¶ … Crossvergence: Questioning the Hofstede paradigm
One of the most well-known and popular methods of analyzing differences between cultures is that of Geert Hofstede's framework, which conceptualizes different cultures as having fundamental, core values regarding power distance, masculine and feminine norms, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and future orientation. However, Kelley, MacNab, & Worthley (2006) in their article "Crossvergence and cultural tendencies: A longitudinal test of the Hong Kong, Taiwan and United States banking sectors" criticize the Hofstede framework as overly rigid and static. Cultures are not enclosed entities, but rather are permeable structures. The authors apply the concept of crossvergence to the Hong Kong and Chinese banking sectors, comparing the cultural differences between Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States -- the latter "an often assumed, dissimilar region" from these Asian nations -- during the years 1985-2000 (Kelley, MacNab, & Worthley 2006: 68).
One of the problems with using Hofstede's framework when analyzing Asia is that there has long been a tendency of Westerners to see Asia as a whole merely as more collectivist than itself, without sufficiently appreciating the nuances between different local environments. This is also addressed in a comparison of Hong Kong and China. "Asians are sometimes culturally, and arguably carelessly, lumped together in the treatment of management issues on the basis that they have a common value system (Fukuda and Wheeler, 1988). This similarity assumption is dangerous for researchers and practitioners alike, as several...
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Social Psychology The author of this report will be addressing four high-level topics during the course of this report. In order, those topics will be narcissism, self-esteem/self-worth, a definition and discussion of the self-efficacy theory of Albert Bendura and the inferring of traits as defined by the wider paradigm of the Fundamental Attribution Theory. The body of work on these topics is fairly large but there will be an analysis and
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