From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons

This study attempts to examine how cultural stereotypes on American and Japanese businesspersons, two national groups opposed in terms of cultural attributes, are represented and kept over time within the media. Further, how the media use cultural assumptions found in theories to generalize their re...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Afsin, Erol Nathan Yasin
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2016
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36299/
_version_ 1848795260344336384
author Afsin, Erol Nathan Yasin
author_facet Afsin, Erol Nathan Yasin
author_sort Afsin, Erol Nathan Yasin
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This study attempts to examine how cultural stereotypes on American and Japanese businesspersons, two national groups opposed in terms of cultural attributes, are represented and kept over time within the media. Further, how the media use cultural assumptions found in theories to generalize their representations is investigated. With an emphasis on contents along with systematic observations, the research is conducted through a dual analysis combining 32 recent Internet websites and the film Gung Ho (1986). The data are categorized according to four cultural dimensions (power distance index; individualism versus collectivism; low context versus high context cultures; monochronic versus polychronic cultures) from Hofstede (2001) Hall’s (1976) frameworks on national business cultures. The findings show that stereotypes on business cultures are not only repeated and interrelated among sources but also deeply embedded over space and time. Representations have been categorized and simplified to some traits, key attitudes and behaviours according to the membership of a national group, and the information shared are mainly homogeneous and stagnant. This study is an attempt to contribute to understand how old theories may still shape the intercultural business field in a stereotypical logic through ideological assumptions displayed by media channels over time. As the media may play a significant role in influencing managers’ mental representations, recommendations regarding how they could deal with such cultural stereotypes while conducting business are provided.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:29:16Z
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-36299
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:29:16Z
publishDate 2016
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-362992017-10-19T16:57:29Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36299/ From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons Afsin, Erol Nathan Yasin This study attempts to examine how cultural stereotypes on American and Japanese businesspersons, two national groups opposed in terms of cultural attributes, are represented and kept over time within the media. Further, how the media use cultural assumptions found in theories to generalize their representations is investigated. With an emphasis on contents along with systematic observations, the research is conducted through a dual analysis combining 32 recent Internet websites and the film Gung Ho (1986). The data are categorized according to four cultural dimensions (power distance index; individualism versus collectivism; low context versus high context cultures; monochronic versus polychronic cultures) from Hofstede (2001) Hall’s (1976) frameworks on national business cultures. The findings show that stereotypes on business cultures are not only repeated and interrelated among sources but also deeply embedded over space and time. Representations have been categorized and simplified to some traits, key attitudes and behaviours according to the membership of a national group, and the information shared are mainly homogeneous and stagnant. This study is an attempt to contribute to understand how old theories may still shape the intercultural business field in a stereotypical logic through ideological assumptions displayed by media channels over time. As the media may play a significant role in influencing managers’ mental representations, recommendations regarding how they could deal with such cultural stereotypes while conducting business are provided. 2016-09-06 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36299/1/Afsin-Dissertation-Final.pdf Afsin, Erol Nathan Yasin (2016) From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]
spellingShingle Afsin, Erol Nathan Yasin
From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons
title From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons
title_full From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons
title_fullStr From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons
title_full_unstemmed From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons
title_short From theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures The case of American and Japanese businesspersons
title_sort from theories to media: towards a generalization of business cultures the case of american and japanese businesspersons
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/36299/