Global Culture and Computer Mediated Communication

Proceedings of the 2006 20th anniversary conference on Computer supported cooperative work - CSCW '06, 2006

Information technologies have the potential to facilitate crosscultural collaboration, but this potential may be limited by different styles of IT use in different cultures. We report the results of a preliminary study and a larger follow-up study that focus on the use of Instant Messaging (IM) in North America and Asia. Consistent with the distinction between Western individualistic, low-context cultures and Eastern collectivistic, high-context cultures, we found that multi-party chat, audio-video chat and emoticons were much more popular in Asia than in North America. We conclude that cultural differences should be taken into consideration when designing tools for cross-cultural communication.

Journal of Global Information Management, 2012

Computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies have benefited business organizations in many ways. Although there have been numerous studies on email use, studies have only begun to emerge regarding use patterns of instant messaging (IM). This study investigated the use of email and IM within two different cultural settings: United States and Taiwan. Students enrolled in MIS courses from each country were split randomly into the IM and email groups for a problem-solving assignment. The variations of communication outcomes (as measured in volume, quality, and use satisfaction), are checked against two categorical variables (i.e., culture and communication tools), and at the same time controlled for perception on tool ease of use. Results show that culture and communication tools jointly affect all three outcome variables individually. The main effects were also statistically significant for volume and quality, but not for satisfaction. Respondents from different cultures prefer d...

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2010

The purpose of this study was to explore the cultural behavioural patterns of online intercultural communication in a globally distributed collaborative environment. We conducted a qualitative content analysis on the data drawn from a public e-mail archive of the trans-national civil society participants in the UN World Summit on the Information Society. The findings showed that there were no significant differences observed between the frequency of contributions between high and low-context participants in the collaborative processes. But, importantly, the findings suggest that culture matters in the form of intercultural communication styles and the cultural values to which participants subscribe. Based on Edward Hall's high and lowcontext theory, distinctive patterns of high-context and low-context cultural behaviours were evident in the strategies, approaches and communicative mannerisms of people participating in the distributed collaboration under analysis. In summary, online cultural behavioural patterns can be illustrated as context-dependent or content-dependent.

IGI Global eBooks, 2007

A number of examples demonstrate that technologies of computer-mediated communication (CMC) embed and foster specific cultural values and communicative preferences. Differences between the values and preferences embedded in CMC and those of a given cultural group thereby lead to communication failures. Hofstede's and Hall's theories partially explain these failures and, by contrast, examples of successful online cross-cultural communication via CMC designed to incorporate important cultural and communicative differences.

context. We present a large-scale empirical study of cultural differences in computer mediated social interactions in a global company. Our dataset includes 9,000 volunteer users and more than 20 million records of their email and Instant Messaging conversations. We compared social network characteristics, preferences for CMC tools, and expression of sentiment across employees working in seven countries. Significant differences emerged and the patterns are consistent with the inherent cultural characteristics as suggested by cultural theories. In addition, we uncover the complex manner in which culture interacts with preference and use of different communication mediums. The existence of pervasive and complex cultural differences, points to the need to understand and account for such differences in designing cross-cultural collaborative systems.

In particular, the paper defines Cross-cultural communication as a field of study that looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures (Gudykunst, 2002). In relation to Computer-aided Cross-cultural communication theory, the researcher underscored the statement that says “people from different cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures”. Indeed, the current theory amplified the words “different ways” as it connotes practicality, sensibility and efficiency. Why practical, sensible and efficient? Given the concept of internationalization where people are now living in one global village and where technology is always connected in almost everything we do; it can be assumed that people will be left behind or expire in isolation if he/she will not accept the benefits provided by modern communication technology. Why cogitate distance as reason for isolation when Computer-aided Communication (CAC) can make the necessary connection? Why stay alone when technology can provide better companion? And, why limit our interaction with just one person or a segment of the society when there is an enormous opportunity for us to rich out different kinds of people around the globe in just a single click of the mouse? Indeed, CAC can facilitate people's indispensable interaction while providing all kinds of methods available for communication. Its capacity to provide synchronous and asynchronous channels (Walther, 2011) can make the necessary connection across the globe without biases of colors.

Full terms and conditions of use: http://pubsonline.informs.org/page/terms-and-conditions Please scroll down for article—it is on subsequent pages INFORMS is the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the fields of operations research, management science, and analytics. For more information on INFORMS, its publications, membership, or meetings visit http://www.informs.org S trong majority influence can potentially harm organizational decisions by causing decision makers to engage in groupthink. This study examines whether and how computer-mediated communication (CMC) can reduce majority influence and thereby enhance the quality of decisions in some situations. To measure the impact of CMC on majority influence, three settings (unsupported, face-to-face CMC, and dispersed CMC) were compared. Matching laboratory experiments were carried out in an individualistic (the US) and a collectivistic culture (Singa-pore) to determine how the impact of CMC might be moderated by national culture. An intel-lective and a preference task were used to see whether the impact of CMC might be moderated by task type. The results showed that the impact of CMC on majority influence was contingent upon national culture. In the individualistic culture, majority influence was stronger in the unsupported setting than the face-to-face CMC and dispersed CMC settings. In the collectivistic culture, there were no corresponding differences. The results also revealed that the impact of CMC on majority influence was not moderated by task type. Instead, task type had a direct impact on majority influence. Regardless of the setting involved, majority influence was stronger with the preference than the intellective task. Besides demonstrating how cultural factors may moderate the impact of CMC, this study raises the broader issue of cultural relativism in current knowledge on CMC.

2009

Proceedings of Ed-Media, 1999