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Collectivism implies that people are integrated from birth into strong, cohesive groups that protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. Hofstede found that individualistic cultures value personal time, freedom, challenge, and such extrinsic motivators as material rewards at work. In family relations, they value honesty/truth, talking things out, using guilt to achieve behavioral goals, and maintaining self-respect. Their societies and governments place individual social-economic interests over the group, maintain strong rights to privacy, nurture strong private opinions (expected from everyone), restrain the power of the state in the economy, emphasize the political power of voters, maintain strong freedom of the press, and profess the ideologies of self-actualization, self-realization, self-government, and freedom. At work, collectivist cultures value training, physical conditions, skills, and the intrinsic rewards of mastery. In family relations, they value harmony more than honesty/truth (and silence more than speech), use shame to achieve behavioral goals, and strive to maintain face. Their societies and governments place collective social-economic interests over the individual, may invade private life and regulate opinions, favor laws and rights for groups over individuals, dominate the economy, control the press, and profess the
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This document is confidential and proprietary. AM+A.CultDim.pdf
page 12
Cultural Dimensions and Global Web Design
Individualism vs. Collectivism (IC)
• Willingness to provide personal information vs. protection of personal data differentiating the individual from the group The effects of these differences can be illustrated on the Web by examining national park Web sites from two countries with very different IC indices (Figures 4 and 5). The Glacier Bay National Park Website (www.nps.gov/glba/evc.htm ) is located in the USA, which has the highest IC index rating (91).
Figure 4. High individualist value: US National Park Website.
© Copyright 2001 AM+A. This document is confidential and proprietary. AM+A.CultDim.pdf
page 13
Cultural Dimensions and Global Web …show more content…
Hofstede focuses on the traditional assignment to masculine roles of assertiveness, competition, and toughness, and to feminine roles of orientation to home and children, people, and tenderness. He acknowledges that in different cultures different professions are dominated by different genders. (For example, women dominate the medical profession in the Soviet Union, while men dominate in the USA.) But in masculine cultures, the traditional distinctions are strongly maintained, while feminine cultures tend to collapse the distinctions and overlap gender roles (both men and women can exhibit modesty, tenderness, and a concern with both quality of life and material success.) Traditional masculine work goals include earnings, recognition, advancement, and challenge. Traditional feminine work goals include good relations with supervisors, peers, and subordinates; good living and working conditions; and employment security. The following list shows some typical MAS index values, where a high value implies a strongly masculine culture: 95 Japan 79 Austria 62 USA 53 Arab countries 47 Israel 43 France 14 Netherlands 05 Sweden Since Hofstede’s definition focuses on the balance between roles and relationships, we believe masculinity and femininity may be expressed on the Web through different emphases. High-masculinity cultures would focus on the following user-interface and design elements: • Traditional
This document is confidential and proprietary. AM+A.CultDim.pdf
page 12
Cultural Dimensions and Global Web Design
Individualism vs. Collectivism (IC)
• Willingness to provide personal information vs. protection of personal data differentiating the individual from the group The effects of these differences can be illustrated on the Web by examining national park Web sites from two countries with very different IC indices (Figures 4 and 5). The Glacier Bay National Park Website (www.nps.gov/glba/evc.htm ) is located in the USA, which has the highest IC index rating (91).
Figure 4. High individualist value: US National Park Website.
© Copyright 2001 AM+A. This document is confidential and proprietary. AM+A.CultDim.pdf
page 13
Cultural Dimensions and Global Web …show more content…
Hofstede focuses on the traditional assignment to masculine roles of assertiveness, competition, and toughness, and to feminine roles of orientation to home and children, people, and tenderness. He acknowledges that in different cultures different professions are dominated by different genders. (For example, women dominate the medical profession in the Soviet Union, while men dominate in the USA.) But in masculine cultures, the traditional distinctions are strongly maintained, while feminine cultures tend to collapse the distinctions and overlap gender roles (both men and women can exhibit modesty, tenderness, and a concern with both quality of life and material success.) Traditional masculine work goals include earnings, recognition, advancement, and challenge. Traditional feminine work goals include good relations with supervisors, peers, and subordinates; good living and working conditions; and employment security. The following list shows some typical MAS index values, where a high value implies a strongly masculine culture: 95 Japan 79 Austria 62 USA 53 Arab countries 47 Israel 43 France 14 Netherlands 05 Sweden Since Hofstede’s definition focuses on the balance between roles and relationships, we believe masculinity and femininity may be expressed on the Web through different emphases. High-masculinity cultures would focus on the following user-interface and design elements: • Traditional