Studies mainly have accepted Hall's theoretical classification of high- and low-context cultures without attempts to substantiate it empirically (Kittler etal., Citation2011). Little attention is given to non-verbal cues & body language. Communicators in high-context cultures pay attention to more than the words spoken they also pay attention to interpersonal relationships, nonverbal expressions, physical settings, and social settings. Neuliup, J. W. (2011). In our fully Read More, Is your business looking for French translation services or interpreting services? Consensus-finding; thorough decision-making phase is followed by swift implementation phase. Germans have a decidedly pragmatic approach to this dimension, and score very high in this aspect. In . The Belgian students were sampled from the Dutch-speaking part of the country: Flanders. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine). $suH\ H4: Participants' personal context scores mediate the effect of nationality on ad liking. Establishing relationships is an important part of communicating and interacting. Intercultural Communication in the Workplace, 18. Instead, they depend on the explicit code of the words and written rules to convey meaning. Belgian participants have a lower perceived complexity than Dutch participants, and this national difference is explained by the participants' personal context score. Eye contact, for example, which is encouraged in North America, may have ambiguous meaning or be considered disrespectful in certain high-context cultures. That is, people from a low-context culture are expected to have more difficulties in comprehending complex messages and, consequently, to appreciate them less than people from a high-context culture. 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 . These countries are quite explicit and elaborate without having prior knowledge to each member's history or background. If empirical support for the role of context-cultures scores is to be found, it would considerably strengthen the notion of context culture as a perspective to study cultural differences and similarities in advertising and communication. In such circumstances, recipients are persuaded by other elements in the message for which comprehension is less relevant. Because directness may be thought of as disrespectful, discussions in high-context cultures can be circuitous, circling key issues rather than addressing them head-on. Low-context countries, on the other hand, relied more on linear processes and verbal communication. Belgian participants have a higher ad liking than Dutch participants, and this national difference is explained by the participants' personal context score. They were Belgian (n = 174) or Dutch (n = 115) students. [6] How does her experience in Japan demonstrate what youve learned so far about the different dimensions of culture? Based on their detail-orientation, they tend to talk at great length. Your email address will not be published. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what . In high-context cultures, people are said to prefer symbolic, artful language that is implicit. Remember that culture is dynamic, and that every individual within a culture is unique and may not conform exactly to the general characteristics of that culture. Many low context cultures are individualist so people openly express their views, and tend to make important information obvious to others. 3099067 The work of Hofstede is data-driven: nations have been given precise numerical scores on cultural dimensions on the basis of empirical research. Strong analytical orientation. One challenge that confronts humanity, now and in the past, is the degree to which small children are socialized. About half of the participants were female (56%). Countries such as Germany and Sweden are also low context while Japan and China are high context. No decisions are made until all parties involved are heard; negotiations are fact and subject matter based. gut (good) rather than fantastic.. Van Mulken etal. They predicted lower perceived complexity and higher appreciation (i.e., ad liking) for French and Spanish than for Dutch participants. The authors thank Ellen van Maaren for her assistance in the data collection, and Christian Burgers for his suggestion for the data analysis. In line with the philosophical heritage of Kant, Hegel and Fichte there is a strong preference for deductive rather than inductive approaches, be it in thinking, presenting or planning: the systematic overview has to be given in order to proceed. In two studies, they observed that participants' attitudes towards the product were affected by the source's expertise when the message was difficult to understand. To become successful as a cross-cultural communicator in Germany: When working with high context cultures repeat yourself less, ask clarifying questions often and work on . In other words, high-context communicators attach great importance to everything that surrounds the explicit message, including interpersonal relationships, non-verbal cues, and physical and social settings. In the main study, the scale proved to be just adequate ( =.68). (1971). Social media have become important environments for people to express and explore their political views. On the basis of his review of studies on context theory, one of Cardon's (Citation2008, p. 423) concluding remarks was about this measurement issue: [F]uture research must employ rigorously developed measures. Edited by Liz O. Baylen and Mike Benoist. Future studies should, however, incorporate study background as a personal characteristic. Managers are expected to be decisive and assertive. B`%~Prj_G:r`m^1&[3PfX$]#b?UoZs43avM"M iwz|t&GEyea;Nu;Y;VNv3'k[dX@^kN+Vd4.?BBSKeA{x/
Uyg"] )1MQS z6lx{(7x*g6'lfD2q9up
q61M
0.R Produced by Will Reid and Michael Simon Johnson. In high-context cultures (such as those in Japan, China, and Arab countries), the listener is already contexted and does not need to be given much background information[3]. Hall defines intercultural communication as a form of communication that shares information across different cultures and social groups. Blunt, pragmatic communication styles will be effective in Germany. New empirical studies should be conducted with other countries than Belgium and the Netherlands in order to empirically examine Hall's theoretical classification of high- and low-context cultures. All Rights Reserved. Their communication is often indirect and requires a nuanced understanding, so outsiders might find it more difficult to enter their culture. Likewise, large numbers of studies have measured cultural values on participants' level to examine how these values relate to other variables (for an overview of such studies, see Soares, Farhangmehr, & Shoham, Citation2007; Taras, Kirkman, & Steel, Citation2010). Direct; individualized; principled; fact-oriented; no face-saving concerns or need for harmony. 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. For the processing of complex messages, the perspective of context theory is very relevant. Note: Comparison of low- and high-context cultures reprinted from Business communication: Process & product (p. 64) by M.E. On the other hand, low-context culture does not have any such shared background. endstream
endobj
314 0 obj
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In low-context cultures, good communication is precise, simple, explicit, and clear. as explicit as possible. Listen to business speaker Erin Meyer explain how cultural differences can affect communication. In Collectivist societies people belong to in groups that take care of them in exchange for loyalty. We used 2-item scales for perceived ad complexity and ad liking because participants had to assess these constructs for 12 different ads. When communicating, senders would seem to be most successful if their recipients understand them. In absolute terms, the differences between the Belgian and Dutch participants in the comprehension and liking scores were small. Hall's approach, however, was theoretical: nations have been grouped and accorded a position on the continuum from low- to high-context rather loosely. Thus, Relevance Theory accommodates two seemingly opposing outcomes: a more complex message may generate higher as well as lower appreciation than a less complex message. For each participant, a mean score for perceived complexity and for ad liking was computed based on the 12 advertisements. Wurtz studied McDonalds online advertising in various countries such as Japan, Germany, the United States, etc. Restrained Emotions are discredited as unprofessional; in a business context, trust and credibility are developed through suppression of emotions; tendency to be more emotionally expressive with family and friends, particularly in southern Germany. They expected consumers from the Philippines to infer more meaning than consumers from the US because of Hall's classification of the Philippines and the US as predominantly a high- or low-context culture, respectively. There are smaller communities and specific settings within national/linguistic cultures, and they may exhibit different communication patterns. The German society is a truly Individualist one (67). German directness is a particularly noticeable cultural standard. The context refers to the information, with regards to communication and cultural issues conveyed via action, behavior, or speech. The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine whether national differences in the comprehension and appreciation of ads with visual metaphors can indeed be attributed to participants' context-culture scores. Want to create or adapt books like this? Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This morning on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, nurses union leader Pat Cullen attacked the government over its failure to give RCN members a decent pay rise as Transport Secretary Mark Harper . Characteristics of HC and LC Communication. 7:00AM and 4:00PM CEST Potential characteristics may be verbal metaphors (cf. Phillips (Citation2000), for example, constructed ads in three versions. Germany is masculine. Complex ads, such as the example of the liquid detergent, may be better comprehended and better appreciated in higher- than in lower-context cultures. [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 This study focuses on two Western European countries: Belgium and the Netherlands. This means that the potential cross-cultural differences observed cannot be accounted for by different languages used in the study (following the suggestion made by Van de Vijver & Leung, Citation1997). Bluntness and candid opinions are a standard way to communicate in both the personal and professional lives of Germans. . Those with a culture which scores high, on the other hand, take a more pragmatic approach: they encourage thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future. All articles are edited by a PhD level academic. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. These relationships are relevant to the hypotheses. Conclusion Cultural Communication is always a challenge. Low-context culture refers to a culture that communicates explicitly. The indirect effect of nationality on perceived complexity through participants' individual context score proved to be significant (b = .05; CI [0.117, 0.007], bootstrapping technique, N = 50,000). This proved to be the case (F(1, 287) = 5.85, p =.016, 2 =.02). From the perspectives of both ELM and HSM, comprehension does play a part in the persuasion process, but it is not a necessary condition for persuasion to take place. Routledge. This actually implies that context theory is a powerful explanation for differences in perceived complexity and liking of ads. Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, Citation1995) has proven to be a successful approach for our understanding of the relationship between complexity and persuasion of such messages (cf. 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). While there is still an emphasis on enjoying oneself and having fun, the overarching mentality for many is live to work. In high-context cultures, people are used to messages that are implicit and for which it is necessary to use cues from the context to decipher the message, such as metaphors. 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. (Citation2010) also investigated perceived complexity and liking of visual metaphors in advertising among participants from the same three countries. Germans are very detail-oriented and tend to ask a lot of subject-related questions. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. According to Hall's high-/low-context theory, cultures differ in their preferences for indirect, implicit messages versus direct, explicit messages. Universalism Building cultural competence (pp. 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 . %PDF-1.6
%
A 2005 study by Elizabeth Wurtz demonstrates how cultural differences shape marketing and advertising. Although context theory has been a dominant perspective in studying cultural differences and similarities in advertising and communication, the theory has received only very limited empirical attention (Cardon, Citation2008; Kittler etal., Citation2011). In this study, we follow their classification: Belgium is expected to be a higher-context culture than the Netherlands. 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. However, Relevance Theory also predicts that if people have to invest more effort into comprehending the message than they believe is warranted by the benefits they gain from this investment, they become frustrated. Messages are understood at face value. As the ads depicted individuals or individuals in interaction, they chose to measure the participants' personal achievement (i.e., leadership) and affiliation (i.e., friendship) evoked by the images as measures of implicit meaning. Germanys need for structure is again seen in its moderately high uncertainty avoidance. Van Mulken etal., Citation2010). For the replacement metaphor, an example is the ad for Contrex water, which features a Contrex water bottle looking at itself in the mirror (replacing a human person looking at his or her body shape). . Conflict Styles and HighLow Context Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Extension. Normative societies. Meaning depends on what is said- the literal content of the message- rather than how it is said. Cultures where the group is valued over the individual promote group reliance. 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). 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). Democratic ideal; large middle class; long tradition of Mitbestimmung (employee co-determination), but respect for organizational hierarchy. The indirect effect of nationality on ad liking through participants' individual context score also proved to be significant (b = .04; CI [0.104, 0.005], bootstrapping technique, N = 50,000). )&ucLHD The Pilot Dungeness Takeaway Menu,
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germany high or low context culturewamego baseball schedule
Studies mainly have accepted Hall's theoretical classification of high- and low-context cultures without attempts to substantiate it empirically (Kittler etal., Citation2011). Little attention is given to non-verbal cues & body language. Communicators in high-context cultures pay attention to more than the words spoken they also pay attention to interpersonal relationships, nonverbal expressions, physical settings, and social settings. Neuliup, J. W. (2011). In our fully Read More, Is your business looking for French translation services or interpreting services? Consensus-finding; thorough decision-making phase is followed by swift implementation phase. Germans have a decidedly pragmatic approach to this dimension, and score very high in this aspect. In . The Belgian students were sampled from the Dutch-speaking part of the country: Flanders. The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine). $suH\ H4: Participants' personal context scores mediate the effect of nationality on ad liking. Establishing relationships is an important part of communicating and interacting. Intercultural Communication in the Workplace, 18. Instead, they depend on the explicit code of the words and written rules to convey meaning. Belgian participants have a lower perceived complexity than Dutch participants, and this national difference is explained by the participants' personal context score. Eye contact, for example, which is encouraged in North America, may have ambiguous meaning or be considered disrespectful in certain high-context cultures. That is, people from a low-context culture are expected to have more difficulties in comprehending complex messages and, consequently, to appreciate them less than people from a high-context culture. 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 . These countries are quite explicit and elaborate without having prior knowledge to each member's history or background. If empirical support for the role of context-cultures scores is to be found, it would considerably strengthen the notion of context culture as a perspective to study cultural differences and similarities in advertising and communication. In such circumstances, recipients are persuaded by other elements in the message for which comprehension is less relevant. Because directness may be thought of as disrespectful, discussions in high-context cultures can be circuitous, circling key issues rather than addressing them head-on. Low-context countries, on the other hand, relied more on linear processes and verbal communication. Belgian participants have a higher ad liking than Dutch participants, and this national difference is explained by the participants' personal context score. They were Belgian (n = 174) or Dutch (n = 115) students. [6] How does her experience in Japan demonstrate what youve learned so far about the different dimensions of culture? Based on their detail-orientation, they tend to talk at great length. Your email address will not be published. Many aspects of cultural behavior are not made explicit because most members know what . In high-context cultures, people are said to prefer symbolic, artful language that is implicit. Remember that culture is dynamic, and that every individual within a culture is unique and may not conform exactly to the general characteristics of that culture. Many low context cultures are individualist so people openly express their views, and tend to make important information obvious to others. 3099067 The work of Hofstede is data-driven: nations have been given precise numerical scores on cultural dimensions on the basis of empirical research. Strong analytical orientation. One challenge that confronts humanity, now and in the past, is the degree to which small children are socialized. About half of the participants were female (56%). Countries such as Germany and Sweden are also low context while Japan and China are high context. No decisions are made until all parties involved are heard; negotiations are fact and subject matter based. gut (good) rather than fantastic.. Van Mulken etal. They predicted lower perceived complexity and higher appreciation (i.e., ad liking) for French and Spanish than for Dutch participants. The authors thank Ellen van Maaren for her assistance in the data collection, and Christian Burgers for his suggestion for the data analysis. In line with the philosophical heritage of Kant, Hegel and Fichte there is a strong preference for deductive rather than inductive approaches, be it in thinking, presenting or planning: the systematic overview has to be given in order to proceed. In two studies, they observed that participants' attitudes towards the product were affected by the source's expertise when the message was difficult to understand. To become successful as a cross-cultural communicator in Germany: When working with high context cultures repeat yourself less, ask clarifying questions often and work on . In other words, high-context communicators attach great importance to everything that surrounds the explicit message, including interpersonal relationships, non-verbal cues, and physical and social settings. In the main study, the scale proved to be just adequate ( =.68). (1971). Social media have become important environments for people to express and explore their political views. On the basis of his review of studies on context theory, one of Cardon's (Citation2008, p. 423) concluding remarks was about this measurement issue: [F]uture research must employ rigorously developed measures. Edited by Liz O. Baylen and Mike Benoist. Future studies should, however, incorporate study background as a personal characteristic. Managers are expected to be decisive and assertive. B`%~Prj_G:r`m^1&[3PfX$]#b?UoZs43avM"M iwz|t&GEyea;Nu;Y;VNv3'k[dX@^kN+Vd4.?BBSKeA{x/
Uyg"] )1MQS z6lx{(7x*g6'lfD2q9up
q61M
0.R Produced by Will Reid and Michael Simon Johnson. In high-context cultures (such as those in Japan, China, and Arab countries), the listener is already contexted and does not need to be given much background information[3]. Hall defines intercultural communication as a form of communication that shares information across different cultures and social groups. Blunt, pragmatic communication styles will be effective in Germany. New empirical studies should be conducted with other countries than Belgium and the Netherlands in order to empirically examine Hall's theoretical classification of high- and low-context cultures. All Rights Reserved. Their communication is often indirect and requires a nuanced understanding, so outsiders might find it more difficult to enter their culture. Likewise, large numbers of studies have measured cultural values on participants' level to examine how these values relate to other variables (for an overview of such studies, see Soares, Farhangmehr, & Shoham, Citation2007; Taras, Kirkman, & Steel, Citation2010). Direct; individualized; principled; fact-oriented; no face-saving concerns or need for harmony. 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. For the processing of complex messages, the perspective of context theory is very relevant. Note: Comparison of low- and high-context cultures reprinted from Business communication: Process & product (p. 64) by M.E. On the other hand, low-context culture does not have any such shared background. endstream
endobj
314 0 obj
<>stream
In low-context cultures, good communication is precise, simple, explicit, and clear. as explicit as possible. Listen to business speaker Erin Meyer explain how cultural differences can affect communication. In Collectivist societies people belong to in groups that take care of them in exchange for loyalty. We used 2-item scales for perceived ad complexity and ad liking because participants had to assess these constructs for 12 different ads. When communicating, senders would seem to be most successful if their recipients understand them. In absolute terms, the differences between the Belgian and Dutch participants in the comprehension and liking scores were small. Hall's approach, however, was theoretical: nations have been grouped and accorded a position on the continuum from low- to high-context rather loosely. Thus, Relevance Theory accommodates two seemingly opposing outcomes: a more complex message may generate higher as well as lower appreciation than a less complex message. For each participant, a mean score for perceived complexity and for ad liking was computed based on the 12 advertisements. Wurtz studied McDonalds online advertising in various countries such as Japan, Germany, the United States, etc. Restrained Emotions are discredited as unprofessional; in a business context, trust and credibility are developed through suppression of emotions; tendency to be more emotionally expressive with family and friends, particularly in southern Germany. They expected consumers from the Philippines to infer more meaning than consumers from the US because of Hall's classification of the Philippines and the US as predominantly a high- or low-context culture, respectively. There are smaller communities and specific settings within national/linguistic cultures, and they may exhibit different communication patterns. The German society is a truly Individualist one (67). German directness is a particularly noticeable cultural standard. The context refers to the information, with regards to communication and cultural issues conveyed via action, behavior, or speech. The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to examine whether national differences in the comprehension and appreciation of ads with visual metaphors can indeed be attributed to participants' context-culture scores. Want to create or adapt books like this? Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This morning on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, nurses union leader Pat Cullen attacked the government over its failure to give RCN members a decent pay rise as Transport Secretary Mark Harper . Characteristics of HC and LC Communication. 7:00AM and 4:00PM CEST Potential characteristics may be verbal metaphors (cf. Phillips (Citation2000), for example, constructed ads in three versions. Germany is masculine. Complex ads, such as the example of the liquid detergent, may be better comprehended and better appreciated in higher- than in lower-context cultures. [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 This study focuses on two Western European countries: Belgium and the Netherlands. This means that the potential cross-cultural differences observed cannot be accounted for by different languages used in the study (following the suggestion made by Van de Vijver & Leung, Citation1997). Bluntness and candid opinions are a standard way to communicate in both the personal and professional lives of Germans. . Those with a culture which scores high, on the other hand, take a more pragmatic approach: they encourage thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future. All articles are edited by a PhD level academic. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. These relationships are relevant to the hypotheses. Conclusion Cultural Communication is always a challenge. Low-context culture refers to a culture that communicates explicitly. The indirect effect of nationality on perceived complexity through participants' individual context score proved to be significant (b = .05; CI [0.117, 0.007], bootstrapping technique, N = 50,000). This proved to be the case (F(1, 287) = 5.85, p =.016, 2 =.02). From the perspectives of both ELM and HSM, comprehension does play a part in the persuasion process, but it is not a necessary condition for persuasion to take place. Routledge. This actually implies that context theory is a powerful explanation for differences in perceived complexity and liking of ads. Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, Citation1995) has proven to be a successful approach for our understanding of the relationship between complexity and persuasion of such messages (cf. 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). While there is still an emphasis on enjoying oneself and having fun, the overarching mentality for many is live to work. In high-context cultures, people are used to messages that are implicit and for which it is necessary to use cues from the context to decipher the message, such as metaphors. 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. (Citation2010) also investigated perceived complexity and liking of visual metaphors in advertising among participants from the same three countries. Germans are very detail-oriented and tend to ask a lot of subject-related questions. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. According to Hall's high-/low-context theory, cultures differ in their preferences for indirect, implicit messages versus direct, explicit messages. Universalism Building cultural competence (pp. 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 . %PDF-1.6
%
A 2005 study by Elizabeth Wurtz demonstrates how cultural differences shape marketing and advertising. Although context theory has been a dominant perspective in studying cultural differences and similarities in advertising and communication, the theory has received only very limited empirical attention (Cardon, Citation2008; Kittler etal., Citation2011). In this study, we follow their classification: Belgium is expected to be a higher-context culture than the Netherlands. 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. However, Relevance Theory also predicts that if people have to invest more effort into comprehending the message than they believe is warranted by the benefits they gain from this investment, they become frustrated. Messages are understood at face value. As the ads depicted individuals or individuals in interaction, they chose to measure the participants' personal achievement (i.e., leadership) and affiliation (i.e., friendship) evoked by the images as measures of implicit meaning. Germanys need for structure is again seen in its moderately high uncertainty avoidance. Van Mulken etal., Citation2010). For the replacement metaphor, an example is the ad for Contrex water, which features a Contrex water bottle looking at itself in the mirror (replacing a human person looking at his or her body shape). . Conflict Styles and HighLow Context Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Extension. Normative societies. Meaning depends on what is said- the literal content of the message- rather than how it is said. Cultures where the group is valued over the individual promote group reliance. 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). 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). Democratic ideal; large middle class; long tradition of Mitbestimmung (employee co-determination), but respect for organizational hierarchy. The indirect effect of nationality on ad liking through participants' individual context score also proved to be significant (b = .04; CI [0.104, 0.005], bootstrapping technique, N = 50,000). )&ucLHD
