CROSSCULTURAL ONLINE COMMUNICATION SEMESTER 3 PERIOD 1
Session 1 - Introduction
External communication
> past > controlled information stream directed toward consumers
= marketer generated content
> present > less controlled information stream directed toward consumers
= consumer generated content
Tourism
> societal relevance > international tourist arrivals grew stronger than expected
> economic relevance > massive expansion in export and import
Electronic Word of Mouth
Degree of Interactivity
Scope of Sender(s) – Receiver(s) Asynchronous Synchronous
communication Many-to-many Blogs, Twitter, Group-WhatsApp Videoconferencing
One-to-many Websites, Review Sites Speech
One-to-one Email, WhatsApp Telephone
Source Credibility
> perceived expertise > lay persons have little expertise
> self-proclaimed expert has expertise
> rate expert high level of expertise
> perceived trustworthiness > lay persons more trustworthy
> self-proclaimed expert not so trustworthy
> rated expert more trustworthy
Role of e-WOM in consumer selection process
> positive correlation between review rating and degree to which product was bought
> e-WOM is more influential than traditional WOM
> why? > speed + comfort + one-to-many + absence of face-to-face pressure
e-WOM users
> opinion leaders (‘posters’ or ‘e-fluentials’)
> opinion followers (‘lurkers’)
90-9-1 principle
> 90% of users never leave a post (lurkers)
> 1% of users contribute heavily and are responsible for 90% of posts
> 9% of users are responsible for remaining 10% (=intermittent contributors)
Motivation for post reviews
> ego-focused > I have been disadvantaged, therefore I must have revenge
> self-presentation
> socially focused > helping others
> desire for social interaction
Effect of review may depend on type of product
> products for which quality of information is easy to evaluate BEFORE purchase (DVD players +
cameras) > positive reviews are seen as more valuable
> products for which experience is more important than product characteristics (airlines + city trips)
> negative reviews are seen as more useful
Implications for organizations
> online reputation management > monitoring your image/reputation
> web care > reading and acting on negative messages
> automatic sentiment analysis > what is overall company sentiment?
Webcare
> directly responding to negative review and the larger audience
> ensure complainers stop + show company responds adequately if customers dissatisfied
> best method > mediated immediacy
> immediate (through same channel (public)
> as soon as possible (timely)
,CROSSCULTURAL ONLINE COMMUNICATION SEMESTER 3 PERIOD 1
> personal (signed, first person)
Automatic analysis of reviews
> opinion mining or sentiment analysis
> computer evaluates subjective information
Intensifiers, authenticity
> how to spot a fake
> fake hotel reviews rely more on superlatives to describe experiences
> phony reviews include greater first-person perspective (I and me)
> more emphasis on external aspects (husband, business, vacation)
Session 2 – Intercultural differences in communication
Culture
> collective programming of the mind
culture –> individual –> (e-WOM) communication
dimensions <– personality <– genre
norms feeling conventions
values thinking language use
ideology attitude
belief system intentions
> Hall’s iceberg model –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––>
> Proxemics (Hall) > people from different cultures perceive space
differently
> monochronic vs polychronic time
> monochronic > order, schedules, promptness
> polychronic > multiple things happening at once
> stress completing of transactions
> high vs low context cultures
> high context
> implicit communication + relies heavily on context
> value harmony, hierarchical values, indirect
communication, non-verbal cues, person’s background
> low context
> explicit verbal communication
> value honesty, assertiveness, direct pattern of speech
Hall: points of criticism
> research method > qualitative > observations, anecdotal evidence
> method not documented
> concepts > somewhat ambiguous
> dimensions are not exhaustive per se
> lack of comparative quantitative data
> limited validation
Hofstede’s dimensions
> 1981 > power distance
> individualism – collectivism
> masculinity – femininity
> uncertainty avoidance
> after 1985 > long term orientation – short term normative orientation
> after 2012 > indulgence – restraint
> onion > symbols > words, clothing, hairstyle, gesture, pictures
> heroes > gods, MLK, Batman, legendary characters
> rituals > greetings, social/religious ceremonies, way you serve tea
> values > honest, good, clean
, CROSSCULTURAL ONLINE COMMUNICATION SEMESTER 3 PERIOD 1
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (dichotomies)
individualism whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of ‘I’ or ‘we’
vs collectivism
masculinity vs masculinity preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness + material rewards for
femininity success
femininity preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for weak + quality of life
long vs long pragmatic approach > encourage thrift and efforts in modern education as
short term way to prepare for future
normative short maintain time-honored traditions and norms, view societal change with
orientation suspicion
indulgence indulgence free gratification of basic and natural human drives (enjoying life and having
vs restraint fun)
restraint suppression of gratification of needs, regulated by strict social norms
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (indices)
power distance degree to which the less powerful members of society accept and expect that power is
index distributed unequally
uncertainty degree to which members of society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity
avoidance strong UAI rigid codes of belief and behavior, intolerant of unorthodox behavior and
index ideas
weak UAI more relaxed attitude, practice counts more than principles
Cultural Attribution Error
> fallacy of cultural attribution > ‘I encounter a difference, therefore this is a cultural difference’
Points of criticism
> culture ≠ nation ≠ language
> national culture ≠ homogeneous
> one company approach
> outdated data collection (1966) > culture does not stand still
> limited questionnaire
> in-built western bias > dimensions are chosen from western point of view
Consequences?
> take dimensions as hypotheses, not necessarily as explanatory factors
> be aware of points of criticism and mention them
> always express findings in terms of relativity > relative terms
> making many observations instead of only one = corpus survey = large sample
Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey (1988)
> relationship between culture and communication
> attempt to identify relationships between language and cultural dimensions + to explain differences
> learning a culture > language > values and norms
> what is important? > politeness, roles, guilt, correctness
> who is important? > parents, peers, outsiders
> how is importance emphasized? > inside/outside, intimate, private/public, (in)formal
> where is importance emphasized? > school, home, work, media
> concept: style > ‘verbal interaction styles reflect and embody the affective, moral and aesthetic
patterns of a culture’
> contextualizes how messages should be interpreted
> cultural variability (Hofstede, 1980)
> low-/high-context schema (Hall, 1976, 1983)
> 4 communicative styles
direct vs direct speaker formulates goals, intentions, wishes explicitly
indirect indirect more implicit phrasing of goals and intentions
succinct vs elaborate > flowery, rich and expressive language
elaborate > many comparisons, adjectives, repetitions, ritual language use,
(quantity of exaggerations, intensifications, creativity
