Individualism And Collectivism Research Articles

Individualism and collectivism orientation and the correlates among Chinese college students

In this study we examine the individualism and collectivism (I-C) orientation among Chinese college students and explore predictive associations between I-C and other variables. Chinese college students (N = 2770) were randomly sampled and relevant psychological scales (I-Cs, SES, CES-D, MSPSS, PTM, etc.) were administered. Data were collected through paper and pencil questionnaire survey. It was found that high collectivism is significantly associated with strong social support and pro-social tendencies. On the other hand, depression and self-esteem which reflect individual differences in mental condition as predictors of individualism are significant. Chinese college students’ collectivism tendency is significantly related to the higher Chinese cultural identity, and lower Chinese cultural identity as a predictor of individualism tendency is significant. Utilitarian pro-social behavior has a significant positive impact on individualism. At the same time, a high degree of the attention to wealth strengthens individualism and weakens collectivism significantly. It shows that excessive pursuit of interests not only strengthens individualism but also weakens collectivism. By understanding the ideological situation of Chinese college students and exploring the related variables that have a significant relationship with collectivism and individualism, this study reveals the tendency of individualism and collectivism of Chinese college students and its influencing factors; At the same time, these findings contribute to the I-C literature with the data from Chinese culture.

Horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism and preferences for altruism: A social discounting study

Preferences for altruism are important in prosocial human behaviour. Studies have documented some differences in social discounting between cultures based on group-level comparisons. It is not clear however how cultural values such as individualism and collectivism are associated with social discounting at the individual-level. The research reported in this paper is based on an incentivized social discounting experiment conducted with 133 laboratory subjects in South Africa, using the standard social discounting task (SDT) and the 14-item reduced-form IND-COL scale. The analysis explores the associations between preferences for altruism and the Individualism and Collectivism (IC) dichotomy and, more specifically, with the Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism (HVIC) schema. The study finds only horizontal collectivism to be associated with greater preferences for altruism. Global shifts toward greater individualism therefore need not threaten the realisation of the benefits of altruism.

The impact of culture, evaluation of store image and satisfaction on purchase intention at supermarkets

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of culture in terms of individualism and collectivism (I-C), store image and customer satisfaction, on purchase intention at supermarkets. Design/methodology/approach In order to carry out the descriptive and quantitative research, the authors applied 443 questionnaires to consumers in two Brazilian supermarket chains. The authors used structured equation modeling for data analysis. Findings Customers’ satisfaction and the evaluation of store image positively affect purchase intention; however, I-C did not show any effect. The cultural dimension slightly influenced the assessment of store image by only 2 percent. Store image positively affects consumer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications This study used convenience sampling and omission of vertical and horizontal variations of I-C in data analyses. The authors suggested the use of probabilistic sampling and the inclusion of vertical and horizontal variations of I-C. The relationships investigated herein can still be analyzed in other contexts. Practical implications In order to increase satisfaction and purchase intention, it is necessary to prioritize aspects related to layout, service and products’ variety and quality. Still, managers should not worry about I-C, since it does not affect purchase intention. Originality/value The authors observed the relevance of the study after carrying out a literature review on the subject. There is a lack of studies that investigate the relationship between I-C, evaluation of store image, consumer satisfaction and purchase intention, either together or in the context of supermarkets.

Collectivism Is Associated With Greater Neurocognitive Fluency in Older Adults.

Neuropsychological research has been limited in the representation of cultural diversity due to various issues, raising questions regarding the applicability of findings to diverse populations. Nonetheless, culture-dependent differences in fundamental psychological processes have been demonstrated. One of the most basic of these, self-construal (individualism, collectivism), is central to how many other differences are interpreted. Self-construals may have possible consequences on social interactions, emotions, motivation, and cognition. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of self-construal on neurocognitive functions in older adults. A total of 86 community-dwelling older adults 60 years and older were assessed with three common self-report measures of self-construal along individualism and collectivism (IC). A cognitive battery was administered to assess verbal and non-verbal fluency abilities. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to categorize individuals according to IC, and one-way analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), including relevant covariates (e.g., ethnicity, gender, linguistic abilities), were used to compare neurocognitive functions between individualists and collectivists. Collectivists outperformed individualists on left frontally-mediated measures of verbal fluency (action, phonemic) after controlling for relevant covariates, F(1,77) = 6.942, p = 0.010, η2 = 0.061. Groups did not differ on semantic fluency, non-verbal fluency, or attention/working memory (all ps > 0.05). These findings suggest a cognitive advantage in collectivists for verbal processing speed with an additional contribution of left frontal processes involved in lexicosemantic retrieval. Self-construal may provide a meaningful descriptor for diverse samples in neuropsychological research and may help explain other cross-cultural differences.

How Consumer Ethnocentrism (CET), Ethnocentric Marketing, and Consumer Individualism Affect Ethnocentric Behavior in China

ABSTRACTThis study investigates how the value of consumer ethnocentrism (CET) and ethnocentric marketing affect consumers' purchase intentions for domestic and foreign brands in China. In predicting ethnocentric consumer behavior, past research has tended to focus on consumers' ethnocentric values rather than ethnocentric marketing stimuli. In addition, this study examines how the consumer value of individualism and collectivism (IC) affects ethnocentric choice behavior. An experimental study was conducted on 220 Chinese millennials, using fictitious advertisements. The study found that the CET value has moderate effects on consumer purchase intentions for foreign brands, while it strongly influences consumer purchases of domestic brands. In addition, the findings suggest that ethnocentric advertising may not encourage purchases of domestic brands, but can discourage foreign brand purchases. More significantly, individualistic consumers were found to show a greater preference for foreign brands and also their brand choices were less affected by the CET value and ethnocentric advertising.

Psychometric properties of the Gabonese version of the horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism scale among employees

The horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism (HV-IC) scale is one of the most used to assess individualism and collectivism (IC), but its factorial structure is more discussed. In the...

Do individualism and collectivism on three levels (country, individual, and situation) influence theory-of-mind efficiency? A cross-country study

This study investigated whether individualism and collectivism (IC) at country, individual, and situational level influence how quickly and accurately people can infer mental states (i.e. theory of mind, or ToM), indexed by accuracy and reaction time in a ToM task. We hypothesized that collectivism (having an interdependent self and valuing group concerns), compared to individualism (having an independent self and valuing personal concerns), is associated with greater accuracy and speed in recognizing and understanding the thoughts and feelings of others. Students (N = 207) from individualism-representative (the Netherlands) and collectivism-representative (Vietnam) countries (Country IC) answered an individualism-collectivism questionnaire (Individual IC) and were randomly assigned to an individualism-primed, collectivism-primed, or no-prime task (Situational IC) before performing a ToM task. The data showed vast differences between the Dutch and Vietnamese groups that might not be attributable to experimental manipulation. Therefore, we analyzed the data for the groups separately and found that Individual IC did not predict ToM accuracy or reaction time performance. Regarding Situational IC, when primed with individualism, the accuracy performance of Vietnamese participants in affective ToM trials decreased compared to when primed with collectivism and when no prime was used. However, an interesting pattern emerged: Dutch participants were least accurate in affective ToM trials, while Vietnamese participants were quickest in affective ToM trials. Our research also highlights a dilemma faced by cross-cultural researchers who use hard-to-reach populations but face the challenge of disentangling experimental effects from biases that might emerge due to an interaction between cultural differences and experimental settings. We propose suggestions for overcoming such challenges.

Individualism, collectivism, and consumer animosity in emerging Asia: evidence from Korea

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how the consumer values of individualism and collectivism (IC) affect consumer animosity toward foreign brands in emerging Asia.Design/methodology/approachSurveys were conducted with Korean consumers on their animosity toward Japanese brands.FindingsThe study found that the IC value can precede consumer animosity and also moderate the effects of consumer animosity on purchase intentions. When horizontal and vertical dimensions of IC were examined, collectivism and vertical individualism were found to have strong effects on consumer animosity. In addition, both horizontal and vertical individualism negatively moderated the consumer animosity effects.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings suggest that future consumers in Asia and perhaps other emerging countries as well may be less affected by consumer animosity in brand choice as they become more Westernized and individualistic.Originality/valueThis study may enhance the understanding on changing consumer animosity and behavior in emerging countries in general.

Cross-Cultural Communication And Dimensions: A Hybrid Analysis Of Horizontal And Vertical Individualist And Collectivist Tendencies Among African American And European American Management Students

This article describes research about horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism (HVIC) among African American and European American university students. The survey is based on the work of Harry Triandis (1995), one of the seminal researchers of individualism and collectivism (I-C). The survey of attitude and scenario items, developed by Harry Triandis (1995), was administered to undergraduate management students in three universities in the Eastern and Southeastern United States. Many of the attitude and scenario survey items directly address preferred communication patterns. The findings are also interpreted in terms of situational preferences about I-C, including the following contexts: social events, workplace decisions, and group and work dynamics. The research is unique in that it measures four types of the I-C dimension: horizontal individualism, vertical individualism, horizontal collectivism, and vertical collectivism, as conceptualized by Triandis (1995). Furthermore, it emerges from the premise that cultures are neither strictly collectivist nor individualist; rather, cultures have profiles in which individualist tendencies are prominent in some circumstances whereas collectivist tendencies are emphasized in others. Also, this article provides findings that can easily be converted into training about cross-cultural similarities and differences. Related recommendations for future research and implications for teaching are provided.

Social Media Intelligence in the Exploration of National Cultural Dimensions for Online Social Communities

Companies are increasingly embracing the use of social media in global online communities as an important part of their business strategies. Use of social media enables organizations to extend their reach and engage with customers in a shared community. These provide forums for interacting with customers and collecting information so that companies can better make informed decisions that directly relate to customer needs. However, effective use of social media requires matching both organizational and user requirements with the features of the social media. To support the development of successful social communities, this research uses Hofstede’s dimensions to examine the impact of user’s national culture on social media feature preference in a global international scuba diving online community. Specifically, this paper focuses on the Hofstede’s Individualism and Collectivism (IC) dimension which the study found is a significant determinant of feature preferences.

Individualism-Collectivism and Co-operation: A Cross-Society and Cross-Level Examination

We examined the influence of Individualism and Collectivism (I‐C) on co-operation in workgroups at three levels (societal, organizational, and personal). Data were from 153 American business students representing an individualistic society and 207 Vietnamese counterparts (a collectivistic society). Participants role-played managers for a simulated company with either a collectivistic or individualistic organizational culture in a computerized social-dilemma game. Societal cultures did not moderate the interaction effect between organization-level I‐C and person-level Individualism. Those high on individualism pursued their own gains in a dominantly individualistic organizational culture, yet behaving co-operatively in a collectivistic organizational culture. Interestingly, societal cultures moderated the effect of organizational culture on co-operation, such that the positive relationship between organization-level I‐C and co-operation was weaker in a collectivistic society (Vietnam) than in an individualistic society (the United States). The results indicate the need for an integrative, cross-level approach to better understand the determinants of co-operation across societies, organizations, and individuals.

Further support of the reliability and construct validity of the horizontal and vertical, individualism and collectivism Framework

The search for an acceptable model to explain cultural differences in value orientations has led the present author to the constructs of individualism and collectivism (I‐C). These two constructs have attracted the attention of scholars from a variety of disciplines since the 1800s, and I‐C has been used to explain cultural differences in family dynamics, conflict resolution, communication, leadership and resource allocation.

The relational self: Closeness to ingroups depends on who they are, culture, and the type of closeness

Cultural differences in individualism and collectivism (I‐C) describe important variations in how the self relates to others, but existing scales may be too broad‐band to precisely measure this aspect of I‐C. They also do not distinguish among particular ingroups and types of interdependence with them. The Circles of Closeness scale addresses these limitations. Initial results from Euro‐American, Asian‐American, Dutch, Turkish, and Japanese samples of college students are presented. The scales have high alpha reliability. Different results were obtained for three ingroups – immediate family, relatives, and friends – and six closeness types – emotional, supportive, identity, reputational, similarity, and harmony. These factors significantly interacted with each other, arguing for a more differentiated view of I‐C.

Individualism‐collectivism and self‐concept: Social or contextual?

The cultural constructs of individualism and collectivism (I‐C) have been closely identified with different conceptions of the self. In contrast to autonomous, abstract self‐concepts, it has been argued that collectivists have concepts of self which are interdependent with others and connected with particular contexts. This study investigated the extent to which spontaneous social and contextual self‐concepts were connected to each other and to individual‐level I‐C measures. Questionnaires were administered to adult employee samples in Australia and South‐East Asia (N = 581). Although closely intertwined, social and contextual statements were able to be independently tested in relation to I‐C. I‐C was primarily related to the social‐autonomous dimension of self. Controlling for social self‐responses, contextual self‐concepts were not independently related to any of the measures of I‐C.

The Contribution of Individualism vs. Collectivism to Cross‐national Differences in Display Rules

Despite the fact that display rules are an important concept of theories of emotion and contemporary psychology, relatively little cross‐cultural research has been done on them. This study examined cross‐national differences in display rules of emotion, and investigated the degree to which those differences could be attributed to Individualism and Collectivism (IC) measured on the individual level. Participants in the US, Japan, South Korea, and Russia completed a comprehensive measure of display rules assessing behavioral tendencies for seven universal emotions in four social contexts in two rating domains. They also completed Matsumoto et al.’s (1997) Individualism–Collectivism Interpersonal Assessment Inventory. The results confirmed the existence of cross‐national differences in IC and display rules, and indicated that IC and display rules were correlated. Significant differences between the countries remained even after IC was controlled for, and effect size analyses comparing cross‐national differences when IC was controlled and not indicated that IC accounted for approximately 30% of the effect sizes related to cross‐national differences. This study is unique in that it not only used the concept of IC to explain and predict differences; it also quantitatively assessed the degree to which IC contributed to those differences. These findings are discussed in terms of the utility of the IC concept to understanding cross‐cultural and cross‐national differences in emotion.