Assignment on the effect of culture differences on passenger satisfaction

Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

Cultural Definition 1

“Culture ... is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” (Tyler (British anthropologist) 1870: 1; cited by Avruch 1998: 6)

Cultural Definition 2

“Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by   symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other, as conditional elements of future action.” (Kroeber & Kluckhohn 1952: 181; cited by Adler 1997: 14)

Cultural Definition 3

“Culture consists of the derivatives of experience, more or less organized, learned or created by the individuals of a population, including those images or encodements and their interpretations (meanings) transmitted from past generations, from contemporaries, or formed by individuals themselves.” (T.Schwartz 1992; cited by Avruch 1998: 17)

Cultural Definition 4

“Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede 1994: 5)

Definition 5

Cultural “Culture is the set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next” (Matsumoto 1996: 16)

Definition 6

Cultural “Culture is a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientations to life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioural conventions that are shared by a group of people, and that influence (but do not determine) each member’s behaviour and his/her interpretations of the ‘meaning’ of other people’s behaviour.” (Spencer-Oatey 2008: 3)

Definition 7

Cultural “Culture . . . is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Edward Burnett Tylor, 1871)

Definition 8

Cultural “Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is the totality of a person's learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning.” (Edward Burnett Tylor, 1873)

Definition 9

Cultural “Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include a group's skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society through its institutions.” (Spencer-Oatey 2008: 4)

 

Definition 10

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong (Zimmermann, 2017)

Cultural differences

This is the graph that is showing the important data about the cultural difference between the different regions of the world. The cultural difference is based on Hofstede results. It can be seen that in Hofstede there are six important parameters that will be considered in a proper way. The first one is related to the power distance. This parameter will give information about how much power distance is present between these regions and also how they can easily support each other perfectly.

Power distance of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

From the graph above if you look, Saudi Arabia is leading the other countries on the list and this country is belonging to the Arab region. The result showing that in the power distance Saudi Arabia has scored 95. This shows that in that region the people are accepting the hierarchical order. In such an order, everyone in the organization has a certain place where they need no further justification. This shows that if the organization contains a hierarchy then the people of the organization are working under the boss. Another fact that can be seen related to power distance in the graph is that in Europe and America the value of power distance is extremely low. This shows that in their many organizations they worked as a team rather than the hierarchical culture.

Individualism of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The next parameter is related to individualism. This parameter is giving proper information about how much individuals are working in different organizations. This parameter is also dealing with the degree of interdependence of a society with its important members. In such societies, the people are involved in taking care of themselves and their families. Moreover, in such a society the people stay together and also lived together with each other in groups for the exchange of locality.

From the graph, it can be seen that the United States of America that belongs to the American region is at the top of the individualism. The main fact is that the premise of American is that they are promoting liberty and justice for all people that are living in that country. This shows that there are totally equal rights for both men and women. Both of them are able to support their families equally. This is the reason why this country containsthe highest value of individualism. In that region both the managers and employees are working with collaboration in a perfect way and with informal communication. This society has complete access to their rights and on the basis of these rights, they are involved in supporting each other with perfection. Moreover, the next thing is that there is a huge degree of geographical mobility in that region and these people are also known as the best joiners inthe whole world. These people are also accustomed to doing any type of business for their healthy living. The next important fact from the graph is that china is the least scorer in the individualism parameter.

Masculinity of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The next parameter is related to masculinity. It can be seen that if any region containsa high score in masculinity then it show that in that region the society is driven by the males. It can be noted that society is perfectly successful when it is driven by the hand of males because they are actually the winner of their related fields. On the other hand, if it is driven by the females then it may be considered as a weak society because through this the quality of life will be affected. From the graph, it shows that all regions of the world are supporting males for driving societies. Itcan be noted that there is a high combination of masculinity in different regions of the world. Moreover, it can be noted that the whole of Europe is also following the same culture and also supporting males for driving societies. The rate of masculinity is just slightly higher in Europe than that of the Americans.

Uncertainty avoidance of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The next parameter is related to uncertainty avoidance. This parameter is dealing with the condition in which there is no proper information about the future. Due to this ambiguity exists in a different group of societies. Then these societies will learn how to deal with such condition, it can be seen from the graph that Saudi Arabia is on the top with a score of 80 in this dimension. The main reason is that the Arabian countries are Muslins and they have the plan to deal with any kind of depression at the organization. On the other hand, there is a quite low score of the other regions of the world in this particular dimension.

Long term orientation of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The next parameter is related to long term orientation. This parameter is dealing with the maintenance of some important links with the past that will help the organization to deal with the future and present challenges. It can be that if a society containsa low score in this dimension then it will be categorized in the normative societies. From the graph, it can be seen that the Far East region is leading and contain a high score of 80. This is the reason why this region is considered as most developed than the other one. This is because they always learn from their past mistakes and then overcome it in a perfect way. In that graph, Saudi Arabia contains the lowest score of 36 only and it shows that the region is not involved in learning important things from their past.

Indulgence of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The last parameter is related to indulgence. This dimension deals with the social activity of the human being. It shows that humans are the social animals and if the people are involved in controlling their desires for a better living then it will not be categorized in this dimension. It can be seen from the graph that the American and Europe region is leading the board. This is because these people are involved in spending as much as they can on their livings.

European culture of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

Definition of European culture

European culture is the highest of all regions on egalitarianism, intellectual autonomy, and harmony, and the lowest on hierarchy and embeddedness. This profile holds even after controlling for national wealth. European countries share a broad culture when compared with other world regions; there is substantial cultural variation within the region too (Schwartz, 2014) .

Main features of European culture

 There are main features of the European culture that are given in the list

·         Rational thinking

·         Christianity

·         Human rights

·         Scientific thinking

·         Individualism

·         Modern technology

Hofstede results

Historical review of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The important fact is that European culture is one of the oldest from the whole world. The main reason is Greece country. This complete region worked on modern technologies. This is the reason why some countries like Germany, France and England are at the top of the world due to their technologies and also the rate of individualism.  There are also people with different cultures and contain different civilizations (Steiner, 2015).

Asian Culture of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

As the Asian culture have a lot of diverse custom and traditions with them. The continent of Asia is full of versatilities include with them as well they have different religious, philosophical, political aspects with them who were played an important role in the history of Continent of Asia. The continent is mainly divided into six parts geographically which had been categorized through perceived communities who were exist there as per the perspective of language, beliefs, lifestyle each were different from others. The Asian continent would be considered as the biggest continent of the country geographically as well as culturally. The continent has further divided into dimensions as per to their geographical aspect such as, east, west, north, south, southeast, west and central Asia.

Features of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The culture of Asia mainly divided into 48 countries, the culture of Asia is based on Human Civilization, the main features of the culture is countries have different cultural heritage as well as ethnic group, religious and so on. All the above discussion can be showed that behaviors of humans can be affected by the culture from where they belong. (Mohammad, 2016)

The Asian continent had a wide historical background with them; in Asia one may find many approaches who formed the civilization.

Hofstede result of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

While comparing the culture of different countries along with nations the Hofstede cultural dimensions were very important to discuss first. As Hofstede is a social scholar who give this phenomenon.  People normally associated their behavior as per to their cultural values. The study indicates the four dimensions such as Power distance, which can be referred as the numbers of people who were less power full as the members of organization were. As it was proposed that the level of power of a society can be endorse by their leaders as well as their followers to. As it had been considered that Asian continent had attain the power index and now become the high above continent from all others and considered to be powerful in the hierarchy which were presented by the organization just for the justification Asia have been scored low from other countries in the field of Masculinity and feminist index aspect. (Tsui, 2017)Moreover, it was also investigated that just one score of any index of dimension can become the cause of change in other dimension as it was described that the values of power index can be changed or influenced by the change in collectivism as it was according to the Hofstede model.

Arab Culture of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

Arab Culture has different culture values then that from other cultures like Asian European and western culture. Arabic culture totally relays on the Islamic beliefs, on the other side Islam is the one of the most known religion in the universe. The Arabs beliefs that there is one GOD who is the creator of human beings and this universe as well, and the man is his were their representatives on the earth, and GOD is the one who can behold all life events of humans(Harb, 2015).

Feature of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

The Arabs create a no distinction between Church and states and they give their religious education to their child’s in Masjid.  Despite from everything family is the most important part of their lives and their concerns and obligations toward their families and children’s as well.

They have various traditions they were calm and polite in nature, they have the tradition of always say best, never say no to your friend, did not refuse the request which would be received from your relatives or friend. If no one can support you and stand with you but in return you have to stand with them and help them. (Aslani, 2016)

Hofstede cultural of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe

While comparing the culture of different countries along with nations the Hofstede cultural dimensions were very important to discuss first. As Hofstede is a social scholar who give this phenomenon.  People normally associated their behavior as per to their cultural values. The study indicates the four dimensions such as Power distance, which can be referred as the numbers of people who were less power full as the members of organization were. As it was proposed that the level of power of a society can be endorse by their leaders as well as their followers to. As it had been considered that Asian continent had attain the power index and now become the high above continent from all others and considered to be powerful in the hierarchy which were presented by the organization just for the justification Asia have been scored low from other countries in the field of Masculinity and feminist index aspect. Moreover, it was also investigated that just one score of any index of dimension can become the cause of change in other dimension as it was described that the values of power index can be changed or influenced by the change in collectivism as it was according to the Hofstede model.

Customer satisfaction studies:

There exist varying dimensions for the case of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. It may include as given: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, indulgence as well as long term orientation. If it is the case of customer’s satisfaction then it can better be evaluated as per Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Power distance helps to get the facts and the information regarding the unequal creation of the human beings. It tends to evaluate the human beings based on their expertise and the skills. By making use of the certain skills and the expertise, everyone may be provided with different authorities. These authorities enable the human beings to perform certain roles, responsibilities and the tasks. The phenomenon of power distance helps to bring people from different cultures together and make them to communicate with each other while using their expertise and the skills (Rand, 2007).

For the parameter of individualism, the term independence is of immense importance. It tends to provide the members of a group with the independence up to a certain limit. The masculinity helps to evaluate the level and extent of competition which a community has with the other communities. The unforeseen circumstances that a country may encounter are better avoided through the uncertainty avoidance. Indulgence helps people to have the control on their wishes as well as the desires. Long term orientation is about maintaining the links and the associations with the previous experiences. If the experiences are good then it helps to achieve the positive outcomes (Steers, 2016).

Below is given the evaluation of customer satisfaction based on the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. It is entirely based on the previous research work.

In this study the investigation can be done on the satisfaction of passengers with the mode of Hofstede, as it was mention in the study that national customer and cultural travel services can be define the impact of culture differences between the passengers? The tour and travel company can take the sample of overseas visitors and it can be presented that according to Hofstede the extent to which the customers form a culture would provide positive and critical responses as well as on the other side the customers that were belong from the society with having a(Steers, 2016) dimension of masculine and feminine were mostly have provoking nature, condemnatory and they will later on score as less satisfaction. As it was described by the Researcher that cultural differences emphasis on the decision making process of Customer. The findings of the result showed that customer satisfaction can be influenced by cultural differences according to the Hofstede model of cultural differences (Lisa Bustamante, 2007).

The study reveals the evaluation of customer satisfaction on the model of Hofstede culture differences. However, the study includes the description and the relationship between the satisfactions of customers with Travel services across the US. The results showed that satisfaction of customer can be influenced by the culture which was adopted by them. For example,  Power distance, which can be referred as the numbers of people who were less power full as the members of organization were. As it was proposed that the level of power of a society can be endorse by their leaders as well as their followers to.(Steiner, 2015) As it had been considered that Asian continent had attain the power index and now become the high above continent from all others and considered to be powerful in the hierarchy which were presented by the organization just for the justification Asia have been scored low from other countries in the field of Masculinity and feminist index aspect. Organisational perception of customer satisfaction which posits that, given a lack of first-hand information on customer responses, organisations tend to adopt a process-based approach of evaluating the level of satisfaction of their customers (Hung & et al, 2007). 

In the recent studies it is proposed that, on the overall population that cultural background has an essential influence on the customer satisfaction, and this can be explained through the model of Hofstede as one of his dimension individualism and collectivism  which acan be defined as a person who adopt the specific structure to take care of himself and his family this called individualism as well as the collectivism can be referred to as the collective approach of the society that can be expected from a specific group of individuals, and the position of socity can be reflected in the form of self-image. People normally associated their behavior as per to their cultural values. The study indicates the four dimensions such as Power distance, which can be referred as the numbers of people who were less power full as the members of organization were. The findings of the result showed that customer satisfaction can be influenced by cultural differences according to the Hofstede model of cultural differences. One ongoing debate in consumer satisfaction circles is the extent to which it is a cognitive process or an emotional state (Mill & et al, 2002).

The main agenda for conducting the said research work is provide the determination for the cultural impact on both the quality of the services and the satisfaction of the customers. All the hypotheses being used for the research work showed the positive outcomes for the association of the study variables. The significance of the dimensions of the quality of the services has also been confirmed in this study. The main determinants for this study are cultural dimensions for the quality of the services and the customer satisfaction. The Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are used to evaluate the study variables. It has been proved that there exist the strong positive association between cultural dimensions and quality of the services & the customer satisfaction (Rand, 2007).

                The more the people are provided with the opportunity to make use of their skills and the expertise the better it helps them to get satisfaction out of it. It is purely according to the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions which makes people to use their authorities in different circumstances (Norizan Kassim, 2010).  

                The study determines that the cultural considerations serve as the drivers to enhance the level of customer satisfaction along with the enhanced quality level. This is how both the customer satisfaction and the quality of the product or service can better be increased. Culture's effect on the determinants of customer satisfaction in retailing: The case of a European Retailer in China and the U.S. Culture's effect on the determinants of customer satisfaction in retailing: The case of a European Retailer in China and the U.S. (Lisa Bustamante, 2007).

References of Cultural definitions of Hofstede and Globe