exploring self-care and prevention attitudes and practices among Moroccan and Pakistani women. We conducted focus groups and individual interviews with 36 Moroccan and 37 Pakistani women in Barcelona, Spain. The topic guide of the focus groups included case vignettes to stimulate the discussion and a semi-structured questionnaire was used for the interviews. Our findings show that most Moroccan and Pakistani women do not prioritize self-care and prevention. They seek care for symptom treatment rather than disease prevention. In this sense, they reported not having the habit of doing regular check-ups and their self-care and prevention attitudes and practices seemed to be conditioned by cultural values. The implementation of an effective call and recall system could enhance the engagement of these populations with CC screening services. This study provides evidence on how universal concepts of self-care and prevention may not aligned with more collectivist societies, emphasizing the limited applicability and motivation of global self-care interventions guidelines for individuals with different cultural backgrounds and values. Therefore, the successful implementation of CC screening programs or any other self-care intervention requires the adoption of culturally appropriate strategies.

Stigma Surrounding Depression in Different Cultures

Depression progresses as the fourth most common disorder for causing disability in individuals since 2020. There are countless factors that affect the prevalence of depression and culture is one of them. Culture is defined as the norms and regulations put by the society, community or a group you identify with. Culture affects the diagnosis of depression through the symptoms being presented, the language used and the over-all norms of the given culture. To provide effective mental health care and an accurate diagnosis, effective and acceptable culture-appropriate language should be used. Awareness about the illness needs to be spread to break the taboo that surrounds depressive disorders in various cultures. Both collectivistic and individualistic societies have their pros and cons but to eliminate the prevalence of this disorder, one has to be evaluated and understand the benefits and drawbacks of each culture. Keywords: Anxiety, Culture, Depression, Stereotype.

Unseen Scars: The Intersection of School Bullying, Individualism, and Collectivism

Violence in schools occurs in both collectivist and individualist societies. This paper examined bullying in educational settings and the connection to individualism and collectivism. It reported how these concepts influence bullying behaviors. Data from the OECD indicated that around 23% of students in these countries face bullying several times a month. The main focus was on the impact of bullying on students' mental health, social relationships, and academic performance. The paper also explored the differences in bullying behaviors in cultures prioritizing group values (collectivism) versus individual values (individualism). In individualistic societies, bullied students might feel more isolated, while in collectivist societies, bullying might be less visible as individuals might not discuss their struggles in public. This study aimed to provide a clearer understanding of school bullying by considering both personal experiences and the wider cultural context. The findings were expected to contribute significantly to developing more effective anti-bullying strategies that consider both individual and group perspectives.

Does Culture Moderate Gender Stereotypes? Individualism Predicts Communal (but Not Agentic) Prescriptions for Men Across 62 Nations

The cultural moderation of gender stereotypes hypothesis argues that societies assign the most culturally valued traits to men, the dominant group. Thus, in line with cultural ideals, collectivistic societies should assign men more communality, whereas individualistic societies should assign men more individualism. Using archival data, Cuddy et al. found evidence for cultural moderation in descriptive stereotypes. We argue, however, that cultural moderation should be tested using prescriptive stereotypes, which more directly reflect cultural ideals about how men and women should be. We also provide a more robust test using contemporary data from 62 countries from the Towards Gender Harmony project ( N = 27,391), allowing multilevel modeling techniques. We found evidence for cultural moderation for communal (though not agentic) traits: Collectivistic (compared to individualistic) nations prescribed relatively more communal traits to men. Thus, we show that prescriptions for men gravitate more toward core cultural values than prescriptions for women.

Predicting Psychopathology in Jewish Ultra-Orthodox IPV Survivors: A Machine Learning Approach

The nature of the abuse, cultural and religious values, trauma-related cognitions, and recovery actions are considered factors that shape intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors’ recovery and pathology. However, less is known about their specific impact on women’s psychopathology and wellbeing. Concomitantly, there is scant information about IPV survivors from collectivistic societies such as the Israeli Jewish Ultra-orthodox (JUO) community. The present study was designed to identify predictors of post-traumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms and wellbeing in women from the JUO community who have experienced IPV. Women (N = 261) provided information about their demographics, the nature of the violence, attitudes with respect to cultural and religious norms that normalize violence, trauma-related cognitions, the coping constructs of disengagement, faith, and engaging in help-seeking and recovery actions, and the PTSD symptoms that affect their wellbeing. A Random Forest machine learning (ML) algorithm was used to identify the strongest predictors of psychopathology and wellbeing. Regression trees were developed to identify individuals at greater risk of PTSD symptoms but also of greater wellbeing. Higher self-stigma and the perception of an unsafe world were associated with PTSD symptoms, whereas lower self-stigma, greater faith, and engagement in steps toward recovery were associated with greater wellbeing. These findings highlight the importance of treating women’s self-stigma and perceptions of an unsafe world while also encouraging faith and active engagement in recovery to promote survivors’ wellbeing and lessen their PTSD symptoms.

“Within five seconds, I can already see the contradictions and the conflict with society”: Applying the normative conflict model to a collectivist society

AbstractThe normative conflict model of dissent predicts how group members will behave when experiencing conflict with the group on a normative basis, as a function of the extent to which they identify with their group. While strongly identified members will dissent and challenge prevailing norms because they have the group's interests in mind, weakly identified members will distance themselves because the group is not important to them. The normative conflict model has so far been empirically examined only in Western populations. The purpose of the present study is to apply the normative conflict model to a collectivist Arab society. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 28 young Arabs, graduates of one of the only alternative schools operating in Arab society in Israel. As students, they were exposed to liberal norms that were very different from the dominant norms in Arab society. The findings show that while dissent is the most common practice that the study participants adopt, some of them also distance themselves from society. As opposed to the model's prediction, those who distance themselves do care about their group and feel they belong to it. Findings also reveal that the severity of social sanctions imposed on dissenters motivates them to conform regardless of the conflict with society. The findings are discussed and interpreted in accordance with the normative conflict model. Further examination of the model in the context of additional non‐Western societies is needed.

Relationship between horizontal collectivism and social network influence among college students: mediating effect of self-monitoring and moderating effect of self-efficacy.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the intrinsic relationship between cultural values and social network index among college students. In addition, the present study explored the mediating role of self-monitoring in the relationship between horizontal collectivism cultural values and social network index, as well as the moderating role of self-efficacy, to provide a theoretical approach based on the intrinsic mechanism for college students to establish a good social network. A simple random cluster sampling method was used to investigate 376 college students with cultural values scale, self-monitoring scale, self-efficacy scale, and social network index scale, structural equation model was constructed using M-plus and SPSS. The result indicated that individual horizontal collectivist cultural values positively predict social network index (β = 0.477). Self-monitoring plays an intermediary role between cultural values and social network index, and self-efficacy plays a moderating role between self-monitoring and social network index. The level of an individual's social network activity is affected by the cultural values of horizontal collectivism and self-monitoring. Improving individual self-monitoring ability and self-efficacy can effectively improve the interpersonal relationships of college students.

The Business Model and System of the Korean Music Industry within a Collectivist Society

The Business Model and System of the Korean Music Industry within a Collectivist Society

EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL: TALENT ACQUISITION IMPLICATIONS FOR THE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM SECTOR POSTCOVID 19

Purpose – This paper is presented through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory (SCCT) (Lent et al., 1994), and seeks to examine the role of parental influence and internship programs on Job Pursuit Intentions (JPI) in the Vietnamese Hospitality and Tourism industry. Methodology/Design/Approach – Data were collected through a survey of fourth-year Hospitality and Tourism students at six universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Student responses to a series of prepared questions allowed structural relationships to be developed between key variables, which were illuminated through the deployment of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Smart-PLS. Findings – The study found that parental support and internship programs significantly affect JPI. This research also revealed the potential for using SCCT in JPI examinations. Further, it indicated that the relationship between parental support and JPI and the relationship between internship programs and JPI are moderated by External Locus of Control (ELOC). Originality of the research - This research deploys a novel application of SCCT within a collectivist society with Confucian values in the context of JPI amongst Vietnamese hospitality and tourism students. It further gives insight for human resources departments of H&T foreign brands and universities on how to better target student and graduate recruitment.

A comparison of short form Marlowe–Crowne and “best friends” social desirability bias measures

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to compare two different types of measures of social desirability bias (SDB), a short form of the Marlowe–Crowne measure, a popular direct measure, and an example of a projective technique where half of the respondents record the views of their “best friends”.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected using an online survey of members of a consumer panel. The context chosen to test the SDB measures was that of attitudes toward counterfeit products and xenocentrism in Colombia. Counterfeit proneness, attitude toward counterfeit products and consumer xenocentrism were selected as variables likely to be affected by SDB. Vertical and horizontal collectivism were included as variables likely to influence the first group of variables while not being themselves subject to SDB.FindingsThe projective technique consistently identified higher levels of SDB effects, as hypothesized. Marked differences emerged in the apparent strength of the relationships between the operational constructs depending upon which measure of SDB was used. At times, whether any such relationship might exist depended on the SDB measure used. Contrary to some prior work, no systematic gender effects were identified using either approach.Originality/valueThe first study to provide evidence of the comparative effects of different types of measures of SDB in research into ethical issues. One of the few to demonstrate how apparent relationships between variables can be created by SDB.