Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Hofstede cultural theory'

Religion consists of humanity's beliefs, cultural systems, and worldviews of existence (Geertz, 1973). Its function is not merely a system of symbols that people act according to, but also the establishment of powerful, pervasive motivations in the society. This study intends to analyze the connection of religion and culture by using one of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, power distance (the extent of how power is accepted and expected to be distributed in the society). In this analysis, the researcher investigated the PDI (Power Distance Index) within the Utah Mormon culture. Researcher also compared the PDI scoring of Utah Mormon culture to the general US culture, as well as the PDI in Catholicism and Protestantism culture. The results showed that the unique Mormon cultural region in Utah has the lowest PDI in comparison to the US national culture and that of general Protestant and Catholic communities. This outcome is contrary to the general characterization of power in Utah Mormon culture. The result of this study raised more questions than answers. Although several factors and characteristics that contribute to the low PDI in Utah Mormon society, as well as its implications have been analyzed, the researcher found that this contradiction of the PDI scoring is related to Hofstede's original work. This study is challenging Hofstede's way in treating culture and its components as homogenous. Thus, each fragment of culture needs to be investigated as a separate entity. The study of power distance in Utah Mormon culture indicates how a society can understand its own characteristics and how it can communicate more effectively with other societies with different backgrounds or different PDI based on these characteristics. This study can educate people concerning how Mormons interact and perhaps might even, to a certain extent, at least, explain the conflicts in the society itself. Additionally, the results of this research can be a new contribution to the literature for this field and can further the research in verifying the characteristics of a given society.

This study presents a quantitative study that aims to examine culture as an explanation for the global diffusion of truth commissions. The study is based on the diffusion theory's assumption that cultural equality between countries has a greater significance for the dissemination of truth commissions than geographical proximity. The study will, through a quantitative multivariate analysis, examine correlations between Hofstede's cultural dimensions as the study's theoretical framework and countries that establish truth commissions. The results shows that cultural similarity as an explanation for the spread of truth commissions can be considered better than previous theoretical assumptions. In addition, the results of this study shows that two of Hofstede's cultural dimensions correlate with the establishment of truth commissions. These are long- vs. short-term orientation and indulgence vs restraint. Analysis of the results shows that countries that establish truth commissions have a shorter time orientation and a high degree of indulgence. Additionally, the thesis adds another dimension of the theory and a more in depth understanding of which cultural factors stand as responsible for the diffusion of truth commissions globally.

Public Diplomacy has been around for decades, in some parts of the world more than others. Despite that, research related to public diplomacy has mainly focused on approaches serving governments’ policy concerns. A large part of the research has also surrounded efficiency aspects: the level of impact culminating from public diplomacy activities. This tunnel vision has undoubtedly contributed to the limitation of theoretical and methodological development. From that standpoint, this study attempts to contribute and fill the existing theoretical and methodological gap. The study builds on the research by Yun (2005), directed by J. E. Gruing, and examines the reliability of her framework and sheds light on some potential shortcomings and eventual amendments. Suggesting the convergence of public diplomacy and public relation, the model is composed of two theoretical frameworks. Public diplomacy as the dependent variable is anchored in Grunig’s excellence theory and national culture as determinants (independent variable) is anchored in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. As did Yun, the study finds that cultural dimensions as determinants for South Korea’s public diplomacy do not possess sufficient explanatory power to understand South Korea’s public diplomacy management. A historical lens and additional contextual factors would hypothetically better explain Korea’s public diplomacy, paving the way for future studies.

Doctor of Philosophy
Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design
Kim Hiller
This study examined the effects of knowledge of apparel and textile (AT) manufacturing’s impacts on the environment, environmental concern, attitudes toward environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA), and the cultural characteristics of adult, female Kuwaiti nationals on purchasing behaviors of ESA. This study was conducted because Kuwait is a large consumer market for apparel goods and there was a gap in the existing literature on sustainable apparel with regards to Kuwait. To measure the independent variables of knowledge related to the environmental impacts of AT manufacturing, environmental concern, attitudes towards ESA, and the cultural characteristics of Kuwaiti women on the dependent variable of ESA purchase behavior intentions, a mixed methods approach was used. This mixed method approach included a survey instrument featuring five different scales to acquire data through quantitative methods on a population of Kuwaitis acquired through snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were then utilized to acquire further data for a qualitative data analysis. The results were then analyzed through descriptive statistics, regressions, and coding. The data analysis of the quantitative survey responses of the female Kuwaiti nationals showed that their level of knowledge on the environmental impacts of the AT industry was low, their level of environmental concern was neutral, their ESA attitudes were neutral, and their ESA purchase intentions were slightly positive. Regression results found that environmental concern had no relationship with ESA attitudes, knowledge about AT related environmental issues positively influenced ESA attitudes, and both knowledge about AT related environmental issues and ESA attitudes had a positive influence on ESA purchase intentions. Additionally, the cultural dimensions of the surveyed population showed high power distance and collectivism, low long-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance, and intermediate levels of masculinity and indulgence. The qualitative interview revealed that Kuwaiti culture is strongly influenced by the Islamic religion, and the culture supports high levels of consumerism and ostentatious consumption. A majority of qualitative participants did not express any attitudes toward ESA, and none of the participants had purchased ESA products previously. This could be because female Kuwaiti nationals are limited in their knowledge related to AT environmental risks and are generally unaware of ESA and its purpose. The study’s data could be used to provide educators with information through which to tailor curricula towards the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of Kuwaiti nationals. Additionally, this information could be essential for manufacturers and retailers of ESA products, so that they can produce and sell ESA affectively in Kuwait.

This study investigates the determinants of the disclosure of corporate governance practices using a sample of 5200 companies from the OECD member countries. The OECD has thirty-four members but they differ, among other things, by their regulatory frameworks and cultures which impact of the companies’ decision of ‘what to and what not to’ disclose on corporate governance practices. Extant literature is very wealthy on corporate disclosure practices mainly in the area of accounting, but scant on disclosure of corporate governance practices by companies and peculiarly in the OECD countries whose governance practices play a crucial role in the global economy. This research addresses the following themes on corporate governance: (1) disclosure of corporate governance practices, (2) impact of regulatory framework, culture and regulatory focus on the disclosure practices at both companies’ level and country level. Based on (1) Hofstede cultural theory in its contemporary form the research argues that a high level of disclosure is likely to be associated with companies’ in countries with low Power Distance; (2) the strength of regulatory framework to argue that disclosure is higher in countries with strong regulatory framework and (3) regulatory focus theory (RFT) to argue that companies in countries which are promotion focus disclose more than companies in countries which are prevention focus. This research collects firm level data from RiskMetrics and country level data from the World Economic Forum Report and then uses optimal scaling technique (OS) and multivariate logistic regression (MLRA) to analyse the data. It adds to the literature by providing empirical and theoretical evidence on the determinants of disclosure of corporate governance practices in the OECD.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Griffith Business School
Griffith Business School
Full Text

This dissertation addressed the need for empirical research on the leadership of multinational virtual teams (Davis & Bryant, 2003; Early & Gibson, 2002; Ilgen, Lepine, and Hollenbeck, 1997; Prieto & Arias, 1997), particularly in the field of educational leadership (Cheng, 1995). This was accomplished through the development of a model based upon the cultural values discovered through the use of Hofstede's (1980, 2001) Values Survey Module 94 (VSM 94). As workers will bring values from their own cultures to the multinational workplace (Bochner & Hesketh, 1994), research was conducted to determine the cultural values of economics professors in the United States and Germany in order to formulate a cultural contingent leadership model based on Triandis' (1993) adaptation of Fiedler's (1967) contingency theory. Given a total response from 194 U.S. and German economics professors, it was discovered that faculty in both the United States and Germany had values that differed significantly from those that Hofstede discovered for his IBM employee samples in four out of five dimensions. However, it was found that the values for the U.S. and German faculties were a close replication of Hoppe's (1990) findings which were based on a sample that was similar to the economics faculties in both occupation and education. These findings add a cautionary note to the recommendation by Hofstede and Peterson (2000) that existing cultural values can be used by cultural researchers: Previous cultural value data can be used if the samples are closely matched to the previous samples in both nationality as well as educational and occupational background. The research thus indicated that differences in national culture, as measured by Hofstede's (1980, 2001) cultural dimensions, still exist. In addition, a direct comparison of the cultural values between the two faculties indicated that the U.S. and German economics faculties differed significantly in two of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, individualism and collectivism and masculinity and femininity. The two samples were not significantly different in the cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and long term orientation. Using the Triandis (1993) approach, application of the research results to Fiedler's (1967) LPC model indicated that a relationship oriented leader would be an in-match leader for a group of U.S. and German higher education economics faculty. This result was contingent upon the cultural values discovered for the U.S. and German faculties who would be involved in an endeavor with situational variables similar to that which would be found in an international joint venture to offer online distance economics education to students in a developing country.
Ed.D.
Department of Educational Research, Technology and Leadership
Education
Educational Leadership

Globalisering och den senaste tidens utveckling av CSR har föranlett ett behov av harmonisering av hållbarhetsrapportering likt rapporter av finansiell karaktär, för att på så sätt främja CSR-arbetet och underlätta vid investeringsbeslut. Idén bakom CSR är till stor del influerad av den anglosaxiska och europeiska syn på rättvisa, demokrati och sociala strukturer. Vad gäller rapportering kring hållbarhet finns ett flertal internationellt accepterade standarder och riktlinjer varav en är GRI. Trots allmänna riktlinjer så kvarstår dilemmat om harmoni då hållbarhetsrapporteringen i grunden skiljer sig åt länder emellan till följd av olikheter i kulturella värderingar. I studien undersöks två länder med olika företagskulturer, närmare bestämt USA och Japan. Utvecklingen av CSR har letts av västerländska länder och företag och är till stor del influerad av den anglosaxiska synen på sociala strukturer. Japan däremot började tillämpa CSR så sent som år 2003 och med dessa olikheter i åtanke är det rimligt att anta att ett universellt tillvägagångssätt av CSR inte existerar. Mot denna bakgrund resulterar studiens syfte i att undersöka om skillnader finns i hur hållbarhetsrapporteringen ser ut länderna emellan och om de i sin tur kan förklaras av de kulturella skillnaderna. I studien tillämpas först en kvantitativ innehållsanalys och därefter en diskursanalys. Utifrån studiens resultat kan det konstateras att båda företagen följer G4:s riktlinjer men de skillnader som framgick var att det japanska företaget rapporterar mer kring social hållbarhet än vad det amerikanska gör. Omvänt rapporterar det amerikanska företaget mer kring ekonomisk hållbarhet än vad som kunde tydas från den japanska hållbarhetsrapporten. Ett försök gjordes sedan att koppla dessa skillnader till kulturella dimensioner genom att analysera retoriken i CSR-rapporterna. Slutsatserna som kan dras av denna analys är att de starka kulturella dragen troligtvis suddas ut till följd av att stora företag blir mer och mer globala.
Globalization and the recent evolution of CSR has led to the need for harmonization of sustainability reporting, similar to the harmonization of financial reporting. This would both encourage the engagement for CSR and also facilitate decision making for investors. The idea of CSR is strongly influenced by the Anglo-Saxon and European views of justice, democracy and social structures. Regarding sustainability reporting, there are several internationally accepted standards and guidelines, one of which is GRI. Despite the existence of these guidelines, the dilemma of harmonization remains as sustainability reporting differs between countries due to differences in cultural values. In this study two countries with different corporate cultures will be examined, United States and Japan. The development of CSR has been led by western countries and organizations and is mainly influenced by the Anglo-Saxon view of social structures. Japan, on the other hand, started practising CSR as late as 2003 and with these differences in mind it is relevant to assume that a global course of action does not exist. With this background, the purpose of this study is to examine whether there are differences in sustainability reporting among the countries and if these differences can be explained by their cultural characteristics. The methods used for the study are a quantitative content analysis followed by a discourse analysis. The results from the study show that both companies examined are compliant with the G4 guidelines. The differences that could be found was that the Japanese organization reports more on the subject of social sustainability compared to the American one. Conversely the American organization reports more on the subject of economic sustainability than what could be read from the Japanese CSR-report. An attempt to connect these differences to cultural inequalities was made through an analysis of the rhetoric of the CSR-reports. The conclusion of this discourse analysis was that the strong cultural characteristics might have disappeared due to the fact that large companies become more and more global.

Continuous improvement (CI) is a well-known approach within total quality management. Based on it, Continuous Improvement Behavior Model (CIBM) is a model that put behavioral patterns in work practice in focus, and is associated with learning process and routines across the whole organization. The purposes of this thesis are twofold: firstly, to analyse the differences in CI behavior between firms in Sweden and Hong Kong (HK); secondly, to analyse the reasons for these differences by using Hofstede’s culture theory. This study was based on data from the 2nd international CINet survey and IBM questionnaire survey, limited to the culture in Hong Kong (HK) and Sweden. The finding of this comparative study showed that there are significant differences in CI behavior in the following aspects:

 The view in HK is that the interest of the group should prevail over the individual’s, because there has a proverb”unity is power” in Chinese culture. Firms in Sweden are more concerned with the interests of individual’s.

 Employees in Hong Kong would like to use organizational formal tools and techniques to deal with a problem, although it is a society characterized by weak uncertainly avoidance. But firms in Swedish believe that problems can be solved without formal rules.

 Employees in HK emphasizes cooperation and relationship in the process of working, while it is influenced by the culture of”guanxi” and collectivism. In comparison, Swedish employees care less about relationship.

 People in HK pay much attention to the personal development, due to a competitive environment and a long-term orientated culture manifested as:”it is never too old to learn”. Swedes, however, want to study when it is necessary.

 Managers in HK are willing to support CI activities by provide sufficient resources and self-discipline influenced by the Chinese culture of ”set an example”. Correspondingly, Swedish firms don't have the regulation about what manager necessary should do.

This is the first study that tries to explain the difference on CI behavior by using Hofstede’s culture theory in HK and Sweden, using a statistical method to test 34 behaviors in CI Behavior Model. It has to mention that there have 17 behaviors in the total behaviors which have been proved to be different, and 11 of these behaviors can be explained by Hofstede’s model in this thesis. There are also some other factors that can explain the differences in CI behaviors.

In this thesis, it is shown that size of company matters. Possible explanations provided by other cultural theories are also presented.

Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur de ansvariga för jämställdhetsarbetet på Folksam arbetar med jämställdhet. Syftet är även att undersöka vilka normer och kulturer som kan påverka deras jämställdhetsarbete. Detta undersöks genom fyra stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med två stycken som arbetar internt, med att få just Folksam mer jämställt, och två stycken på Folksam som arbetar externt, med att få andra företag både i Sverige och utomlands att bli mer jämställda. Slutsatsen är att respondenterna på Folksam blir påverkade av normer från till exempel politiken, för att politiken kräver att de ska vara jämställda, men också för att deras kunder vill det. Det är även en lönsamhetsfråga samt en mänsklig rättighet och därför vill de ändra den rådande normen. Detta försöker de göra internt bland annat genom en kompetensbaserad rekrytering, en mångfaldsplan och genom att lita på att alla försöker arbeta med det inom sitt eget företag. Samt genom att försöka påverka andra företag med extern bolagsstyrning. Detta kan också vara svårt att göra enligt genus- och den institutionella teorin, då det finns rådande institutionella normer i samhället som verkar emot. Normerna kan även visa sig i den svenska kulturen som kan förklaras genom Hofstedes kulturdimensionsteori.
The purpose of this study is to examine how those responsible for gender equality at Folksam work with gender equality. It also aims to examine the norms and cultures that can affect their work on gender equality. This is examined by four semi structured interviews with two people who are working internally to get Folksam more equal and with two people that are working externally at Folksam to get other companies, both in Sweden and abroad, to become more equal. The conclusion is that norms from for example politics affect the respondents at Folksam, since the politics requires them to be equal, but also because their customers want it. It is also a profitability question as well as a human right and therefore they want to change the current norm. They are trying to do that internally through, for instance, a competency-based recruitment, a diversity plan and by trusting that everyone is trying to work with it within Folksam. And by trying to influence other corporations through external corporate governance. This may also be difficult to do according to gender- and the new institutionalism theory, because of the existing institutional norms in society that is working against it. Norms can also be shown in the Swedish culture, which can be explained with the Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory.

Titel: Kulturens modererande effekter på sambandet mellan CSR och CFP Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Ferdous Foroughi och Shabab Hasan Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2019 - juni Syfte: Företagens sociala ansvar (CSR) har utvecklats till ett viktigt ämne både för företag och dess intressenter. Varierande resultat gällande effekten av CSR-insatser på företagsprestanda har tidigare rapporterats. Tidigare studier undersöker och fokuserar på en liten del av CSR med många olösta teoretiska och empiriska frågor till följd av detta. Det har även visats att kultur påverkar beslutsfattandet i synnerhet i relation till CSR. Syftet är därmed att undersöka om nationell kultur har modererande effekter på sambandet mellan CSR och finansiell prestation (CFP) hos börsnoterade bolag i världen.   Metod: Studiens vetenskapsteoretiska utgångspunkt är positivism med hypotetiskt-deduktiv ansats. En kvantitativ forskningsstrategi används för 3230 börsnoterade företag med data från en femårsperiod 2013 - 2017. Datan baseras på sekundärdata inhämtad från Thomson Reuters Eikon, Världsbanken och Hofstedes kulturindex, vilken analyserats med univariata och bivariata statistiska tester samt multipla regressionsanalyser i statistikprogrammet IBM SPSS Statistics. Resultat & slutsats: Det finns ett positivt samband mellan CSR och CFP. Nationella kulturer har modererande effekter på det sambandet. Genom att använda Hofstedes kulturdimensioner har det visats att maktdistans (PD), osäkerhetsundvikande (UAI), maskulinitet (MAS) och långtidsorientering (LTO) har negativ modererande effekter, medan individualism (IDV) och tillfredsställelse (IND) har positiv modererande effekter på sambandet mellan CSP och CFP. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studien bidrar med ny kunskap för att fylla forskningsgapet gällande nationella kulturers modererande effekter på sambandet mellan CSR och finansiell prestation. Studien bidrar på ett värdefullt sätt till både tidigare teori och empiri samt lyfter fram nationella kulturers påverkande roll för företagens finansiella prestation. Förslag till vidare forskning: Det behövs flera liknande studier med andra variabler som kontrollerar och analyserar sambandet. Vidare föreslår vi också att genomföra en liknande studie som även inkluderar icke-börsnoterade bolag, för att omfatta flera länder och dessutom en längre tidsperiod än fem år för att se om nationella kulturer påverkar sambandet på ett annat sätt. Nyckelord:Corporate social responsibility, corporate social performance, corporate financial performance, nationell kultur, Hofstedes kulturdimensionsteori.
Title: Culture’s moderating effects on the relationship between CSR and CFP Level: Student thesis for Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration Authors: Ferdous Foroughi och Shabab Hasan Supervisor: Jan Svanberg Date: 2019 - june Aim: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been developed to become an important subject for both corporates and their stakeholders. Varying results have been reported regarding the effect of CSR initiatives. Prior studies investigate and focus on a small part of CSR with following unresolved theoretical and empirical questions. It has also been shown that culture affects decision making, particularly in relation to CSR. The aim of this study is hence to investigate whether national culture has moderating effects on the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP) among listed corporations in the world. Method: A positive research methodology has been applied with a hypothetical-deductive approach. A quantitative research strategy is used for 3230 listed corporations with data from a five-year time period 2013 - 2017. Data is based on secondary data from Thomson Reuters Eikon, World Bank and Hofstedes cultural index, which were analyzed with univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses in the statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics. Result & Conclusion: There is a positive correlation between CSR and CFP. National cultures have moderating effects on that correlation. Using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, it has been shown that power distance (PD), uncertainty avoidance index (UAI), masculinity (MAS) and long-term orientation (LTO) have negative moderating effects, while individualism (IDV) and indulgence (IND) have positive moderating effects on the relationship between CSP and CFP. Contribution of the thesis: The study contributes with new knowledge to fill the research gap regarding national cultures’ moderating effects on the relationship between CSR and financial performance. The study contributes in an insightful way to both prior theory and empirical data and emphasizes the role of national cultures on the corporates’ financial performance. Suggestion for future research: Several similar studies are needed with other variables that control and analyze the relationship. Furthermore, we also propose to carry out a similar study that also includes non-listed companies, to include several countries and, moreover, a longer time period than five years to see if national cultures affect the relationship in another way. Keywords:Corporate social responsibility, corporate social performance, corporate financial performance, national culture, Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory.

National culture has a significant influence on how innovations are adopted and diffuse throughout society. Existing innovation literature often employ Hofstede’s cultural difference dimensions to predict technology diffusion, which is critical to international marketers who are interested in tapping into this region. However, whilst Hofstede initially clustered the Arab nations into one region, past works have failed to compare and predict the diffusion of innovations amongst the Middle East and North African (MENA) nations. To address this research gap and to challenge Hofstede’s assumption of the MENA region as one cultural homogenous group, this study proposes to 1) measure the cultural differences of the seven nations, including Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, and Lebanon within the MENA region and 2) explore the relationship between national culture and the diffusion of innovations amongst the seven countries. Using Hofstede’s latest national culture instrument, the Value Survey Model 2013 (VSM13), 775 survey data is collected from university students based in the seven nations to obtain new national cultural profiles on six dimensions, which are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, indulgent versus restraint, long-term orientation and masculinity femininity index. Empirical evidence shows that all seven nations differ significantly on each of Hofstede’s national culture dimensions, particularly on the power distance, uncertainty avoidance, indulgent versus restraint, and long term orientation dimension. The Bass Model is employed to estimate each of the seven nation’s diffusion patterns based on their mobile subscription data, and then correlated with their national culture ranks along with other variables such as socioeconomic indicators and telecommunication sector specific variables. The findings indicate that out of the six national culture indices, only the power distance index, indulgent versus restraint, long term orientation, and uncertainty avoidance dimensions show significant correlations with the innovation and imitations levels on the national level, suggesting that these particular cultural scales can effect and limit the innovation levels and the speed of the diffusion process of innovations. Results also indicate that literacy rate and urbanization are significantly correlated with the speed of the diffusion process and imitation levels on the national level. This research sheds new light on cross national diffusion literature by empirically revealing the innovative and imitative profiles of seven Arab States that were previously underrepresented and untested. The present study also provides fresh insights into the diffusion and national culture relationship by analysing the MENA region, which presents a theoretical contribution to cross cultural diffusion studies by advancing our understanding of the process by which Hofstede’s dimensions are associated with innovative and imitative levels. International marketing managers are thus advised to adopt a waterfall strategy when approaching the MENA region, in which innovative countries, such as Kuwait, are first targeted for introducing innovative products and services, through mass media and advertising. Whilst imitative countries, such as Egypt, are targeted for last entry, with a marketing communication plan that utilizes brand ambassadors and influencers, so as to reduce the risk and uncertainty of the innovation in question.

Probation officers are departing their employment before retirement at a high rate depending on the agency, location, and type of position, which impacts society. The cost associated with training a new officer could consume a large portion of an agency's yearly budget, leaving many inexperienced officers to supervise dangerous offenders and defendants. Thus, it is important to examine factors influencing retention such as whether individualistic and collectivist values predict a relationship between retention intent of probation officers. The purpose of this quantitative research study, guided by Hofstede's cultural theory, was to determine whether family embeddedness influences retention intent of probation officers. Linear regression was used to examine the relationship between the variables. The Sobel test was used to determine if family embeddedness mediated retention-intent. Federal probation and pretrial services officers (n=85) from 5 regions completed online survey questionnaires (Individualistic values scale, Employee Retention scale, Global Measure of Job Embeddedness, and Auckland Individualism and Collectivistic Scale). The results showed that family embeddedness is not a mediator for probation officers that possessed individualistic or collectivistic values. The social change implication of this study includes a recommendation for the development of an employee screening instrument that identifies employees' values to increase retention of probation officers, which can be used to select and train staff.

To break through the clutter of advertisements, some advertisers uses sexual appeal as a technique to increase visibility and sales. The purpose of this study is to examine, from a Swedish and South Korean perspective, how the attitude towards sexual appeal in advertising differ between generations. Culture and age has been proven to be factors affecting attitude towards advertisements, and previous research has found that the attitude towards sexual appeal in advertising between Swedish and South Korean university students only differed slightly. To examine the attitudes, data was collected through a questionnaire. The results suggest that the attitudes of each age group are generally rather similar, regardless of culture. Ages 18 to 30 showed most negativity towards sexual appeal in advertisements.

With the globalization, the development of outbound travel experience rapidly grew in recent decades. International tourism has become the largest industry in the world. It is the new engine for economic development in many countries. Cross-cultural tourism has brought great benefit to the destination countries. On the other side, it also brings some negative effects between the tourists and the natives. Culture is one of the important factors on promoting the cross-cultural tourism but also becomes one of the barriers in its development. For Chinese tourists, Portugal is an emerging travel destination. Portugal tourism has natural advantages but also market disadvantages. It is very important for Portugal, which has limited resources, to use reasonable strategies on satisfying Chinese tourists’ demands and spreading local cultures. In this study, I use Hofstede’s national cultural dimension theory and some empirical studies to analyze the cultural differences between Portugal and China, and try to find out how cultures influence tourists behaviors. Finally, I try to provide some suggestions to help Portugal develop a sustainable tourism in order to attract more Chinese tourists and increase their satisfaction. In addition, it could be a model for the travel destinations to explore new tourist markets with different cultures.
Com a globalização, a viagem transnacional também se desenvolve rapidamente. Além de ser a maior indústria do mundo, a indústria da viagem internacional também é um novo motor para o desenvolvimento económico de muitos países. Enquanto que a viagem transnacional traz vários lucros para os países de destino, as diferentes culturas entre os visitantes e os países de destino também causa muitos efeitos negativos. A cultura é um fator principal que promove a viagem transnacional, mas também é um obstáculo que impede o seu desenvolvimento. Para os visitantes chineses, Portugal é um novo destino de viagem, que tem as suas vantagens e desvantagens no desenvolvimento da indústria turística. Como aproveitar de forma razoável os recursos locais para atender os visitantes chineses, proteger e divulgar a cultura local é muito importante para Portugal, que é um país com recursos limitados. O texto combina a teoria transcultural de Hofstede e as práticas de outros estudiosos para analisar a diferença cultural entre Portugal e a China, a fim de estudar os efeitos de um contexto cultural diferente no comportamento de turistas. Com base nisso, propõem-se sugestões que possam atender as necessidades de turistas chineses, aumentar a sua satisfação da viagem a Portugal e ao mesmo tempo, divulgar o desenvolvimento sustentável da indústria turística de Portugal. Além disso, este estudo também serve como um modelo de referência para os mercados emergentes com culturas diferentes dos outros destinos de viagem.

In a world where multinational cooperation and cross-cultural challenges are part of daily life, understanding cultures has become increasingly important. That people and organizations develop together might seem obvious, but that culture can be studied to understand the structure and approach of organizations, is perhaps less so. In this paper, a major structural difference in the armed forces of Germany and Sweden is examined; having to sign a contract to serve for 13 years or not having to sign a contract with service length restrictions. Hofstede's theory Dimensions of National Culture is applied to the case to see whether the cadets' motivation and behavior is affected by this major difference in the two otherwise very similar organizations. The study aims also to explore whether the findings can be considered correct given that semi-structured interviews were conducted to see if the thoughts of the cadets are in line with what the theory claims. The conclusion is that the theory can be used to understand how cadets' motivation and behavior supports the structural organizations present in Germany and Sweden. However, the interviews show that the theory is very generalizing and that not all cadets' thoughts are consistent with what the theory states in every case.

Erasmus

JEL: Q52 , O13
A utilização exponencial de tecnologias de informação tem contribuído para o agravamento da sustentabilidade ambiental. As práticas de green IT, para além de permitirem reduzir o impacto ambiental das atividades do sector de tecnologias de informação, possuem ainda a chave para tornar todos os sectores de atividade mais sustentáveis. Contudo, a green IT ainda não foi estudada em todas as suas dimensões, nomeadamente no impacto da cultura na adoção dessas práticas. O presente estudo investiga a influência das dimensões culturais na adoção de práticas de green IT em contexto organizacional. Esta investigação constrói um modelo que descreve a relação entre as dimensões culturais e o comportamento de adoção de práticas de green IT, com recurso às Dimensões Culturais de Hofstede e à Teoria do Comportamento Planeado de Ajzen. A metodologia adotada é de caráter quantitativo e possui como instrumento de recolha de dados o lançamento de um inquérito online a nível individual. A utilização do Modelo de Equações Estruturais de Mínimos Quadrados Parciais (PLS-SEM) possibilita a análise e a identificação das dimensões culturais que influenciam o comportamento de adoção de práticas de green IT. A investigação sugere que as dimensões culturais influenciam, com efeito fraco a moderado, a adoção de práticas de green IT em contexto organizacional.
The exponential utilization of information technologies has been contributing to the aggravation of the environmental sustainability. Green IT practices allow not only to reduce the environmental impact of Information Technologies’ activities, but also hold the key to help all activity sectors become more sustainable. Although, Green IT hasn’t been fully studied on all of its dimensions, namely on the impact of social culture relatively to the adoption of such practices. This study investigates the influence of cultural dimensions on the adoption of Green IT practices at an organizational level. The research builds a model that describes the relationship between cultural dimensions and the behavior of Green IT practices adoption, based in Hoftede’s Cultural Dimensions and on Ajzen’s Theory of Planed Behavior. The adopted methodology is of a quantitative nature and relies on the application of individual online surveys as data source instrument. The use of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Method (PLS-SEM) allows to analyze and identify cultural dimensions that have influence on the adoption of Green IT practices. The present research suggests that cultural dimensions have influence, on a weak to moderate effect, on the adoption of Green IT practices at an organizational level

Custom is one of behaviors in cultural groups. Each country and region has its unique culture and custom, which leads varied standards and habits for goods selection. This implies that a successful international marketer must do to get deep insights to understand the difference of various cultures and customs, and applies his understanding to the marketing planning process to get a best marketing strategy. In this context, as a necessary means in international marketing, cultural difference should be considered while applying advertisement strategy for local markets. For international corporations, the backgrounds of current consumers have significant differences which can be reflected on the consuming behaviors, and hence results in the general performance. Based on Hofstede's Culture Dimensions theory of national cultural differences, this thesis focus on the cross-culture analysis, by studying those comparative advertisement cases selected from several global companies: Sony, McDonald's, Canon, Ikea etc. Therefore, the author attempts to display how these renowned global companies used local advertising adaptation strategies to brand their products and marketing management in different countries successfully. Finally, it also gives practical guidance and assistance to the process of advertising internationalization in different cultural backgrounds.
Costumes é um dos comportamentos em grupos culturais. Cada país e região tem a sua cultura e os seus costumes únicos, o que conduz a variados standards e hábitos para uma boa seleção.Isto implica que um marketer internacional com êxito deve ter uma profunda compreensão sobre a diferença das diversas culturas e costumes, e que aplica o seu conhecimentos ao processo de plano de marketing para obter a melhor estratégia de marketing. Neste contexto, como um factor necessário no marketing internacional, a diferença cultural deve deve ser considerada enquanto aplicando uma estratégia de publicidade e de se dar a conhecer para os mercados locais.Para as corporações internacionais, o background de actuais consumidores têm diferenças significativas que podem estar refletidas nos comportamentos de consumo, e assim nos resultados da performance geral. Baseada na Teoria das Dimensões Culturais de Hofstede das diferenças culturais nacionais, esta tese centra-se na análise cross-culture. Assim, o autor procura mostrar como estas renomadas companhias globais usaram estratégias de adaptação de publicidade local para promoverem os seus produtos e gestão de marketing em diferentes países de uma forma bem sucedida. Finalmente, também dá orientação e assistência ao processo de internacionalização de promoção em diferentes backgrounds culturais.

Ever since the first wave of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A’s) transactions, professionals and academics have focused on the topic with the objective of offering to the large audience clear and valuable insights on a phenomenon that has a considerable impact on the world economy. This research elaborates on the existing literature on cross-border transactions focusing on the role of past experience as a determinant of value creation for the Acquirer’s shareholders. In fact, experience as a variable of interest is narrowed down to correspond to specific cultural characteristics associated with the Target’s home country. Hence, past deals are categorized in accordance with two of the six cultural dimensions theorized by Hofstede (2010): Uncertainty Avoidance and Time Orientation. The result is the following study, aimed at providing valuable insights for managers and practitioners of the field. Therefore, I would like to thank my supervisor Youtha Cuypers for her guidance and feedback, as the support provided have pointed me toward the right direction in more than one occasion.

碩士
淡江大學
西班牙語文學系碩士班
106
The present investigation focuses on the comparison between the Spanish movie, The Holy Innocent, and the Taiwanese film, A City of Sadness, in which narrate the life of families in dictatorial societies. This research will help us unravel and learn more about the similarities and differences between cultures and countries reflected in the works. Our objective of the present study is originated from the intention of providing a new point of view in the comparison of the culture represented in a cinematographic way. With the help of the trans-cultural theory proposed by Hofstede, whose cultural dimensions have been limited to the fields of communications intercultural, as intercultural psychology and international management. As we will show later, we divide our hypothesis into two, first, we assume that there is a statistically significant relationship between the national culture and the narration in film form of the directors; second, we assume that, contrary to what Hofstede points out that the two countries during a dictatorship may show very similar characteristics in later democratic times. Therefore, we will use Hofstede''s study as a theoretical framework, modified in its factors of Power Distance, Individualism or Collectivism, Masculinity or Femininity, and Uncertainty Avoidance.