CULTURE MATTERS Part 3: Collectivism and Individualism
From Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, Hofstede introduces 6 dimensions of cultural differences around the world: Individualism, Power Distance, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long-Term Orientation, and Indulgence.
Power Distance refers to the extent to which the less powerful people accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. In high power distance cultures, the gap between those in power and those who are not is much wider than low power distance cultures.
Masculinity is the extent to which society supports traditional values of masculine and feminine traits. With high masculine culture, it relates to traits that are tough or assertive, and in low masculinity culture, genders are emotionally closer and more nurturing.
Uncertainty Avoidance reflects the degree to which a culture embraces the uncertainty of the future. High uncertainty avoidance tends to rely very strongly on their set rules and ways of doing things to control as much of the uncertainty as possible. With low uncertainty avoidance, a simple context tends to impact someone’s behaviors, which often leads to new production ideas, services, and products. For instance, the U.S. deals with low uncertainty avoidance and “it is common for employees in the US to change jobs often instead of staying in one place. People prefer personal development and benefits over stability.” (Sheena Liang, “How to understand US Cultural differences impacting your business: Hofstede’s 6-D Model”) With high uncertainty avoidance in South Korea, “the trend in Korea remains that people prefer stability in the jobs they sought.” (The Korea Herald, “Public servants and office workers remain most preferred jobs in Korea”)
Long-Term Orientation deals with change. In a long-term oriented culture, people believe the world is in flux, and preparing for the future is always needed. In a short-term oriented culture, people believe the world is essentially as it was created and the past provides a moral compass, and adhering to it is morally good.
Indulgence is about the good things in life. In a highly indulgent culture, it is good to be free and do what your impulses want you to do. In a low-indulgent culture, people believe that life is hard, and duty is the normal state of being.
In this graph, I compare these 6 aspects between South Korea and the US. It shows that the most extreme difference between South Koreans and Americans behaviorally is that Korean users are collectivistic while American users are individualistic.
South Korea’s strong emphasis on collectivism, in contrast to the United States’ individualistic culture shape-shifts design decisions.
“The main pillar of traditional Korean culture was collectivism. Collectivism in the Korean context can be defined as a culture based on the hierarchical social structure which subjugates the individual rights to the collective goods of society. This cultural structure is diametrically opposite to the Western cultural structure based on the egalitarian social structure which emphasizes that the collective goods are to serve the individual’s rights, not vice versa.” (Park Sang-seek, “[Park Sang-seek] Transformation of Korean culture from collectivism to egotism” in The Korea Herald).
With the collectivistic culture in South Korea, there is a social norm that is heavily tied to its history. This is applied to various environments, including school, workplace and family.
“Diligent, hard work, filial piety, and humbleness are characteristics respected by Koreans. They are proud of their unique traditional culture and their economic success within a short period of time. Education is very important to Koreans. It is the way of becoming successful.” (Ma, 2012).
Korean designers often consider users as a group and decisions are made as a group. They must be aware of the cultural and societal context in which the products align with their collective values, traditions, and social norms, making sure that the design coincides with the group’s identity or cultural awareness. South Korea has a high dimension score of uncertainty avoidance: their decision-making process in buying a product tends to rely heavily on ‘opinions of others’, such as word-of-mouth, user ratings, and reviews.
The word “chaebol” refers to plutocracy, which is an industrial conglomerate controlled by a family in South Korea. An example is one of the largest South Korean chaebol behind Samsung Group. “The Sunkyong Group, also known as the SK Group, puts high emphasis on teaching its management values and beliefs. The Sunkyong believes that the success or failure of a company is determined by how the firm manages its human resources.” (Young Hack Song and Christopher B. Meek, “The Impact of Culture on the Management Values and Beliefs of Korean Firms”) Therefore, the Chairman’s Office in Management & Planning published a Sunkyong Management System, in which employees are heavily influenced by the company’s motto, also known as ‘Sahoon’, and their values, behaviors, and personality conform with the company to represent the ‘Sunkyong man’.
From a study of Korean company recruiters’ comments, Company D’s Personnel Manager wrote: “We do not want to have a superstar in our organization because, even though they may have more ability in their specialty, they also may present a greater possibility of breaking up unity… It is possible to train people in a new job function if they have basic intelligence, but a person’s personality characteristics are very hard to change.” (Young Hack Song and Christopher B. Meek, “The Impact of Culture on the Management Values and Beliefs of Korean Firms”).
Americans embrace freedom, independence, and individualism as their highest values, which praise innovation and personalization in their culture.
“Individuality and personal mobility is deeply American, and it’s being taught to the rest of the world through the medium of American technology. And the age of invisible design, with its focus on experiences (as opposed to just products and interfaces) has made cultural influence the elephant in the room: obvious, ignored, and hugely powerful. Especially because technology platforms favor the culture that spawned them.” (Sean Madden, “American-Centric UI Is Leveling Tech Culture — and Design Diversity”).
Americans value personal freedom and uniqueness, and as such, American designs offer features to customize to each individual’s needs. Furthermore, American designers value unique creative ideas and solutions, so their work would stand out above the rest.
When you buy a product on Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce website, the user is prompted to buy the product in a bundle rather than a singular item. Their priority is based on volume and cost. In contrast, when you buy a similar product on Amazon in the US, the user is shown comparisons between similar products from different brands, customizing for the consumer to choose their preference. In these comparisons, we can see that there are different priorities and experiences between Korean and American users.
The analysis of America’s individualistic culture and South Korea’s collectivistic culture through Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory reveals the difference in prioritization of certain needs, such as shown above, comparing the e-commerce platforms of Amazon and Coupang. With international users also using Amazon, the process brings users from a collectivistic culture a different user experience.
In Culture Matters Part 4, I will analyze the importance of localization in companies expanding their market overseas and the product’s effect on local users.
