germany high or low context culture

Examples of low-context cultures include Germany, the United States, and Australia. 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. Consumers differ in these resources; for instance, because they vary in the motivation to invest in cognitive tasks (e.g., Lagerwerf & Meijers, Citation2008; See etal., Citation2009). Little attention is given to non-verbal cues & body language. Well, which Read More, 1550 Utica Avenue South,Suite 420Minneapolis, MN 55416. An overview of high context culture. A low score (Feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG. Individual Orientation }Sp*vv^qVbu4.#TpK:5p/&^{tou,! )y_f77\dO :3sPb:#( L%T*qsPJl3)}TkU\z,RzHpO^GFoi'})ff\ A Localization, Interpreting & Translation Services Company. However, be sure to consider that your communication style doesnt highlight instant gratification or a can-do emotion. Focus on accomplishing tasks one at a time and sequentially. All Rights Reserved. (Citation2010) also investigated perceived complexity and liking of visual metaphors in advertising among participants from the same three countries. This allows individuals of different generations to communicate through a shared set of values, which, in turn, provides stability to the culture. Praise is rarely given, and when it is given, it is understated, e.g. The red line (Benrath-Linie) divides Low German and Middle German. The frequent use of complex ads can be best understood when these ads are conceptualized as messages with rhetorical figures, such as visual metaphors (Forceville, Citation1996; Phillips, Citation1997). This can be very confusing for person who does not understand the 'unwritten rules' of the culture. (The Netherlands is the referent category.). Importantly, the current study examines this classification empirically by assessing individual context scores in both cultures. High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Guffey, M. E., Lowey, D., Rhodes, K., & Rogin, P. (2013). Being autistic seem to be a lot easier in low context cultures (USA, Germany) and a lot harder in high context cultures (France, Japan)." 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). Writing Topic Sentences and Body Paragraphs, 39. Managers are expected to be decisive and assertive. Meaning depends on what is said- the literal content of the message- rather than how it is said. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. A prototypical message component that results in complex messages is the use of metaphors. This result supported H1. Imagine an ad for a sports car that does not feature the car, but instead shows a leopard running on a coastal road. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. The study had a one-factor design: advertisements with visual metaphors were presented to participants with the Belgian or the Dutch nationality (between-subject design). The visual in the ad displays a piece of clothing with blue liquid detergent in the form of a crocodile attacking a brown, coffee-like stain. According to the influential context theory of Hall (Hall, Citation1976; Hall & Hall, Citation1990; see also Kittler, Rygl, & Mackinnon, Citation2011), a person's cultural background affects how well that person is able to comprehend complex messages and how well s/he appreciates such messages. In absolute terms, the differences between the Belgian and Dutch participants in the comprehension and liking scores were small. 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). Relevance Theory has been successful in explaining findings related to comprehension and persuasion of metaphors. Produced by Will Reid and Michael Simon Johnson. 7:00AM and 4:00PM CEST Low-context countries, on the other hand, relied more on linear processes and verbal communication. Unlike the linear communication style preferred in low-context cultures, high-context communicators may use spiral logic, circling around a topic indirectly and looking at it from many tangential or divergent viewpoints. Two Types of Reflective Writing Assignments, Additional Resources for Improving Writing, Consistency in comparatives and listed elements: Parallelism, A Note on Punctuating the End of List Items, Hofstede Insights country comparison tool, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oYfhTC9lIQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvqDv4vbEg, https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/42958_2_The_Cultural_Context.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, Tend to prefer indirect verbal interaction, Tend to understand meaning at one level only, Tend to understand meanings embedded at many sociocultural levels, Are generally less proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Are generally more proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Communication in highly structured messages, provide details, stress literal meaning, Communication is simple, sometimes ambiguous, messages; understand visual messages readily, Define cultural context (Guffey et al., 2013, p. 64), Contrast communicate styles for low-context and high-context cultures (Meyer, 2017, p. 59), Explain how cultural differences can affect workplace communication (Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau, 2014). His analysis showed that only a small percentage of these studies were empirical (see also Kittler etal., Citation2011). While some cultures are low or high context, in general terms, there can also be individual or contextual differences within cultures. In societies with a pragmatic orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. =AUj/9B Xxbhn%nH4o Third, future research may invest in developing new and/or refining existing measures for high/low context (see Kim, Pan, & Park, Citation1998). It does so by examining the role of context culture for one example of complex messages: advertisements with visual metaphors. 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]. The results confirmed three of four expected differences: perceived complexity was higher for Dutch than for Spanish participants (but not than for French), and ad liking was lower for Dutch than for Spanish and French participants. They also displayed pictures of individuals, while high-context websites foregrounded group pictures. The ages ranged from 17 to 25 (M = 20.94, SD = 1.78). Learn more about our academic and editorial standards. 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. 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 ". 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). . The culture of Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. This means that Germans tend to pay more attention to the literal meaning of words than to the context surrounding them. 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. 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. This, in turn, may make employers (particularly of smaller companies) very cautious and selective when hiring people. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: The Influence of High-/Low-Context Culture on Perceived Ad Complexity and Liking, Centre for Language Studies, Communication and Information Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Review of a 40-source debate in international advertising: Practitioner and academician perspectives to the standardization/adaptation issue, Ease of message processing as a moderator of repetition effects in advertising, The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations, The predictive validity of multiple-item versus single-item measures of the same constructs, Implicit meaning in visual print advertisements: A cross-cultural examination of the contextual communication effect, A critique of Hall's contexting model: A meta-analysis of literature on intercultural business and technical communication, How to persuade Belgian, French and Dutch business people to listen to your presentation, Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical mediation analysis in the new millennium, A new approach to country segmentation utilizing multinational diffusion patterns, Conducting experiments on cultural aspects of document design: Why and how, Adapting consumer advertising appeals to cultural values: A meta-analytic review of effects on persuasiveness and ad liking, Foreign language display in advertising from a psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspective: A review and research agenda, High- versus low-context culture: A comparison of Chinese, Korean, and American cultures, Beyond culture or beyond control? 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. 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). 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). According to Hall (Citation1976; Hall & Hall, Citation1990), the extent to which such complex messages are comprehended and appreciated depends on context culture. Low vs. high context . Hosted by Sabrina Tavernise. 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 low context processes. Therefore, empirical evidence was also found for H4, which means that participants' personal context scores indeed mediated the effect of nationality on ad liking. A low-context culture is a culture in which people communicate explicitly. Low Context From the same gender distributions in the two samples, it might be considered unlikely that, for instance, one sample contained predominantly arts students (which are mostly female students) and the other predominantly engineering students (which are mostly male students). 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. In the first half of the theoretical framework, we will outline the role of comprehension in the persuasion process in general, and in the case of complex advertisements in particular. endstream endobj 315 0 obj <>stream 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. The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau. 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). "@AutisticCoach_ Autism is universal but our struggles and disabilities aren't, they are affected by the culture. (2013)[2]explain the concept of cultural context: Cultural context is a concept developed by cultural anthropologist Edward T. Hall. Performance and target-based; subject expertise important; in public/government institutions, length of service is one aspect of performance appraisal. Low-context cultures tend to be logical, analytical, action-oriented, and concerned with the individual. Germany has a "low context culture"; the information which is made explicit is extensive. These countries were selected because they are similar in many respects, but differ in context culture. A person's culture shapes their beliefs, as well as the way they express themselves through communication. In K. Berardo & D. K. Deardorff, eds. In low-context cultures, people are used to messages that are direct and simple; for them, interpreting metaphors is relatively more demanding. One challenge that confronts humanity, now and in the past, is the degree to which small children are socialized. For the indirect effects of nationality through context scores on perceived complexity (H2) and ad liking (H4), we used bootstrapping as mediation technique. In a low-context culture, communication occurs through explicitly spelled out and defined words, and listeners just have to interpret spoken or written words as they are. An example of an ad with a juxtaposition metaphor is the one for Land Rover, which shows three objects crossing a large river: two hippos and one Land Rover (with the implicature that the vehicle is able to cross that river as smoothly as the two animals). These small differences seem to be related to the large similarities between the two populations, both in broad characteristics (e.g., political system, geographical location) and in context culture. By closing this message, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Tanaka, Citation1992). Its impressive business sector features many of the largest brands in the world, and the consumer market has a high buying power. As a result, much is taken for granted. GI?Ln T9a`"-&k 16 KWGWC1?Q'_}]G- 4XmyxKLsx%yIj `y More recent persuasion models, such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM; Petty & Cacioppo, Citation1986) and the Heuristic-Systematic Model (HSM; Chaiken, Citation1987), have nuanced the role of comprehension. Guffey, D. Lowey, K. Rhodes, K., & P. Rogin. Relatively weak control is called Indulgence and relatively strong control is called Restraint. H2: Participants' personal context scores mediate the effect of nationality on perceived complexity. Put it in writing. In high-context cultures, communication cues are transmitted by posture, voice inflection, gestures, and facial expression. The Influence of High-/Low-Context Cultu . https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2017.1296985. Communication is among the most direct in the world following the ideal to be honest, even if it hurts and by this giving the counterpart a fair chance to learn from mistakes. C\s{58id]wE&= 4y3H[K302LQB7LU] #Bnf+cC Your email address will not be published. In order to present participants with ads that varied in complexity, different metaphors were used, including the juxtaposition metaphor, the fusion metaphor, and the replacement metaphor (cf. H4: Participants' personal context scores mediate the effect of nationality on ad liking. Based on their insights into Hall's context theory and the Dutch and Belgian (communication) culture, cross-cultural communication scholars Gerritsen and Claes (Gerritsen, Citation2002; Claes & Gerritsen, Citation2011) indicate that Belgium is a medium-context culture, and the Netherlands a low-context culture. In low-context cultures, people are said to prefer explicit, task-related language. The High German languages (German: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (Hochdeutsch) - not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" - comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and Uerdingen isoglosses in central and southern Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and eastern Belgium, as well as in . EJ]?SGfekI NTj\*5~RGzN%#QeOJkLPvYwA9xCk9?FM~0xtCxjg-G3'Uw?g`#IcN!Yr%{U4`8sDUTEP^ Let's analyse the first dimension today! Future studies should, however, incorporate study background as a personal characteristic. Germans are very detail-oriented and tend to ask a lot of subject-related questions. Since they value collectivism and interdependence, it makes sense that their communication requires an understanding of the communitys shared values. Comfort in knowing the rules; protocol important; sensitivity to position and age. Renewable, clean energy has become a key talking point for every nation, and Germanys push puts itself at the forefront of a new economic boom. 3099067 Another source of variation is consumers' cultural background; namely, their context culture, as the next section will explain. Cultures with a low-context orientation, including North America and Western Europe, tend to solve problems with logic rather than intuition and highly value directness. Framework: Intercultural model. 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). These models, however, do not account for the design of complex ads such as the example of the liquid detergent, which suggests that complexity is employed to positively affect appreciation. Figure 2. endstream endobj 313 0 obj <>stream Results of regression analyses in the theoretical model. In a comparative survey-based study, Dutch and Belgian participants read and judged 12 full-color advertisements that were taken from two advertising databases. More important, we will test whether the effect formulated in H1 is indeed mediated by participants' context-culture scores (H2): Figure 1. Carolyn Meyer (2017)[4]discusses the prototypes for communication in low-context and high-context cultures: Communicators in low-context cultures (such as those in Germany, Scandinavia, and North America) convey their meaning exclusive of the context of a situation. This is why complex messages are sometimes more effective than less complex messages. London: Routledge. Because of this, communication can change drastically from one generation to the next, creating communication gaps between parents and children. ;#EtZ-P`IsPv;SFMx+CS~!v}w\ `p>cgVX Honesty is also valued highly because German communication as a whole is incredibly low-context. In Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, Citation1995), the principle of relevance holds that people search for a balance between the effort they have to put into understanding the message and the benefits they expect the effort to provide them. 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. Registered in England & Wales No. It will examine whether it is indeed people's individual context score that affects the degree of comprehension and liking of complex messages. As a preliminary test, we first checked whether Belgian participants indeed scored higher on their personal context score than Dutch participants. Building cultural competence (pp. For more information please visit our Permissions help page. Required fields are marked *, This Article was Last Expert Reviewed on March 15, 2023 by Chris Drew, PhD. Some ideas are better understood when left unsaid. Next to this measure of perceived comprehension, other useful approaches are to ask participants to select the appropriate meaning among a list of potential meanings (cf. Examples of countries that Hall classified as low-context are Norway and Switzerland; examples of high-context countries are China and Japan. Speakers should not expect that listeners will figure out what they really mean unless the intended message is stated precisely. A high score (Masculine) on this dimension indicates that the society will be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the winner / best in field a value system that starts in school and continues throughout organisational life. As Lowrey (Citation2008, p. 173, italics in original) argued: The important issue is the recognition that complexity effects occur in the individual. When we refer to the complexity of a message in this article, we therefore also refer to the comprehension of the message by the receiver. and the German culture is referred to low context and status-oriented cultures [Kulikova, 2006; Kotthoff, 2003; Gnther, 2002; Khorrami . Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. Van Mulken etal., Citation2014) or to ask them to write down what they think is the meaning of the message (cf. For future research on context culture and visual metaphors, it would be interesting to examine if this nonlinear relationship holds as strongly for high-context culture participants as for low-context culture participants. aV )I~Wo='h6&XY+]fo)'M@y~. 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. The context theory framework has been adopted in cultural studies to a large extent; Cardon (Citation2008), for instance, reviewed 244 articles. 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. Privacy Policy. Stability desired, less tolerance for risk. Potential participants were invited to take part in an online study. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. The ads featured different products, such as a car, detergent, soda, and a mobile phone. Deutsch-lernen.com recommends: Learn melodious standard German at ActiLingua Academy in Vienna. A direct and participative communication and meeting style is common, control is disliked and leadership is challenged to show expertise and best accepted when its based on it. In public, space is less of a physical concept: people bump into each other in the street and push others when queuing; it is more a concept of the mind. This proved to be the case (F(1, 287) = 5.85, p =.016, 2 =.02). It describes the level of explicit information and the importance of context in a given culture, indicating the range of communicative abilities (verbal messages, gestures, etc.) Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine. The reverse holds true for High (Collectivistic) Context Cultures. 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. Brings out best in individual; challenges to produce best possible outcome, yet a strong sense of collaboration persists, Task Orientation A speaker can assume that listeners will know what they really mean. A principal component analysis did not lead to a more reliable scale. According to Hall's context theory, people from different cultures may react differently to complex messages. Direct; individualized; principled; fact-oriented; no face-saving concerns or need for harmony. Cultures and languages are defined as higher or lower context on a spectrum. Websites catering to high-context audiences had a lot of animation & images. Conflict Styles and HighLow Context Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Extension. That is to say, despite these small (but significant) differences in context score in this study, these context scores proved to be the explanation for the national difference in both complexity and liking of the ads. Information has to be explicit and detailed for the message to be conveyed without distortion. . However, no country is low-context or high-context in absolute terms; instead, there is a mix of explicit & implicit communication everywhere. This actually implies that context theory is a powerful explanation for differences in perceived complexity and liking of ads. As we discuss culture, we are making generalizations to create cultural prototypes. Which of the following countries is considered a high context culture? The use of short scales is consistent with recommendations in the marketing literature (Bergkvist & Rossiter, Citation2007). 45-52). Sage Publications. An in-depth understanding of cultural norms is not required because the communication is explicit. By considering each of these dimensions, youll be able to create a localization strategy that focuses on key elements of German society. Due to this shared understanding, high-context cultures are slightly more informal. Small families with a focus on the parent-children relationship rather than aunts and uncles are most common. In this example, the implicature is that the car that is advertised (but not depicted) is as fast as the leopard shown in the ad. This is what the cultural standard "Direct communication style" is about. In communication theories, the important role of comprehension has been acknowledged. Studentsshould always cross-check any information on this site with their course teacher. Seekprofessional input on your specific circumstances. Edward T. Hall describes low-context culture as one in which: most of the information is either in the explicit code or readily available elsewhere (Hall, 1976). Cite this Article in your Essay (APA Style), Privacy PolicyTerms and ConditionsDisclaimerAccessibility StatementVideo Transcripts. Culture and Interpersonal Communication. 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. Sourabh Yadav (MA) and Peer Reviewed by Chris Drew (PhD), Transhumanism: 10 Examples and Definition, Terminal Values: 10 Examples and Definition, Instrumental Values: 10 Examples and Definition, Latent Inhibition: 10 Examples and Definition. In Collectivist societies people belong to in groups that take care of them in exchange for loyalty. 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 . Germany has a relatively low score when it comes to indulgence, meaning the country is restrained in nature. In total, 289 students participated in this comparative survey-based study. 9. 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. Based off those dimensions, there are several cultural aspects of German society that are of great importance when creating a localization strategy. The upper half of the figure models the relationship between receiver nationality and perceived complexity of the message. Their communication is often indirect and requires a nuanced understanding, so outsiders might find it more difficult to enter their culture. To request a reprint or commercial or derivative permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below. Instead of doubling down on the tried and true method of fossil fuel power, however, Germany has launched a massive clean-energy revolution. zsOx B*@ According to Hall's high-/low-context theory, cultures differ in their preferences for indirect, implicit messages versus direct, explicit messages. The Nine Competencies that Characterize an IEP, Strategies to Increase your IEP[footnote]Deardorff, D. K. (2012). Power Distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Status is often shown, especially by cars, watches and technical devices. The terms "low-context" and "high-context" usually refer to language groups or nationalities.
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