Macro Cultural Context Research Articles

DIVERSITY OF VALUES TOWARDS PARENTING IN DIFFERENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS IN EUROPE. THE MIGRATION BACKGROUND MATTERS

The study aims to assess variations in values towards parenting across 28 countries in Europe and their relationship to a set of determinants at two levels - country and individual. Data and methods: Microdata from the representative ESS wave 9 conducted in 2018-2020 is used. A 4-component variable of values towards parenting is designed. Central research questions are: how do the cultural context and the socio-economic development in different countries influence values towards parenting? What is the effect of some values concerning the relationships between individuals and groups on this value-parenting variable? What is the situation with migrants as a specific group - how do values towards parenting vary between the natives, first-generation and second-generation immigrants in different clusters of countries and do they associate with the macro-cultural context? Is there a relationship between attitudes towards immigrants in these countries and values towards parenting? Answers are sought through different types of analysis - descriptive, principal component analysis, and multilevel linear regression modelling. Results: Migrant background as a micro-level socialisation context variable has the strongest impact on values towards parenting. Although we document an adaptation of migrants' values towards parenting in conformity with the macro-level cultural context and by the migrant generation. Among the three cultural context variables designed, both humanism and conservatism are important statistically significant individual-level predictors of values toward parenting and the former is a country-level predictor. These values act as predictors irrespective of people's age and education. The human development index is the strongest predictor at the country level.

DIVERSITY OF VALUES TOWARDS PARENTING IN DIFFERENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS IN EUROPE. THE MIGRATION BACKGROUND MATTERS

The study aims to assess variations in values towards parenting across 28 countries in Europe and their relationship to a set of determinants at two levels - country and individual. Data and methods: Microdata from the representative ESS wave 9 conducted in 2018-2020 is used. A 4-component variable of values towards parenting is designed. Central research questions are: how do the cultural context and the socio-economic development in different countries influence values towards parenting? What is the effect of some values concerning the relationships between individuals and groups on this value-parenting variable? What is the situation with migrants as a specific group - how do values towards parenting vary between the natives, first-generation and second-generation immigrants in different clusters of countries and do they associate with the macro-cultural context? Is there a relationship between attitudes towards immigrants in these countries and values towards parenting? Answers are sought through different types of analysis - descriptive, principal component analysis, and multilevel linear regression modelling. Results: Migrant background as a micro-level socialisation context variable has the strongest impact on values towards parenting. Although we document an adaptation of migrants' values towards parenting in conformity with the macro-level cultural context and by the migrant generation. Among the three cultural context variables designed, both humanism and conservatism are important statistically significant individual-level predictors of values toward parenting and the former is a country-level predictor. These values act as predictors irrespective of people's age and education. The human development index is the strongest predictor at the country level.

Literary Discourse on Quranic Studies: A Historical Study on The Model of Literary Interpretation to The Quran

The aspect of the beauty of language ('ijaz lughawi) is one of the first miracles that emerged from the Qur'an. This aligns with the audience to whom the Qur'an was revealed around 14 centuries ago: people who are very close to the literary tradition. Interestingly, scholars of the Qur'an, from classical to contemporary, see this as an opportunity for studies and still developing and producing various monumental works. Through this paper, the author tries to trace chronologically how the Al-Qur'an and literature meet to become an approach in interpreting the Al-Qur'an. The research in this paper is carried out through essential matters by looking at how the Qur'an was revealed in Arab society, the interpretation practices carried out by the Prophet and his companions, to the contact of the Qur'an with modern literature. This study uses a socio-historical approach by looking at the macro-cultural context of early Arab society and the process of interpretation of the earlier era carried out by the Prophet, companions and tabi'in. This study argues that the emergence of a model of literary interpretation of the Qur'an is closely related to the traditions and culture of Arab society, which are close to literary traditions. Furthermore, this research contributes to the history of interpretation, especially in tracking the various approaches that appear in the study of the Quran.

Randall Collins’ micro-sociology, the Southern culture of honor, and the codes of violence pathway: Toward a general theory of violence

One of Randall Collins' principal theoretical projects is the advancement of a general theory of violence. The central framing mechanism driving Collins approach is the concept of confrontational tension/fear, and the various pathways a social actor might utilize to overcome its debilitating effects. Collins' approach successfully accounts for violence on a micro-situational level but struggles with macro-level variance in rates of violence, such as higher incidents of violence in cultures of honor. Since a general theory must account for violence on multiple conceptual levels, Collins' pathways around confrontational tension/fear need further development to establish those macro-cultural connections necessary for continued theoretical advancement. To that end, I suggest his micro-sociological theory of violence can bridge with cultures of honor by incorporating the seminal work of Elijah Anderson's code of the street into a “codes of violence pathway.” This “codes of violence pathway” expands the theoretical purchase of Collins' approach by reasserting the importance of sociological influences on individual behavior in situated action and, therefore, provides a mechanism to ground micro-behavior in a macro-cultural context.

The Compensatory Protective Effects of Social Support at Work in Presenteeism During the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

The present study investigated the lasting effects of sickness presenteeism on well-being and innovative job performance in the demanding Chinese work context compounded with the precarities of the post-pandemic business environment. Adopting the conservation of resources (COR) theory perspective, especially its proposition of compensation of resources, we incorporated social resources at work (supervisory support and collegial support) as joint moderators in the presenteeism–outcomes relationship. We employed a panel design in which all variables were measured twice with 6 months in between. Data were obtained from 323 Chinese employees working in diverse industries in Taiwan. We found that after controlling for the baseline level of well-being, presenteeism did not have a lasting effect on employees' exhaustion. However, presenteeism did have a negative lasting effect on employees' innovative behavior 6 months later. Moreover, we found a significant three-way interaction of presenteeism, supervisory support, and collegial support on employees' innovative job performance, after controlling for the baseline level of performance. Specifically, when working under illness, employees displayed the best innovative performance with high levels of both supervisory and collegial support, the worst performance with both support being low, and the intermediate when any one of the support being high. This can be taken as the preliminary evidence to support the COR proposition of resource caravans, showing that supervisory support and collegial support compensated for each other as critical resources in alleviating the impact of working under sickness on employees' innovative performance. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed, taking into account the macro-cultural context of the East Asian Confucian societies. We also reflected on the managerial implications of the lasting damages of sickness presenteeism and benefits of mobilizing social resources on employees' well-being and performance.

Is internal CSR really less impactful in individualist and masculine Cultures? A multilevel approach

PurposeDrawing on signaling theory and adopting a multilevel approach, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how meso-organizational attributes interact with the macro cultural context to affect employees’ behavioral responses to internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This study unpacks the behavioral process through which internal CSR affects employees’ organizational citizenship behavior in an organization that has obtained SA8000 and that operates in an understudied Italian context characterized by high individualism and masculinity.Design/methodology/approachBootstrapped multi-mediation analysis was used on a sample of 300 employees operating in one of the most important and largest Italian retail stores active in the food industry and involved in socio-environmental responsibility.FindingsResults show that when a company obtains an internal CSR quality credential, particularly SA8000, an auditable certification standard that signals that a company goes beyond compliance standards to tailor to the well-being of its employees, it will likely attract like-minded employees that will positively react to internal CSR initiatives even when operating in a highly individualistic and masculine culture such as Italy.Originality/valueWhile prior research has shown that internal CSR initiatives have a lower and, in some cases, an insignificant impact on employees’ behavioral outcomes in cultures characterized by individualism and masculinity, this study shows that the interaction between the cultural setting and company specific attributes can turn this effect to be significant, strong, and positive.

Interpretation and Construction of “Meaning-Senses” within Cross-cultural Context—Extension of Brand Name Translation Theory

Integral study of brand name translation needs promoting theoretical category system at relevant macro-meso-micro contextual levels. Taken E-C brand name translation as example, this paper establishes an explanatory frame of generation and construction of “meaning-senses” of translated brand name through discussing the macro-meso-micro contexts and their major factors in the process of brand name translation. This research shows that “named meaning”, determined by meso brand contextual factors, should be jointly delivered by micro linguistic contextual factors complying with demands of macro cultural contexts. This research will provide a feasible research dimension for systematic integration of theoretical categorization of pragmatic translation.

DIY in the DNA: Macro Context and National Myth as Enduring Advertising Discourse

This study shows how national contexts recurrently foreground specific myths in advertising to increase consumers’ ‘knowledge’ of the positioning of brands and their ‘liking’ of these brands. From an extended sample of New Zealand television commercials, the research isolates the theme of ‘Kiwi Ingenuity’ as an important tool to advertise a wide variety of brands. At a micro level the study illustrates how hyperbolic characterisation works to attach emotional meanings to brands and products, in particular how ingenious characters are used as hyperbolic cultural signs. The study situates these micro representation strategies in their macro cultural context, arguing that the mechanics of national myths in advertising needs to be understood within the geopolitical context.

Is it a Small World After All? Investigating the Theoretical Structure of Working Memory Cross-Nationally

Abstract To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to test different theoretical models of working memory in childhood based on a computerized assessment. We tested this across several countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Italy, and uk. The present study addressed the wider macro-cultural context and how this impacts working memory. We used two economic indices (gdp and ppp) to characterize the participating countries and ranked the countries based on the Global Index of Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment. Children between 5 and 10 years completed the same set of short-term and working memory tests. There were two main findings. First, there was a similar pattern in verbal working memory across countries, which suggests that this skill may be relatively consistent across different cultural groups. In contrast, the pattern for visuo-spatial working memory was different across countries, which may explained by cultural differences and educational rankings of the countries. The second main finding was that both a domain-general model (3-factor) and a domain-specific model (4-factor) provided a reasonably good fit with the data, there was the high relationship between the verbal and visuo-spatial working memory constructs across the countries in the latter model. Thus, it may be a more parsimonious choice to rely on a three-factor model. The data also suggest culture-similar patterns in a computerized assessment of working memory.

Risk factors of severity of abuse against older women in the home setting: A multinational European study

ABSTRACTThis article examines the ecological risk factors of abuse against older women. Data from 2,880 older women were randomly collected in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Lithuania, and Portugal) using a standardized questionnaire. Results indicate that overall 30.1 % older women had at least one experience of abuse in the past year. The findings demonstrate that a single emphasis on personal risk factors (e.g., health, coping) is important but too simple: Abuse is multifaceted and is embedded in environmental (e.g., loneliness, household income) as well as macrocultural contexts (e.g., old age dependency ratio).

Female pubertal timing and problem behaviour

We tested the peer-socialization/contextual-amplification explanation for the link between early female puberty and problem behaviour. We propose that in cultures with high tolerance for adolescent heterosexual involvement, early puberty should be linked with problem behaviour—not in other cultures. We compared girls in two cultures (Slovakia and Sweden) that differ in acceptance of adolescent girls’ heterosexual involvement. Findings supported the hypothesis by showing that in Sweden, a culture that facilitates adolescent heterosexual involvement, early-maturing girls reported more problem behaviours than in Slovakia. The mediation link (heterosexual involvement as the mechanism linking early puberty with problem behaviour) was moderated by culture. The findings expand our understanding of the role of macro-cultural contexts in the developmental significance of female puberty.

Culture and individual performance management in University of Cape Coast Ghana: towards a large scale research agenda

Universities in Africa do not operate in a vacuum. Their success depends not only on socio-economic and political factors but also on cultural values that influence their activities. In this article, we draw upon the case of one Ghanaian university to illustrate the extent to which cultural values that individuals bring to the workplace pose challenges to performance management. We argue that an in-depth understanding of the micro and macro cultural contexts of performance management is critical, if the University of Cape Coast can cope with current competitive market demands. We finally put forward a proposal for an extensive research into the cultural challenges facing performance management in other African universities. Makerere Journal of Higher Education Vol. 1, 2004: 106-119