• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 1993

Food is an expression of social identity. The food we eat identifies us as members of a social group, distinguishes us from other groups, and binds us together through a process of self-categorization and social identification. This research extends the theory of collectivism versus individualism as basic dimensions of culture and personality to research on food and identity. We tested 2 hypotheses among 402 university students in Korea and the U.S. 1) Americans assume relatively individualistic orientation while Koreans relatively collectivistic in orientation. 2) Koreans and Americans differ in their orientation toward food, with Americans assuming an individualistic orientation and Koreans assuming a collectivistic approach. The level of collectivism versus individualism was measured by using Hui's INCOL Scale. We initially hypothesized that the Americans would be strongly individualistic and Koreans strongly collectivistic, however our results did not prove this. The two groups showed collectivistic social identity with the Americans being a bit more collectivistic, so little support was found. In order to test the second hypothesis, we devised a new set of questions based on a idea by Hui and Fischer. It was found that this hypothesis was strongly supported. In conclusion, it is difficult to find overall differences in collectivism versus individualism between the two groups. But in the area of attitude toward food, we found clear differences. For Koreans, food is an expression of collectivistic identity, whereas Americans assume a more individualistic approach.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.393-417
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• 2022

The current study analyzes the usage of social network services(SNS) according to one's collectivistic and individualistic tendency and the relationship with addiction. Additionally, the study attempted to controll intrapersonal variables such as gender, personalitly, and age, which affect SNS the usage. Also, Collectivistic-individualistic tendency in SNS and offline environment may not correspond to one another. Therefore, the study measured the collectivistic-individualistic tendency regarding of the two environment separately. For this purpose, we designed a new measurement scale to measure collectivistic-individualistic tendencies in for the SNS by involving a kin vs nonkin context. The sample consisted of 253 adolescents ranging from 13 to 15 years old and 246 adults ranging from 18 to 25 years old, which sums up to 499 samples in total. Results indicated that individualistic tendency within SNS showed a positive relationship with the amount of SNS usage and SNS addiction. Furthermore, female users spent more time on SNS and showed a higher level addiction than males. While adults had longer experience with SNS and spent more time on it daily than adolescents, they did not show a significant difference in regards to SNS addiction. The correlation analysis indicated that collectivistic-individualistic tendencies in SNS were weakly correlated to that of offline environments. The kin individualistic tendency in SNS significantly predicted SNS addiction after controlling for the effect of age, personality, gender, and offline collectivistic-individualistic tendency. Taken together, these findings indicate the need for an appropriate collectivistic-individualist tendency scale that correspond to the SNS context. The results also suggest that kin individualistic tendency in the SNS environment can be the main factor for SNS addiction.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.199-207
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• 2019

This study utilized one of Hofstede's cultural dimension, collective dimension and validated its influence on individual's change oriented organizational citizenship behavior(COCB hereafter) with mediation of emotional regulation. Previous research on Hofstede's cultural dimensions were mostly conducted at national levels. However, in this study, Yoo's CVSCALE was used to analyze collectivistic tendencies at individual levels and its influence on emotional regulation and COCB were measured. The study distributed 200 paper based self administered surveys to employees of Fortune 500 electronic company in Korea for two weeks period. Findings indicated individual's collectivistic dimension positively influenced COCB and emotional regulation mediated between collectivism and COCB. In conclusion and application, the significance of this research lies in indicating collectivistic culture's positive influence on COCB and emotional regulation as possible antecedents of Change oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.221-257
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• 2020

This study examined whether popular music lyrics, the new research topic, reflect changes in Koreans' cultural orientation and whether individuals' cultural orientation is related to the genre of popular music that they prefer. In Study 1, we content analyzed popular music lyrics from 1980 to 2018 to see if Koreans' cultural orientations changed over time. The analysis showed that as the release dates approached the 2010s, the lyrics expressed the ideal attitudes of individualist cultures more frequently than those of collectivist cultures; this suggests that Koreans have gradually become more individualistic over time. In Study 2, we examined the relationships between individuals' cultural orientations, preferences for various genres of popular music, and functions of music. The analysis showed that people with more collectivistic attitudes tended to prefer mid- and low-arousal music, such as Ballads and Rap/Hiphop, while those with less collectivistic attitudes preferred high-arousal music, such as Rock/Metal. This result is partly consistent with the hypothesis that collectivistic people would prefer lower to higher arousal music. In addition, our analysis showed the strongest positive relationship between collectivism and the social function of music; this result can be interpreted as indicating that collectivistic people use music to maintain good interpersonal relationships. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings, the limitations of this study, and directions for further research.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.217-236
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• 2021

The present study examined the mediating role of the subjective norm about social distancing in the relationship between individuals' collectivistic orientation and their social distancing behavior during the early COVID-19 crisis in Korea. A total of 445 South Korean adults residing in Korea participated in a survey during which level 2 to 2.5 prevention policies were being enforced. Results indicated, as expected, that collectivism positively predicted the perceptions of subjective norm that supports social distancing, which in turn predicted positively individuals' participation in social distancing as prescribed by the central government. This result emerged regardless of the individuals' perception of personal vulnerability to COVID-19. We discuss implications of these findings and directions for future research regarding the link between individualism-collectivism and the behavioral immune system, along with the role of social distancing in effectively curbing the spread of corona virus during the pandemic.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.285-303
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the zero-sum belief scale among a sample of Korean adults. The original scale was developed by Różycka-Tran, Boski, and Wojciszke (2015) based on the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) model. A total of 508 participants (252 college students and 256 non-student adults) completed an online survey comprised of the scales of zero-sum belief, social trust, subjective socioeconomic status, individualistic-collectivistic tendencies, and social comparison orientation. Results of the exploratory factor analysis and the confirmatory factor analysis indicated that zero-sum belief scale has one factor. The internal consistency of the zero-sum belief scale was good. The Zero-sum belief scale did not have a significant relationship with social trust and subjective socioeconomic status. However, the scale was positively associated with vertical individualistic and vertical collectivistic tendencies and negatively associated with horizontal collectivistic tendencies. There was no significant relationship between zero-sum belief and horizontal individualistic tendencies, but there was a significant positive relationship between zero-sum belief and social comparison orientation. However, the results from the college student sample and the non-student adult sample were different. Lastly, this study could facilitate future research on zero-sum belief in South Korea, and future studies are needed to reveal the predictors and effects of zero-sum belief.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.15-24
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• 2023

Purpose: This study examined the mediating effect of the individualism-collectivism tendency of hospital nurses on the impact of their generation on professional pride and organizational commitment. Methods: 163 nurses participated in the study. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and SPSS' Process Macro Model 4 was used to examine the relationships. Results: No intergenerational differences in individualistic propensity were observed, while collectivist propensity was higher in X-generation than Z-generation. Further, X-generation showed higher professional pride and organizational commitment than Y- and Z-generation. Notably, collectivistic (individualistic) tendency had (did not have) a mediating effect on the influence of generation on professional pride and organizational commitment. Conclusion: This study provided empirical evidence on the antecedent factors for forming collectivistic organizational culture in nursing organizations by demonstrating the mediating effect of collectivism propensity on professional pride and organizational commitment according to hospital nurses' generations nurses.

• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.563-592
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• 2018

In this research, it was examined whether the importance of value of self(i.e., self-referenced values) and the perceived importance of values of average Koreans(i.e., culture-referenced values) differ according to social class. In Study 1, differences in the importance of self-referenced values according to the social class of 1,140 adults aged over 19 years old were examined using Korean data from the World Values Survey. Findings showed that higher social class was associated with higher levels of Hedonism (which belongs to the individualistic value domain) and Benevolence, and lower levels of Tradition (which belongs to the collectivistic value domain) and Universalism. In Study 2, culture-referent questionnaires were added to examine the differences in self-referenced values and culture-referenced values according to social class. Findings showed that higher social class was associated with greater importance attached to individualistic value domain (namely, Power and Achievement), and as a result of Study 1, less importance attached to Benevolence towards the self. On the contrary, for culture-referent ratings, higher social class was associated with lower perceptions of the importance of individualistic value domain (namely, Self-direction and Hedonism) and greater importance attached to Tradition (which belongs to the collectivistic value domain) for average Koreans. These results suggest that the importance of self-referenced values and culture-referenced values differ by social class. The need for social class research taking into account culture and the importance of the culture-referent ratings is highlighted. Future directions for research are discussed.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2017

Although much research has been conducted to identify the influence of culture on conflict management and resolution behaviours in organizational settings, no study has been done yet in the construction industry particularly in considering the influence of individual level individualistic and collectivistic values. Despite the key role of self-construal in explaining or predicting behaviour in interpersonal conflict, it has not received enough attention in construction management. Reflecting this necessity, the objective of this exploratory study was to establish, through the application of the Rahim Organizational Inventory (ROC II) instrument, how the cultural values of professionals of construction businesses relate to the application of different conflict-handling styles through self-construal. Data were collected using questionnaire surveys from construction professionals working in contracting firms. The findings illustrate the importance of self-construal type as an individual-level cultural variable in explaining the differences in the style of handling interpersonal conflict in the context of the construction industry.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.93-100
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• 2015

Purpose - The objective of this research is to investigate whether national culture influences consumers' service evaluations. The services industry is receiving increasing attention from academia and practitioners as its position grows in global markets. Standardization or localization is a traditional managerial decision in global business. As the boundaries of services expand across national borders, firms are required to decide whether to standardize services or adjust to local needs. Though it is imperative to reflect global perspectives in marketing theories, these perspectives are mostly based on Western conceptualization of the world. Through a comparison of consumer groups from two culturally remote countries, service quality evaluation mechanisms are examined based on similar stimuli. The study tries to expand service marketing perspectives across national borders. Research design, data, and methodology - Eastern and Western countries are known to be culturally distinct. One Eastern and one Western country were chosen: an Anglo-Saxon country (the U.S., England, and Australia) and South Korea. In Hofstede's cultural dimensions, the differences between the two are pronounced. The Anglo-Saxon based countries share many similarities. Samples of the same sites are targeted. Questionnaires using a service quality scale (SERVQUAL) and a customer satisfaction scale were distributed. Utilizing Hofstede's typology of culture, the service evaluation mechanisms of the respondents from the two groups are evaluated. Three hypotheses are proposed from the review of the literature. These are service evaluation habits, importance of service quality dimensions for the individualistic/collectivistic countries, and strong/weak uncertainty avoidance cultures. Consumers from the individualistic countries are considered to care about themselves and demand a higher level of responsiveness and assurance. On the other hand, consumers from high uncertainty avoidance cultures are assumed to rely more on tangible questions of service quality, as these are the only predictable service quality indicators. A t-test and regression analysis are applied to validate the constructs. Results - The respondents from the Anglo-Saxon countries are more generous on service evaluations than Koreans. Researchers have indicated that Americans tend to give higher service evolution scores than European, Mexican, and Korean counterparts. The tendency is the same here. The sample from Anglo-Saxon countries demonstrated higher service evaluation scores on every dimension of SERVQUAL. For the second hypothesis, the respondents from the collectivistic culture rely less on core service dimensions (assurance and responsiveness) due to their tendency to place more value on group harmony than individual interest. However, the third hypothesis was not validated. Conclusions - The study attempted to expand the scope of service marketing to reflect cross-national perspectives. Service quality is known to have a strong influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty behavior. However, this research demonstrated that individuals from different cultural territories respond heterogeneously to the same stimuli. Scholars argue that national cultures are main factors in such deviated behavior. Scholars and global managers should be aware of differences in consumer value judgment mechanisms such as satisfaction, expectations, and perceptions.