Cross-cultural interactions — the good, the bad… and a couple of blunders!

Author’s note: This blog is the second in a series of four, exploring the topic of culture from a digital perspective and highlighting what some of the key local, national and international considerations are. Part one can be viewed here.

Ponder this…you have a business meeting scheduled with a potential new client. Throughout the course of the meeting, you notice the person constantly look away while you’re speaking. Similarly, when they speak to you, they also look down or away, never really appropriately acknowledging your presence except for the occasional glance or a nod in your direction.

How would this make you feel? Would you find this behavior frustrating or offensive? Would you have questioned their behavior?

How would you react when you find out later it was a characteristic of their culture not to meet your eyes? Would it have made a difference had you had this knowledge in advance?

What if you were the other person. The speaker is doing their best to draw your attention to them, their tone is loud and attitude quite overbearing. You make several attempts to meet their eyes during the conversation, but it goes against your very nature so you continue to look away. Your culture compels you to maintain harmony so you remain silent about your feelings and persist with the uncomfortable situation until the meeting is finally over.

How would you feel in this instance? Would you want to interact with this person again? Would this experience impact on your decision to enter into a contractual business relationship with them?

The influence of culture on behaviours and perspectives

Cross-cultural interactions can be a challenging thing because different individuals have different values, behaviours and perceptions that stem from their cultural backgrounds. These cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings or conflict, can influence our choices or decisions, and can also leave long-lasting impressions — which may not always be a good thing!

Take the article “Intercultural interaction” for example. An interviewee was quoted as saying “Many Western expats that come here do not show the necessary cultural sensitivity, and this often leaves a trail of misunderstandings all the way to arrogant impressions in the eye of the local workers” (Brown & Brandt, 2014)

This quote left me wondering several things, and in particular, the question of who was really at fault here? With the local people being the cultural experts, should they have made more of an effort to help educate the newcomers as to the local customs, traditions and practices, or is it the visitors’ job to find this out on their own? Is expecting the newcomer to conform to the local culture actually asking them to compromise their own? Was this situation simply the result of arrogance, ignorance or something else? And on whose part?

Understanding the conditions in which culture can influence behaviours is now becoming even more important as factors such as digitalisation and globalization lead to even greater cross-cultural interactions.

But why is it important, you may ask?

Because as organisations look to expand into global markets, these interactions can mean the difference between a business’s success and failure.

So what can be done about it?

Acknowledging the existence of different worldviews

First of all, having an awareness that differing worldviews do exist is a good start. A worldview is a perspective from which one views and interprets the world. It encompasses a collection of beliefs and assumptions that usually form the basis for shared cultural meaning. Hofstede (1984) describes these variabilities as cultural dimensions, with individualism and collectivism being the terms commonly used to describe cross-cultural differences.

Marsden (2003) discusses some of the key differences in worldviews, suggesting that western perspectives, for example, insist that there is a scientific reason behind all knowledge and that reason for cause and effect must be able to be explained.

From an alternative perspective, myth and legend form the central system on which some cultures base their holistic view of the universe. Their worldviews may consist of various spiritual, cosmological, philosophical, and methodological understandings that connect the people, their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, and define their relationships to one another and the world around them.

Cultural awareness in the digital realm

By developing an understanding of different worldviews, perspectives and cultural considerations it becomes slightly easier to see how the success of an organisations global endeavors can be influenced by culture.

In the digital space, cultural backgrounds can also determine how a message, event or idea is interpreted when presented in an online context, so a key challenge for organisations is being able to communicate cross-culturally in such a manner that the message is understood the way it was originally intended (Pookulangara & Koesler, 2011).

Take social media branding as a classic example. The simple use of the wrong type of image, colour or slogan by an organisation can have a devastating impact on the success of the business’s attempt at globalization. For instance, the use of animal imagery in an online marketing strategy may be successful in the countries that perceive them to bring wisdom and fortune, or may fail dismally in countries that deem animals to be lower forms of life or believe them to bring bad luck.

A failure to comprehend how important a translation of a slogan is, may not only cost an organisation in time, money and effort, but can also result in severe embarrassment — and on a global scale! Clairol learned this the hard way when they launched their “Mist stick” curling iron in Germany, only to find out later that mist stick in German slang meant “manure stick”.

The key point to this entire blog is that having an awareness that differing perspectives and worldviews exist is the first step down the road towards understanding how culture can influence behaviours, perceptions and attitudes.

With this initial knowledge, organisations can then begin devising strategies for interacting, communicating and engaging more effectively with varying cultures across multiple borders and various platforms, to build positive relationships… and prevent any of those unfortunate misunderstandings.

Thanks for reading!

References

Brown T. and Brandt D. (2014). How high growth economies impact global information technology departments, AI & SOCIETY, 29(2), pp. 241–247.

Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Marsden, M. (2003). Kaitiakitanga: A definitive introduction to the holistic worldview of the Maori. In T. A. Royal, The Woven Universe: Selected Writings of Rev. Maori Marsden (pp. 54–72). Otaki: Te Wananga o Raukawa.

Pookulangara, S., & Koesler, K. (2011, July). Cultural influence on consumers’ usage of social networks and its’ impact on online purchase intentions. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 18(4), 348–354.