endstream endobj 314 0 obj <>stream The frequent use of complex ads can be best understood when these ads are conceptualized as messages with rhetorical figures, such as visual metaphors (Forceville, Citation1996; Phillips, Citation1997). The context theory framework has been adopted in cultural studies to a large extent; Cardon (Citation2008), for instance, reviewed 244 articles. Another source of variation is consumers' cultural background; namely, their context culture, as the next section will explain. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. For future research on context culture and visual metaphors, it would be interesting to examine if this nonlinear relationship holds as strongly for high-context culture participants as for low-context culture participants. Information has to be explicit and detailed for the message to be conveyed without distortion. Understanding German business protocol is the first step toward success in Germany. The American legal system, for example, relies on low context communication. In contrast, high-context cultures use facial expressions, body language, and gestures in a nuanced manner. 9. There is an aversion to letting the future take its course. The mean scores for perceived complexity and ad liking were submitted to regression analyses for the direct effect of nationality on perceived complexity (H1) and ad liking (H3). The red line (Benrath-Linie) divides Low German and Middle German. Although context theory has been a dominant perspective in studying cultural differences and similarities in advertising and communication, the theory has received only very limited empirical attention (Cardon, Citation2008; Kittler etal., Citation2011). While some traditions and norms are important to Germans, they can also be adapted to suit solutions that are dependent on time, situation, and context. On the basis of his review of studies on context theory, one of Cardon's (Citation2008, p. 423) concluding remarks was about this measurement issue: [F]uture research must employ rigorously developed measures. According to this hypothesis, the highest level of persuasion is obtained if there is a balance between the required cognitive resources for understanding the message and the cognitive resources that are available from the receiver. Finally, the present study focused on ad liking as a form of persuasion, which makes sense from Hall's predictions about comprehension and appreciation. The German society is a truly Individualist one (67). In such circumstances, a less complex message is more effective. It will examine whether it is indeed people's individual context score that affects the degree of comprehension and liking of complex messages. The present study shows that individuals' context scores account for the national differences between perceived complexity and liking of ads with complex visual metaphors. Cultures can, therefore, be described as Indulgent or Restrained. According to the information processing theory of McGuire (Citation1972), for instance, a persuasive communicative attempt is only expected to be successful if it passes a number of critical steps, including the comprehension of the message. Status is often shown, especially by cars, watches and technical devices. It has worked in the past will not buy you much credibility. Those in management are expected to have both, while also keeping an open mind to respectful critiques and challenges. However, in conflict situations, Germans often defend their position strongly and loudly (independent of job level). increasing your ability to "read the air". Gudykunst, W. B., & Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). This result supported H1. Copyright 2023 United Language Group. About The Helpful Professor This study focuses on two Western European countries: Belgium and the Netherlands. 45-52). Deductive reasoning that relies on details are what matter in German society, and having a carefully thought out plan for the future is essential. In total, 289 students participated in this comparative survey-based study. The current study is the first empirical examination of context theory's role on message comprehension and appreciation. Goodwill Messages and Recommendations. Future studies should, however, incorporate study background as a personal characteristic. However, this type of segregation is not rigid, but takes the form of a gradient since the contextual . The High German languages (German: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (Hochdeutsch) - not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" - comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and Uerdingen isoglosses in central and southern Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and eastern Belgium, as well as in . Cultural map of the world according to the World Values Survey, describing Germany as high in "Rational-Secular Values" and low in "Self Expression Values" Germany is a modern, advanced society, . Copyright 2023 Helpful Professor. In general, both Germany and the U.S. are low-context cultures, meaning that information and meaning are usually communicated explicitly through words. Direct; individualized; principled; fact-oriented; no face-saving concerns or need for harmony. These great minds from Germany have come up with . Desire for stability and caution toward change, Value of academic accomplishments and formal knowledge, Punctuality (reflects reliability and discipline), Strong distinction between public space (formal at work) and private space (informal with family and friends), Healthy balance between work and leisure time, Thoroughness in decision making (analytical, theoretical, deductive), Detail orientation; tendency toward perfectionism, Honesty (may be perceived as overly critical and blunt), Legacy of former communist East (GDR) and capitalist West Germany (FRG), Formality among older generation (use of Sie) vs. informality of the younger generation (use of Du), Strong sense of order and discipline vs. crowding and pushing when standing in line, Lack of mobility vs. open employment market across the European Union (EU), Sophisticated language indicative of social status vs. increasingly pervasive use of D-English (use of Anglicisms), Traditional Christian culture vs. increase of religious diversity entering mainstream society, particularly Islam. The Influence of High-/Low-Context Cultu . https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2017.1296985. In K. Berardo & D. K. Deardorff, eds. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Belgium and the Netherlands have been classified as low-context (only Belgium reported; Kittler etal., Citation2011) or medium-context (Helsen, Jedidi, & DeSarbo, Citation1993) in studies in which the classification was not substantiated in any way. The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these is reflected in the score on Uncertainty Avoidance. By considering each of these dimensions, youll be able to create a localization strategy that focuses on key elements of German society. 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG. With a score of 66 Germany is considered a Masculine society. Two Types of Reflective Writing Assignments, Additional Resources for Improving Writing, Consistency in comparatives and listed elements: Parallelism, A Note on Punctuating the End of List Items, Hofstede Insights country comparison tool, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oYfhTC9lIQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvqDv4vbEg, https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/42958_2_The_Cultural_Context.pdf, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, Tend to prefer indirect verbal interaction, Tend to understand meaning at one level only, Tend to understand meanings embedded at many sociocultural levels, Are generally less proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Are generally more proficient in reading nonverbal cues, Communication in highly structured messages, provide details, stress literal meaning, Communication is simple, sometimes ambiguous, messages; understand visual messages readily, Define cultural context (Guffey et al., 2013, p. 64), Contrast communicate styles for low-context and high-context cultures (Meyer, 2017, p. 59), Explain how cultural differences can affect workplace communication (Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau, 2014). In the first half of the theoretical framework, we will outline the role of comprehension in the persuasion process in general, and in the case of complex advertisements in particular. From the perspective of ELM, studies have also underlined that the recipients' background influences perceived complexity. McQuarrie & Mick, Citation2003, Citation2009), jargon (cf. 1 From High Context to Low Context . Strong analytical orientation. All Anglo-Saxon cultures fall on the left-hand side of the scale, with the United Kingdom as the highest context culture of the Anglo-Saxon cluster. A low score (Feminine) on the dimension means that the dominant values in society are caring for others and quality of life. Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab. When working with high context cultures repeat yourself less, ask clarifying questions often and work on . It ranks third in both total exports and imports, and has a strong economy that is the largest in Europe and the 5th largest in the world. In such circumstances, recipients are persuaded by other elements in the message for which comprehension is less relevant. The present study is the first of its kind to test one of the central claims of context theory: namely, that complex messages are perceived as less complex and are better liked in higher-context than in lower-context cultures. [8Dpl>9v >a U=CF]U) S t f,\7aR"=k gYNweK/U$5WF_s.9l@hZU@ l!u]vN%%p'/+Ed>3Wxkpu5\ lYx0R f}8b If empirical support for the role of context-cultures scores is to be found, it would considerably strengthen the notion of context culture as a perspective to study cultural differences and similarities in advertising and communication. Studies mainly have accepted Hall's theoretical classification of high- and low-context cultures without attempts to substantiate it empirically (Kittler etal., Citation2011). Communication Research Reports. More responsibility; moving up in the company; time off (as monetary rewards are taxed at a very high rate). Also, in contrast to Indulgent societies, Restrained societies do not put much emphasis on leisure time and control the gratification of their desires. Effectively communicating within this culture, therefore, requires messaging that is perceived as objective, professional, and efficient. as explicit as possible. In doing so, we followed current methodological advice (see Hayes, Citation2009; Rucker, Preacher, Tormala, & Petty, Citation2011) to employ bootstrapping as a mediation technique because of its benefits compared to conventional methods, such as bootstrapping's higher power to detect potential indirect effects (e.g., Baron & Kenny, Citation1986). These results are visualized in the upper part of Figure2. Emotions are discredited as unprofessional; in a business context, trust and credibility are developed through suppression of emotions; tendency to be more emotionally expressive with family and friends, particularly in southern Germany. The results of their study showed that the Filipino participants scored higher on both scales than the American participants, leading Callow and Schiffman (Citation2002) to conclude that images evoke more implicit meanings in high- than in low-context cultures. People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read. Low-context culture refers to a culture that communicates explicitly. Because of this, communication can change drastically from one generation to the next, creating communication gaps between parents and children. For high-context cultures, language is a kind of social lubricant, easing and harmonizing relations that are defined according to a group or collectivist orientation where we rather than I is the key to identity. They rely less on the shared values/assumptions of the group and the context of the situation. (2012). In contrast, when anthropologist Edward T. Hall developed the terms in the 1930s, his usage was far broader: The original theory compared different views on . In the example above between the two sisters, they are using high-context communication; however, America is considered a low-context culture. Low-context and high-context cultures are the ends of a continuum portraying how cultures communicate. In the current comparative survey-based study, participants were exposed to 12 different product ads; asking for actual comprehension of all of the ads might have revealed the purpose of the study. This morning on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, nurses union leader Pat Cullen attacked the government over its failure to give RCN members a decent pay rise as Transport Secretary Mark Harper . It is hoped that more research attention will be paid to context culture in the area of culture and advertising. Well, which Read More, 1550 Utica Avenue South,Suite 420Minneapolis, MN 55416. However, Relevance Theory also predicts that if people have to invest more effort into comprehending the message than they believe is warranted by the benefits they gain from this investment, they become frustrated. Germany has a relatively low score when it comes to indulgence, meaning the country is restrained in nature. Details are equally important to create certainty that a certain topic or project is well-thought-out. In absolute terms, the differences between the Belgian and Dutch participants in the comprehension and liking scores were small. Surprisingly, despite the research attention devoted to context theory (for a review, see Cardon, Citation2008), one of the central tenets of the theory has only been tested indirectly. In communication theories, the important role of comprehension has been acknowledged. Each participant judged all ads in the same order. Hofstede Insights enables you to solve Intercultural and Organisational Culture challenges by utilising our effective and proven frameworks. Van Mulken etal., Citation2010). Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. A Feminine society is one where quality of life is the sign of success and standing out from the crowd is not admirable. His analysis showed that only a small percentage of these studies were empirical (see also Kittler etal., Citation2011). endstream endobj 316 0 obj <>stream This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. To many businesses, Germany is the perfect place for business dealings. However, scholars have noted an increase in the use of complex advertisements; for instance, through visual images (Phillips, Citation1997; Scott, Citation1993). This means that, however popular, context theory has mainly been used as a theoretical construct to study cultural differences and similarities. Cite this Article in your Essay (APA Style), Privacy PolicyTerms and ConditionsDisclaimerAccessibility StatementVideo Transcripts.