Significant Cross-cultural Differences Research Articles

Cross-Cultural Evaluation of Health Status Using Item Response Theory

To make meaningful cross-cultural comparisons of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) or to pool international research data, it is essential to create culturally unbiased measures that detect clinically important differences between patients. We evaluated the measurement properties of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) in 111 Austrian and 144 U.S. patients with breast cancer using item response theory (IRT) methods. A small number of items were identified as displaying statistically significant differential item functioning (DIF), suggesting possible measurement bias. The majority of the items functioned similarly between the two cultural groups. U.S. patients reported lower (worse) physical function and well-being compared with Austrian patients, higher (better) social/family well-being and similar emotional well-being, before and after adjustment for DIF. IRT and related measurement models provide useful methods for assessing cross-cultural equivalence and determining which items can be pooled across languages before analyzing HRQOL data. Determination of clinically significant cross-cultural differences will require additional investigation.

Psychiatric disorders in homeless men and women in inner Sydney.

To determine the 12-month prevalence of mental disorders among homeless people in inner Sydney and compare this data with data collected on homeless populations in other Western cities. Representative sample of 210 homeless men and women in Sydney were interviewed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (2.0). Seventy-three percent of men and 81% of women met criteria for at least one mental disorder in the past year and 40% of the men and 50% of the women had at least two mental disorders. The prevalence rate of schizophrenia among men and women was 23% and 46%, respectively. There was considerable comorbidity between mental disorders with one in five men (20%) and 29% of women meeting criteria for two mental disorders. The prevalence of any mental disorder is four times higher among homeless men and women in inner Sydney than within the Australian general population. International comparisons demonstrated significant cross-cultural differences in the prevalence of mental disorders among the homeless. This paper highlights the need for comparable epidemiological data when examining an international problem such as homelessness.

On the Export of U.S.-Style Corporate Fiduciary Duties to Other Cultures: Can a Transplant Take?

This essay explores the feasibility of exporting U.S.-style corporate fiduciary duty rules to other nations. It suggests that fiduciary duty rules are best understood as open-ended standards of behavior that exhort corporate officers, directors, and controlling shareholders to focus on the firm's interests rather than their own, in circumstances where a failure to do this often would be difficult to punish. Put differently, fiduciary rules ask corporate insiders to show altruistic concern for the firm and its shareholders. Extensive empirical evidence demonstrates that altruistic behavior is in fact common, predictable, and reliable among U.S. subjects. However, a recent study also reports significant cross-cultural differences in altruistic behavior. The essay explores some possible sources of such cross-cultural differences, and what each implies about the challenges to be faced in transplanting fiduciary duty rules to other societies. In the process, it offers insight into the phenomenon often described as culture.

Pioneering advantage in new service development: a multi-country study of managerial perceptions

Pioneering advantage in manufacturing firms has received much attention in the management and marketing literature. Few research studies, however, have been conducted to investigate the pioneering advantages and disadvantages involved in new service development, especially across several geographic regions. We build a theoretical framework of pioneering advantage in service industries based on the distinguishing characteristics of services. From this framework, we develop a set of testable propositions about the importance of several types of pioneering advantage (economic, preemptive, technological, and behavioral advantages) to service managers. Specifically, we propose that all of these types of pioneering advantages are important to service managers, and that these managers perceive that pioneering results in improved firm performance. We also propose that, due to the distinguishing characteristics of services such as intangibility and heterogeneity, service managers will not perceive the risks of pioneering in a service industry to be severe. In addition, we propose that certain types of pioneering advantage will be more important to service managers in Western countries than in Asian Pacific countries due to cultural and business environmental differences. In particular, we propose that service managers from Western firms perceive preemptive advantages of pioneering to be more important than do their Asian Pacific counterparts, and service managers from Asian Pacific firms perceive behavioral advantages of pioneering to be more important than do their Western counterparts. To test our propositions empirically, we develop a set of pioneering principles from the literature. We then collect and analyze data from a sample of 982 senior managers in service industries from nine countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, 1 South Korea, and Singapore. We find evidence of several significant cross-cultural differences consistent with our propositions. In fact, seven of the eight propositions are strongly or partially supported. The only nonsupported proposition concerned the importance of technological advantage. We find that technological advantages of pioneering are much less important to service managers than are other pioneering advantages. We conclude with strategic recommendations for managers involved in new service development and international or global competition, and provide directions for future research. We note that the insights from this study can help managers from both the West and the Asian Pacific region to better understand their global competitors who pursue a new service pioneering strategy, and can potentially help them select entry deterrence strategies more effectively.

Problems reported by parents of children in multiple cultures: the Child Behavior Checklist syndrome constructs.

The purpose of this study was to compare syndromes of parent-reported problems for children in 12 cultures. Child Behavior Checklists were analyzed for 13,697 children and adolescents, ages 6 through 17 years, from general population samples in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Greece, Israel, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Comparisons of nine cultures for subjects ages 6 through 17 gave medium effect sizes for cross-cultural variations in withdrawn and social problems and small effect sizes for somatic complaints, anxious/depressed, thought problems, attention problems, delinquent behavior, and aggressive behavior. Scores of Puerto Rican subjects were the highest, whereas Swedish subjects had the lowest scores on almost all syndromes. With great cross-cultural consistency, girls obtained higher scores than boys on somatic complaints and anxious/depressed but lower scores on attention problems, delinquent behavior, and aggressive behavior. Although remarkably consistent across cultures, the developmental trends differed according to syndrome. Comparison of the 12 cultures across ages 6 through 11 supported these results. Empirically based assessment in terms of Child Behavior Checklist syndromes permits comparisons of problems reported for children from diverse cultures.

Gender Differences in the Perception and Use of E-Mail: An Extension to the Technology Acceptance Model

This study extends the TAM model (Davis 1989) and the SPIR addendum (Straub 1994) by adding gender to an IT diffusion model. The technology acceptance model (TAM) has been widely studied in IS research as an explanation of the use of information systems across IS types and nationalities. While this line of research has found significant cross-cultural differences, it has ignored the effects of gender, even though in socio-linguistic research, gender is a fundamental aspect of culture. Indeed, socio-linguistic research has shown that men tend to focus discourse on hierarchy and independence, while women focus on intimacy and solidarity. This literature provides a solid grounding for conceptual extensions to the IT diffusion research and the technology acceptance model.Testing gender differences that might relate to beliefs and use of computer-based media, the present study sampled 392 female and male responses via a cross-sectional survey instrument. The sample drew from comparable groups of knowledge workers using e-mail systems in the airline industry in North America, Asia, and Europe.Study findings indicate that women and men differ in their perceptions but not use of e-mail. These findings suggest that researchers should include gender in IT diffusion models along with other cultural effects. Managers and coworkers, moreover, need to realize that the same mode of communication may be perceived differently by the sexes, suggesting that more favorable communications environments might be created, environments that take into account not only organizational contextual factors, but also the gender of users. The creation of these environments involves not only the actual deployment of communication media, but also organizational training on communications media.

The service experience in two cultures: A behavioral perspective

This research examines how consumers in the U.S. and Japan evaluate service encounters. It broadens traditional thinking about components of service transactions and develops behaviorally based service encounter dimensions, each with multiple measures, for the two countries. The study reveals a conversation factor not presently identified in the services literature and significant cross-cultural differences in both the dimensions and behaviors identified in the two countries. It also examines the relationship of dimensions to encounter satisfaction in both countries.

Differences in cancer-risk-related behaviors in Latino and Anglo adults

Methods. Latino ( n = 358) and Anglo ( n = 113) adults living in the San Diego area were surveyed on nutrition, smoking, and cancer screening behaviors. The Latino respondents were dichotomized into a low (L-Latino) or high (H-Latino) acculturation group according to a median split of an acculturation index. Results. After controlling for age, years of education, gender, marital status, and income, significant cross-cultural differences were found in saturated fat/cholesterol avoidance, and fiber and high calorie food consumption. L-Latino respondents had the lowest degree of saturated fat/cholesterol avoidance, followed by H-Latinos and Anglos. A pattern of decreasing consumption with increasing acculturation was observed for fiber and high calorie foods. Significant differences were found among women in the prevalence of Pap smear exams, with L-Latinas having the lowest prevalence of ever and in the past year having had a Pap smear, followed by H-Latinas and Anglos. A similar significant pattern was observed among women 50 years of age or older with respect to the prevalence of ever having had a mammogram.

Understanding Short Stories: An American-Hungarian Cross-Cultural Study

This article presents a cross-cultural study about the relationship between story understanding, memory, and attitude towards the contents of a story. An American and a Hungarian short story dealing with the social class versus repression dimension were used. Thirty-four American freshmen (average age 18.5) and forty-eight Hungarian secondary school students (average 17.5) took part in the study. Half of each population read one, the second half the other story, in three-three segments. Following the reading of a segment, the subjects reported their understanding, answering some questions. They were asked to recognize some sentences in a set of original and false, aggressive, cooperative, evasive versions on 7 seven-point scales; and judged the content of the sentences from the points of view of refusal, activity, aggressivity, security, oppression, strength, and anxiety on 5-point scales. There were significant cross-cultural differences between the two populations in the frequency of the response-items of understanding and the recognition of sentences and in the content of the response-categories of understanding and the sensitivity towards aggressivity, oppression and anxiety. The results are discussed in terms of different issues of the social role of literature and literary competence on the one hand, and as those of some culture-dependent themes that influence literary understanding on the other hand.

The Ideal Overseas Missionary: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

The transition from home environment to an overseas culture is a difficult one for many overseas missionaries. Many efforts to facilitate cross-cultural adaptation have focused on selection and have assumed that some single ideal personality profile exists that marks the effective overseas missionary. Largely ignored in previous research are differences in personality that mark the effective missionary in different cultural settings. These differences were the focus of the present study. Eight-eight missionaries located in 11 overseas ministries rated an imaginary “ideal missionary” on each of 25 traits. Factor analysis revealed that these 25 traits represented four orthogonal underlying trait factors, labeled “Social Skill,” “Personal Energy,” “Outspokenness,” and “Timidity.” Significant cross-cultural differences were found between the 11 cultures on the latter two factors. Multidimensional scaling analysis suggested that the 11 ministries could be grouped into two broad clusters—“Moslem” and “East Asian.” These two culture clusters were found to differ significantly on the trait factor of “Timidity.”

A cross-cultural study of family functioning

The Family Assessment Device (FAD) was used to compare patterns of family functioning in two cultural settings, North America and Hungary. The sample size consisted of 95 nonclinical North American families and 58 nonclinical Hungarian families. No cross-cultural differences were found in the families' general functioning nor in their affective involvement or affective responsiveness as measured by the FAD. Hungarian families, however, perceived their functioning as significantly better than the North American families in problem-solving and in communication. North American families rated themselves significantly better than the Hungarians in setting family rules and boundaries and in meeting their family responsibilities. Results from this study suggest that cultural values can affect a family's functioning and that differences in areas of family functioning can be captured using the FAD. A discussion of broad societal values of the two cultures was used to interpret the contrasting patterns of family functioning. Cross-cultural studies serve many purposes. In general they provide knowledge about the different cultures under investigation. As such, they broaden and enrich our perspectives of ourselves and the world around us. More specifically they highlight similarities and differences across cultures, information that can be helpful in further refining our understanding of the impact of diverse and varying socio-political forces. A topic of particular interest to family therapists and researchers is family functioning in different cultural settings. In spite of continuing research in this area, few studies examine cross-cultural patterns of family interactions and even fewer do so with instruments specifically designed to assess family functioning. From a family perspective, particularly looking at pathology in family functioning, cross-cultural comparisons can be used to highlight areas of dysfunction common to families irrespective of the cultural context. From a cross-cultural perspective, family comparisons can be used to point out the cultural effects and emphases given to different dimensions of functioning within a common system (i.e., the family unit). Both conceptual and methodological problems have contributed to shortcomings in previous cross-cultural studies (Fabrega, 1974; Kleinman, 1987; Flaherty et al., 1988; Rogler, 1989). A basic criticism of such studies has been the assumption that meanings and values in one culture are equivalent to those in another. Another issue, which is particularly pertinent to our study, is the use of an instrument which is developed in one culture and administered in another cultural setting. A potential problem this raises is inferring cultural differences between groups when the translated and the original instruments are not actually comparable in meaning. In fact, one objective of the study was to see whether our own self-report measure of family functioning, the Family Assessment Device (FAD, Epstein et al., 1978, 1983), could be successfully used in another cultural setting. The following report is part of a larger research project, conducted in 1986–87, that compared depressed and nonclinical families across two cultures. The findings presented here are comparisons between nonclinical Hungarian and nonclinical North American families. In our earlier study differences in family interactions between clinically depressed and nonclinical families were evident in both cultural settings (Keitner et al., in press). It was not clear, however, if significant cross-cultural differences in family functioning would be found for the “normal” group of families and, if so, how these would differ from their ill counterparts. Inclusion of the normal families thus served two purposes, as controls in the larger study to test within cultural differences and as comparison groups in a separate analysis to test between cultural differences. A specific objective of this study was to contrast patterns of perceived family functioning in nonclinical Hungarian families and North American families. Another objective was to determine if the Family Assessment Device (FAD), a self-report measure of family functioning, could be successfully used in different cultural contexts. Hungary was chosen as an appropriate country of study for several reasons. It is at the crossroads of East and West, sharing enough similarities with western culture to validate comparisons, yet different enough in both its cultural and sociopolitical system that some differences could be expected to emerge. Because it is likely that the Hungarian social system is less familiar to readers than that of North American, the results are discussed with particular reference to Hungary.

American and Japanese Chronic Low Back Pain Patients

The study compared and contrasted medical, psychological, social and general behavioral functioning of American and Japanese low back pain patients and normal controls. The Sickness Impact Profile and a standardized Medical Examination Protocol for Pain instrument were used to assess all subjects. Findings showed that the American and Japanese low back pain patients had similar and significantly higher medical-physical findings than their respective controls. Likewise, the American and Japanese low back pain patients showed significantly greater psychological, social, and general behavioral dysfunction compared to control subjects. Finally, despite similar medical and physical findings, the Japanese low back pain patients were significantly less impaired in psychological, social, vocational, and avocational functioning than the American low back pain patients. It was concluded that there were significant cross-cultural differences between the American and Japanese low back pain patients, primarily in the psychosocial and behavioral areas. However, given the small sample size, any conclusion should be considered with caution; replication is needed before more definite conclusions are possible.

Epidemiological Comparisons of Puerto Rican and U.S. Mainland Children: Parent, Teacher, and Self-Reports

U.S. mainland and Puerto Rican nonreferred samples were compared via the Child Behavior Checklist (ages 4 to 16), Teacher's Report Form (ages 6 to 16), and Youth Self-Report (ages 12 to 16). Problem scores were significantly higher in parent and teacher ratings of Puerto Rican than mainland subjects, but were significantly lower in self-ratings by Puerto Rican adolescents. Adolescents in both cultures reported significantly more problems than their parents or teachers did. Most of the significant cross-cultural differences in parent, teacher, and self-ratings of competencies showed more favorable scores for the mainland subjects. High referral rates, a high prevalence of DSM diagnoses, and low scores on the Children's Global Assessment Scale are consistent with the high problem rates reported by Puerto Rican parents and teachers but not with the lower rates reported by adolescents. Different clinical cutoffs may be needed for all assessments in the mainland versus Puerto Rico.

Effects of Formal Structure on Managerial Recruitment: Comparisons of Japanese and North American Professional Baseball Clubs

This paper replicates Grusky’s (1963) study of the playing position-leadership recruitment relationship among North American professional baseball clubs in a different cultural context, comparing it to Japanese professional base-ball organizations over a 40-year period. Overall, the Japanese results are consistent with the North American findings, with the more central or high interaction positions contributing more leaders or field managers. However, the relationship is considerably weaker for the sport in Japan. There were also significant cross-cultural differences in the consequences of players having held the positions of pitcher and catcher. Alternative interpretations of the results are offered, and the implications of the results for choices of appropriate research strategies are presented.

The Japanese-American: A cross-cultural, cross-sectional study of sex guilt

The purpose of the present investigation is to examine cultural differences in sexual standards and the process of acculturation, using three generations of Japanese-Americans and matched Caucasian-American controls. Japanese-Americans were selected for study because of their generational, ethnic, and social structure. The present study hypothesized a change in sex guilt across the three generations of Japanese-Americans, approximating a bicultural adaptation. The results indicated that although the Japanese-American is a highly acculturated ethnic group, significant cross-cultural differences continue to emerge, especially among Japanese-American women. Furthermore, where gender differences do occur, they favor greater flexibility for men, in general, and for Japanese-American men in comparison to Japanese-American women. Finally, the results suggest that pronounced cultural changes in sexual standards have occurred over the past 70 years.

Authoritarianism in California 30 Years Later—With Some Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Summary Since the original work on authoritarianism was done in California, it was desired to compare California today both with itself 30 years ago and with other English-speaking cultures. In so doing it was also desired to incorporate the methodological improvements that have come from 30 years of research in this field. Random doorstep samples of people in Los Angeles, Sydney, London, Glasgow, and Johannesburg received, therefore, scales to measure authoritarian personality. The Los Angeles, Johannesburg, and Sydney samples also received scales to measure authoritarian attitudes and racial attitudes. Authoritarian personality was measured by a behavior inventory and authoritarian attitudes by a balanced version of the original F scale. Sample sizes were generally around 100 in each city. There were no significant cross-cultural differences in either authoritarian attitudes or authoritarian personality, but the American sample was significantly less prejudiced than the Australian or South African sampl...

Symmetry in Pattern Reproduction by Scottish and Kenyan Children

Bukusu and Scottish school children were asked to reproduce tachistoscopically-exposed dot patterns showing different types of symmetry. Comparison of the errors revealed that both samples were able to make use of the symmetrical properties of a pattern to aid recall. Significant cross-cultural differences were found between the samples in their responses to nonsymmetrical patterns, the Bukusu sample making more errors. It was hypothesized that the latter result reflects differences in the cognitive styles of the two samples.

The Cognitive Representation of Political Personalities. A Cross-Cultural Comparison

The cognitive representation of salient political personalities was studied in a British and a German student sample, using a multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) procedure. Separate MDS analyses for the two samples yielded a readily interpetable three dimensional stimulus space in each case. These cognitive spaces for political figures were interpreted as reflecting the attributes of political potency, evaluation and intelligence in the case of the British sample, and evaluation, conservatism and political potency in the case of the German sample. An additional joint analysis of data from both subject groups indicated significant cross-cultural differences in the cognitive representations of political leaders. The results were discussed in terms of the socio-cultural differences between the two subsamples, and the utility of a multi-dimensional approach to political perception and behaviour. RESUME Une procedure de graduation multidimensionnelle (multi-dimensional scaling, MDS) a ete appliquee a l'etude de la representation cognitive de personnalites politiques celebres, chez des etudiants anglais et allemands. Dans chacun des deux echantillons, les analyses MDS font apparaitre trois dimensions dans l'espace des representations; ces dimensions refletent, chez les Anglais, les caracteristiques de puissance politique, evaluation et intelligence et, chez les Allemands, d'evaluation, conservatisme et puissance politique. L'analyse combinee portant sur les deux groupes revele des differences interculturelles significatives. La discussion fait mention de differences socioculturelles entre echantillons et souligne l'utilite de l'approche multidimensionnelle en ce domaine

Depression, somatization and the “new cross-cultural psychiatry”

Contrary to Singer's contention that the features of depressive disorders do not exhibit significant cross-cultural differences, the author uses material from field research in Taiwan and data from recent anthropological and clinical investigations to support the opposite view that such differences exist and are a function of the cultural shaping of normative and deviant behavior. Somatization amongst Chinese depressives is used as an illustration. This discrepancy reflects substantial changes in the nature of more recent cross-cultural studies by anthropologists and psychiatrists, changes which are giving rise to a new cross-cultural approach to psychiatric issues. Some features and implications of that approach are described.