The Role of Culture

Culture is the collection of values, beliefs, behaviors,

customs, and attitudes that distinguish one society
from another. A societys culture determines the rules
that govern how firms operate in the society.

Characteristics of Culture
Learned behavior
Interrelated elements
Adaptive
Shared

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 Figure 4.1 Elements of Culture

Language

Social
Communication
structure

Culture

Values/
Religion
attitudes

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 Social Structure

Individuals, families, and groups

Social stratification

Social mobility

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 Language
3000+ different languages worldwide
10,000+ different dialects
Primary delineator of cultural groups

Nonverbal Communication
may account for 80-90 percent of all
information transmitted among
members of a culture

by means other than language.

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 Values and Attitudes

Values are the principles and

standards accepted by the members;
attitudes encompass the actions,
feelings, and thoughts that result
from those values.

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 Religion

Imposes constraints on roles of

individuals in society
Affects the types of products
consumers may purchase
Varies from country to country

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 Theories of Culture

Halls Low-Context, High-Context

Approach
Cultural Cluster Approach
Hofstedes Five Dimensions

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 Halls Low-Context
High-Context Approach
An approach to understanding
communication based on the relative
emphasis on verbal and nonverbal cues to
transmit meaning

The Cultural Cluster Approach

An approach to understanding
communication based on meaningful
clusters of countries that share similar
cultural values

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 Hofstedes Five Dimensions

Social Orientation

Power Orientation

Uncertainty Orientation

Goal Orientation

Time Orientation

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 Social orientation is a persons beliefs about
the relative importance of the individual and
the groups to which that person belongs. The
two extremes of social orientation are
individualism and collectivism.
Power orientation refers to the beliefs that
people in a culture hold about the
appropriateness of power and authority
differences in hierarchies such as business
organizations.

Uncertainty orientation is the feeling people

have regarding uncertain and ambiguous
situations.

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 Hofstedes fourth dimension, goal
orientation, is the manner in which
people are motivated to work toward
different kinds of goals.

Time orientation, is the extent to

which members of a culture adopt a
long-term versus a short-term outlook
on work, life, and other aspects of
society.

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 Understanding New Cultures

Self-reference
criterion

Cultural literacy Acculturation

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