Sage Publications. Germanys high score of 83 indicates that it is a pragmatic country. Moreover, their communication is often task-oriented and driven by rational decision-making, which can further add to their formality.. Rather than valuing positions that are based on family connections or age, Germans prefer to put trust in those who demonstrate experience and vast knowledge. All articles are edited by a PhD level academic. Consensus-finding; thorough decision-making phase is followed by swift implementation phase. When it comes to the role of context culture on liking, a linear regression first showed that nationality predicted ad liking (F (1, 287) = 4.39, p =.037, R2 =.01; B =.206, SE =.098): Belgian participants (M = 4.33, SD = 0.77) liked the ads better than the Dutch participants (M = 4.13, SD = 0.89). Germany has a relatively low score when it comes to indulgence, meaning the country is restrained in nature. The lower part of Figure1 models the relationship between receiver nationality and ad appreciation. GI?Ln T9a`"-&k 16 KWGWC1?Q'_}]G- 4XmyxKLsx%yIj `y Germany, Sweden, and the United States are generally classified as low-context cultures. For complex messages to be effective, consumers need to have a minimum of cognitive resources. Phillips (Citation2000), for example, constructed ads in three versions. It will examine whether it is indeed people's individual context score that affects the degree of comprehension and liking of complex messages. In low-context cultures, people are said to prefer explicit, task-related language. Want to create or adapt books like this? It ranks third in both total exports and imports, and has a strong economy that is the largest in Europe and the 5th largest in the world. Which countries have low context. Intercultural Communication on Websites: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Websites from High-Context Cultures and Low-Context Cultures. Individual Orientation n Direct; individualized; principled; fact-oriented; no face-saving concerns or need for harmony. Cite this Article in your Essay (APA Style), Privacy PolicyTerms and ConditionsDisclaimerAccessibility StatementVideo Transcripts. In . This proved to be the case (F(1, 287) = 5.85, p =.016, 2 =.02). The results of their study showed that the Filipino participants scored higher on both scales than the American participants, leading Callow and Schiffman (Citation2002) to conclude that images evoke more implicit meanings in high- than in low-context cultures. Long Term Orientation describes how a society deals with the challenges of the present and future, while also continuing to uphold time-honored traditions. The German society is a truly Individualist one (67). Formal/Reserved That is, not only were ads with more complex metaphors better liked than ads with less complex metaphors, but ads with too complex metaphors were liked less than ads with less complex metaphors (Phillips, Citation2000; Van Mulken etal., Citation2014). ;#EtZ-P`IsPv;SFMx+CS~!v}w\ `p>cgVX The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. `Sm-!qJsx(99&om,?Ub8R2yYY0(md]-zW.ASGwqNOY O `Y`\:gh&u Self-motivation and personal identity are important values to Germans. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Germany's high score of 83 indicates that it is a pragmatic country. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Therefore, empirical evidence was found for H2, which means that participants' personal context scores indeed mediated the effect of nationality on perceived complexity. An example of Germans tentative disposition toward the unknown is the countrys mentality towards Internet privacy. Little attention is given to non-verbal cues & body language. 3099067 G~D6cA>`E4SR_.H@vuc_FT_+ QY6PCz~Y*MLH4+p} Permission will be required if your reuse is not covered by the terms of the License. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine). An example of a fusion metaphor is the ad for Ariel liquid detergent that was discussed in the introduction. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. [/footnote], Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits and Obstacles, Intercultural Communication in the Workplace, Additional Resources to Help you Format your Paper in APA Style. This allows individuals of different generations to communicate through a shared set of values, which, in turn, provides stability to the culture. That is, a limited number of experiments have examined whether people in countries characterized as high-context cultures comprehend and appreciate complex messages better than people in countries characterized as low-context cultures (e.g., Van Mulken, Le Pair, & Forceville, Citation2010). [8Dpl>9v >a U=CF]U) S t f,\7aR"=k gYNweK/U$5WF_s.9l@hZU@ l!u]vN%%p'/+Ed>3Wxkpu5\ lYx0R f}8b Low-context communicators dont need to be provided with much background information, but they do expect messages to be professional, efficient, and linear in their logic. For this reason, understanding differences between U.S. and German business communication may prove useful when starting conversations and negotiations with German business partners. Meetings are only scheduled when necessary; punctuality important; agenda is followed; lengthy discussions of agenda items possible (expression of need for thoroughness). Two of the most cited theoretical frameworks in communication are the cultural dimensions of Hofstede (Citation1980, Citation2001) and the context theory of Hall (Citation1976; Hall & Hall, Citation1990; see Cardon, Citation2008, for citations of both authors). The result is a highly structured and punctual culture, which plays into the high masculinity. \}c^a3e7n o+:~z German directness is a particularly noticeable cultural standard. Neuliup, J. W. (2011). One framework for approaching intercultural communication is with high-context and low-context cultures, which . In low-context cultures, good communication is precise, simple, explicit, and clear. In high-context cultures, people are said to prefer symbolic, artful language that is implicit. According to this hypothesis, the highest level of persuasion is obtained if there is a balance between the required cognitive resources for understanding the message and the cognitive resources that are available from the receiver. Imagine an ad for a sports car that does not feature the car, but instead shows a leopard running on a coastal road. 4>`~O{][-Pq [b'E2=XQb9^F4dD$",gM)0:s^>{ I-T9.,8#PT" h_%4H~ As a preliminary test, we first checked whether Belgian participants indeed scored higher on their personal context score than Dutch participants. In a comparative survey-based study, Dutch and Belgian participants read and judged 12 full-color advertisements that were taken from two advertising databases. The Belgian participants had a higher context score (M = 3.07, SD = 0.49, n = 174) than the Dutch participants (M = 2.92, SD = 0.52, n =.115). Societies with a low score in this dimension have a tendency to cynicism and pessimism. This work deals with the most common leadership theories in due consideration of their applicability in high- and low-context cultures, more precisely with the leadership styles which are mainly being used Turkey and Germany. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(3356907, 'f3c79a54-94fa-4875-95d8-58d85fe04dc8', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); St. Patricks Day, cable-knit wool sweaters, and lush, green rolling landscapes are what people Read More, How people communicate with one another varies wildly from culture to culture. While some traditions and norms are important to Germans, they can also be adapted to suit solutions that are dependent on time, situation, and context. In absolute terms, the differences between the Belgian and Dutch participants in the comprehension and liking scores were small. Low-context cultures tend to be logical, analytical, action-oriented, and concerned with the individual. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. These results are visualized in the upper part of Figure2. In addition to striving for personal accomplishment through masculine traits, Germans also enjoy tokens of status, which often comes from high-quality cars and new technology. Strong analytical orientation. Social media have become important environments for people to express and explore their political views. While a lot of resources are in the realm of international relations and business, there are some valuable high and low context culture lessons to glean for community engagement. When it comes to the role of context culture on perceived complexity, a linear regression showed, in the first place, that nationality predicted perceived complexity (F (1, 287) = 4.48, p =.035, R2 =.01; B = .216, SE =.102, p =.035): Belgian participants (M = 3.28, SD = 0.86) perceived the ads as less complex than the Dutch participants (M = 3.49, SD = 0.83). Third, future research may invest in developing new and/or refining existing measures for high/low context (see Kim, Pan, & Park, Citation1998). Deductive reasoning that relies on details are what matter in German society, and having a carefully thought out plan for the future is essential. But we can also use them to talk about smaller groups, such as corporate cultures or a specific setting like the airport. In societies with a pragmatic orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. What makes a metaphor complex is that the message is not explicit. In an advertising context, the more effort is spent in deciphering an ad, the more satisfied consumers will be that they have succeeded in this deciphering. These cookies do not store any personal information. Based on their detail-orientation, they tend to talk at great length. Repetition is appreciated for purposes of clarification, as is putting . Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine. Complex ads, such as the example of the liquid detergent, may be better comprehended and better appreciated in higher- than in lower-context cultures. An in-depth understanding of cultural norms is not required because the communication is explicit. How Do I Format and Cite Long Direct Quotes? The ages ranged from 17 to 25 (M = 20.94, SD = 1.78). After the two perceived complexity items, ad liking was assessed with two items for each ad with 7-point scales (taken from Le Pair & Van Mulken, Citation2008): The advertisement is badly/well chosen and The advertisement is unattractive/attractive (mean reliability: =.90, range.82.93). In. The ability to navigate successfully across cultures is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In general, both Germany and the U.S. are low-context cultures, meaning that information and meaning are usually communicated explicitly through words. (2014, December 10). Greetings are formal and tend to include academic titles (Guten Morgen, Frau Doktor Faust). Copyright 2023 United Language Group. Future studies may examine other dependent variables, such as product attitude or behavioral intention. Respect for authority; yet open and even confrontational discussions between subordinate and superior are accepted if they are fact-based and related to the subject-expertise of the subordinate. In this study, we follow their classification: Belgium is expected to be a higher-context culture than the Netherlands. Two examples of items were A speaker can assume that listeners will know what they really mean, and People understand many things that are left unsaid (all nine items are in Appendix1). Examples of high-context cultures include Japan, Korea, and India. At the same time, for many cultures, working in Germany can be challenging because of the direct communication style and high need for detailed information. aV )I~Wo='h6&XY+]fo)'M@y~. Low-context cultures tend to focus more on the individual than the group, which is why they value individualism and autonomy. When working with high context cultures repeat yourself less, ask clarifying questions often and work on . The difference between High and Low Context Culture is that Low Context Cultures (Individualistic Cultures) do not need a lot of additional (Contextual) information to engage in " communication ". A conclusion may be implied but not argued directly. Framework: Intercultural model. Source expertise did not play a role when the participants were able to understand the message. That is, recipients can be persuaded by a message even if they have not processed (and thus comprehended) that message. Cultural map of the world according to the World Values Survey, describing Germany as high in "Rational-Secular Values" and low in "Self Expression Values" Germany is a modern, advanced society, . [emailprotected], 2022 Hofstede Insights | Privacy policy, Virtual Organisational Culture Certification, The Role Management Plays in Organisational Change, Organisational Culture What you need to know. By incorporating the structured, punctual, and pragmatic approach to life that German culture takes, your business will be prepared for the challenges within market. Because of this, communication can change drastically from one generation to the next, creating communication gaps between parents and children. Class, Codes and Control. brH!|QZi4 0L9~eJ_cTwxme%$ GJN. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Germany, Sweden, and the United States are generally classified as low-context cultures. This work argues that message persistence (i.e., the temporal extent to which messages can be accessed by users) is a central affordance of many . This conservative, reasoned approach to problems that arise gives Germany the ability to change quickly to local and global situations. Conclusion Cultural Communication is always a challenge. Finally, it is expected that the effect predicted in H3 is mediated by participants' context-culture scores (H4): H3: Participants from a higher-context culture like ads with visual metaphors better than participants from a lower-context culture. With its first empirical demonstration of the role of context culture on comprehension and persuasion, the current study suggests that using Hall's context theory may be a fruitful way of thinking about adapting messages to diverse cultural audiences. Being autistic seem to be a lot easier in low context cultures (USA, Germany) and a lot harder in high context cultures (France, Japan)." Readers will themselves have to make the inference that the detergent is as effective in removing stains as the crocodile is in eating its prey. People understand many things that are left unsaid. Hall observed that "meaning and context are inextricably bound up with each other" (Hall, 2000, p. 36), and suggested that to understand communication one should look at meaning and context together with the code (i.e., the words themselves).By context, we refer to the situation, background, or environment connected to an event, a situation, or . Communicating with high-context cultures can require you to focus on politeness strategies that demonstrate your respect for readers and listeners. By closing this message, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Why is managing Cultural Diversity important? Characteristics of HC and LC Communication. Effectively communicating within this culture, therefore, requires messaging that is perceived as objective, professional, and efficient. Many low context cultures are individualist so people openly express their views, and tend to make important information obvious to others. Stability desired, less tolerance for risk. A number of theoretical models have been developed to help understand how culture affects communication. On the one hand, the results demonstrated that the more complex, implicit ad was better liked than the less complex, explicit ad; on the other, the results demonstrated that the too complex ad without a headline was liked less than the implicit ad. Increased complexity in advertising has been found to affect consumers' comprehension and liking of ads (e.g., Lagerwerf & Meijers, Citation2008; McQuarrie & Mick, Citation1999; Van Mulken, Van Hooft, & Nederstigt, Citation2014). Self-motivation and personal identity are important values to Germans. Finally, place focus on personal achievement, success, and competition, values which drive the German business world. Instead, they depend on the explicit code of the words and written rules to convey meaning. 3~_9!1JLW? WC "9T$8jKX@N>@\b}16#Q{E82J7gxQWk7&nr^VRjxL%%o7%os ^URt_aOewb,im_ole)hdc|LE<6%E4TEo o@ W Germany is valued around the world for its precision engineering, especially in the auto industry. The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Focus on individual; very task-oriented; Hoechstleistung (to give your best) is expected and nothing less; depending on the position and the nature of the organization, working overtime might be expected. D.u{Tet&q3b (1971). As Hall (Citation1976, p. 79) states: A high-context (HC) communication or message is one in which most of the information is either in the physical context or internalized in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message. A message does not have one given complexity; what is complex to one person is not necessarily complex to another. Potential participants were invited to take part in an online study. Communication Differences in Low-Context vs. High-Context Cultures, Comparing Communication Styles in Low- and High-Context Cultures, Additional Resources for Determining Cultural Contexts, Ethnocentrism and Cross-Cultural Competence, Additional Resources for Understanding Trompenaars Dimensions, Three Prototypes: Dignity, Face, and Honor Cultures, Ethnocentrism, Culture Shock, and Cultural Relativism. Social media in Germany is used by only 50 percent of the populationdrastically lower than many countries in Europe. More important, we will test whether the effect formulated in H1 is indeed mediated by participants' context-culture scores (H2): Figure 1. Measuring a cultural construct responsible for the expected cultural differences at the level of the studies' participants is an essential methodological tool to enable attributing empirical, cultural differences to that cultural construct (Hoeken & Korzilius, Citation2003; Van de Vijver & Leung, Citation1997). The American legal system, for example, relies on low context communication. Establishing relationships is an important part of communicating and interacting. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(3356907, '2a8a93c6-0c6a-4fe5-9e63-52c235f8ec9d', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); With its sizable middle class and decentralized society, Germany has a low power distance. This methodological issue is not unique; Cardon (Citation2008), in his review of papers on context culture and communication, also noted that context culture was measured at the individual level in only a minority of studies. From Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, Citation1995) and the resource-matching hypothesis (e.g., Larsen etal., Citation2004), we know that, for visual metaphors in particular, the relationship between comprehension and persuasion is nonlinear: with an increase in complexity, persuasion also increases up to a point where it starts to decrease. Belgium and the Netherlands have been classified as low-context (only Belgium reported; Kittler etal., Citation2011) or medium-context (Helsen, Jedidi, & DeSarbo, Citation1993) in studies in which the classification was not substantiated in any way. Reviewing the use of Hall's high-/low-context concept, Culture, attitudes, and media patterns in China, Taiwan, and the U.S.: Balancing standardization and localization decisions, Openness in metaphorical and straightforward advertisements, Points of view and pieces of time: A taxonomy of image attributes, Perceived complexity and appreciation of visual metaphors by consumers with different cultural backgrounds, The effects of syntactic complexity on advertising persuasiveness, Toward a new generation of cross-cultural research, Attitude change: The information-processing paradigm, Figures of rhetoric in advertising language, Visual rhetoric in advertising: Text-interpretive, experimental and reader-response analyses, Visual and verbal rhetorical figures under directed processing versus incidental exposure to advertising, A laboratory study of the effect of verbal rhetoric versus repetition when consumers are not directed to process advertising, Thinking into it: Consumer interpretation of complex advertising images, The impact of verbal anchoring on consumer response to image ads, Beyond visual metaphor: A new typology of visual rhetoric in advertising, Comprehension's role in persuasion: The case of its moderating effect on persuasive impact of source cues, The influence of high/low-context culture and power distance on choice of communication media: Students' media choice to communicate with professors in Japan and America, Mediation analysis in social psychology: Current practices and new recommendations, Spectacular vernacular: Literacy and commercial culture in the postmodern age, The impact of perceived message complexity and need for cognition on information processing and attitudes, Hofstede's dimensions of culture in international marketing studies, The pun in advertising: A pragmatic approach, Examining the impact of culture's consequences: A three-decade, multilevel, meta-analytical review of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions, Half a century of measuring culture: Review of approaches, challenges, and limitations based on the analysis of 121 instruments for quantifying culture, The occurrence and effects of verbal and visual anchoring of tropes on the perceived comprehensibility and liking of TV commercials, The impact of perceived complexity, deviation and comprehension on the appreciation of visual metaphor in advertising across three European countries, Finding the tipping point: Visual metaphor and conceptual complexity in advertising, The role of comprehension processes in communication and persuasion, Puffery in advertisements: The effects of media context, communication norms, and consumer knowledge. Websites catering to high-context audiences had a lot of animation & images. Based off those dimensions, there are several cultural aspects of German society that are of great importance when creating a localization strategy. The complexity of a message is actually defined by the comprehension of the receiver. 17 Germany is an excellent example for a low context country as its population is commonly known for its direct way of stating opinions and its logical, almost emotionless . Studentsshould always cross-check any information on this site with their course teacher. Information has to be explicit and detailed for the message to be conveyed without distortion. One challenge that confronts humanity, now and in the past, is the degree to which small children are socialized. gut (good) rather than fantastic.. In contrast, low-context websites had lesser animation and images, focusing instead on the information. Localization Strategy Guide The Cultural Dimensions of Germany, unwillingness to reveal personal information. She found out that in high-context countries, the advertising campaigns used more colors, movements, and sounds to provide context. It seems straightforward that, when communicating with their target audience in different cultures, companies want to clearly mention the benefits of their products in order to maximize their impact (see Wyer & Shrum, Citation2015). It should be noted that the present study cannot rule out a potential role of the participants' study background, as we did not assess this in the questionnaire. Cultures where the group is valued over the individual promote group reliance. You can often convey more information with fewer words. However, this type of segregation is not rigid, but takes the form of a gradient since the contextual . 1 From High Context to Low Context . This is what the cultural standard "Direct communication style" is about. The mean scores for perceived complexity and ad liking were submitted to regression analyses for the direct effect of nationality on perceived complexity (H1) and ad liking (H3). Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. Le Pair and Van Mulken (Citation2008, p. 289) stress that their choice to relate the findings on ad liking to participants' context culture is a tentative explanation, and Callow and Schiffman (Citation2002, p. 274) acknowledge, It would also be advantageous to measure context at an individualas opposed to a culturallevel.. Exact Time These countries are quite explicit and elaborate without having prior knowledge to each member's history or background. A polite nod accompanied by a firm handshake is a common greeting, both in a business as well as social context; eye contact is made and held during a face-to-face conversation. Low-context and high-context culture are anthropological concepts that describe the level of explicit information and the importance of context in a culture's communication. Low-context communication aspires to get straight to the point. Democratic ideal; large middle class; long tradition of Mitbestimmung (employee co-determination), but respect for organizational hierarchy. High-context cultures are more likely to be intuitive, contemplative, and concerned with the collective.
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