Background: Impulse buying is increasingly grown and it creates up to 80% of all purchases in certain low involvement product categories. In Sweden, a Swede can spend 20000SEK a year for impulse shopping in average. On the other hand, impulse buying is calculated to be strongly grown in the emerging markets such as Vietnam and Turkey. Due to the steady economic growth of 7% every year in Vietnam, it leads to a higher demand in shopping of the consumers. Similarly, Turkey’s economy is considered as one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and consequently leads to the increase of impulse buying behavior among the customers. Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to expand the understanding of the impulse buying behavior by looking further into the role of culture in cross-cultural contexts Hypothesis:   H1-There is a significant relationship between individualism-collectivism and impulse buying behavior. H2- There is a significant relationship between power distance and impulse buying behavior. H3- There is a significant relationship between uncertainty-avoidance and impulse buying behavior H4- There is a significant relationship between masculinity-femininity and impulse buying behavior Methodology: Three focus groups and seven interviews are served as the pre-study and a cross-cultural questionnaire is substantially conducted across three countries: Sweden, Turkey and Vietnam. Findings: Culture generates certain effects on impulse buying behavior and the influence is diverse across these countries. However, the findings also indicate that there could be other factors that could affect impulse buying behavior.

People all over the world are embracing online shopping and there is a general agreement that trust plays a key role in influencing online shopping frequency. This project seeks to address the increasing need for new studies in this area. This is an empirical project that investigates the moderating effects of culture on the impact of trust on online shopping frequency. The central focus of this project was to examine whether culture affects the decision of the international consumer to trust in online shopping contexts. In an attempt to contribute to both cross-cultural and e-commerce research, the project examined shoppers across 34 countries using two of Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions: Uncertainty avoidance and Individualism. The project took a post-positivist approach to research and adopted a mixed method research design. Thus, data were collected using both quantitative and qualitative research designs, which provided a complimentary triangulation of the results. Both secondary and primary data sources were used, as the project developed a model and tested several hypotheses based on the literature on e-commerce, social psychology, and culture. Seven hypotheses were tested and research results revealed that trust has a positive impact on online shopping frequency in a multicultural context. Interestingly, no moderation effects were found for culture. The importance of this project lies in the fact that it seeks to further research at the intersection of culture, trust, and online shopping. Moreover, unlike most e-commerce projects that gather data from students within a single country, this project examines data from respondents of various demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, across several countries.

En kvantitativ undersökning har genomförts med syftet att undersöka om kulturell inriktning har betydelse för affektiv och kognitiv empati. Studien genomfördes genom en elektronisk enkät via läroplattformen It’s Learning, där urvalet bestod av 250 studenter vid Karlstad Universitet. För att mäta kulturell inriktning användes mätinstrumentet Culture Orientation Scale som mäter vertikal samt horisontell individualism och kollektivism. För att mäta affektiv och kognitiv empati användes The Basic Empathy Scale in Adults (BES-A). Datamaterialet analyserades genom SPSS och två multipla regressionsanalyser utfördes. Resultatet visade att horisontell individualism och horisontell kollektivism var signifikanta prediktorer av affektiv empati där 11,6 % av variansen förklarades. Vidare visade resultatet att vertikal individualism och horisontell kollektivism var signifikanta prediktorer av kognitiv empati där 14,8 % av variansen förklarades. Sambandet mellan variablerna diskuteras utifrån tidigare studier och definitioner. Studiens resultat indikerar på att det är specifika karaktäristiska drag inom de kulturella inriktningarna som har ett samband till den empatiska förmågan. Slutsatsen utifrån studiens resultat samt tidigare studier var att kulturell inriktning har betydelse för empatin, om än dock en liten betydelse. / A quantitative study has been carried out with the aim to examine if cultural orientation has significance for affective and cognitive empathy. The study was conducted through an electronic survey via the learning platform It’s Learning, where the sample consisted of 250 students at Karlstad University. To measure the cultural orientation the Culture Orientation Scale was used, which measure degree of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism. To measure cognitive and affective empathy the Basic Empathy Scale in Adults (BES-A) was used. The data were analyzed by SPSS and two multiple regression analyzes were. The result showed that the horizontal individualism and horizontal collectivism were significant predictors of affective empathy where 11.6% of the variance was explained. Furthermore, the results showed that vertical individualism and horizontal collectivism were significant predictors of cognitive empathy where 14.8% of the variance was explained. The relationship between the variables is discussed based on previous studies and definitions. The study's results indicate that it is particular characteristic within the cultural orientations that are related to the empathic ability. The conclusion of the study and previous studies was that cultural orientation is important for empathy, however in a small extent.

People agree that forgiveness is a virtue in essentially all countries. However, different cultures have different ideas about how willing one should forgive and under what circumstances. Although the study occurred in the USA, I recruited both foreign-extraction and Virginia born-and-raised female college students (N=102) to participate a six-hour REACH forgiveness intervention, promoting their forgiveness through psychoeducational groups. In my thesis, I investigated whether students of foreign extraction and Virginia-born students would respond similarly to the intervention. I operationalized culture in two ways—by country and by individual self-reported self-construal. I measured forgiveness using two measures—decisional forgiveness and emotional forgiveness. I found that the six-hour REACH forgiveness intervention enhanced participants’ forgiveness regardless of their culture background. But foreign students who were functioning in a US university did not respond differently than Virginia-born students. The similar findings also applied to participants who perceived themselves differently in Collectivism and Individualism.

by Chiu Chi Ming, Jimmy. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-77). / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.ii / APPENDICES --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iv / ABSTRACT --- p.v / Chapter / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- Transformational and transactional leadership --- p.6 / Contingent rewards --- p.9 / Management-by-exception --- p.11 / Intellectual stimulation --- p.12 / Individualized consideration --- p.14 / Charismatic leadership --- p.15 / Summary --- p.19 / Individualism and collectivism --- p.21 / Ingroup versus outgroup --- p.23 / Relating transformational and transactional leadership to the collectivistic context --- p.27 / Contingent rewards --- p.27 / Management-by-exception --- p.29 / Intellectual stimulation --- p.30 / Individualized consideration --- p.32 / Charismatic leadership --- p.34 / Chapter III. --- Method --- p.36 / Research design --- p.36 / Participants --- p.37 / Instrument --- p.40 / Analysis strategy --- p.42 / Chapter IV. --- Results --- p.48 / Confirmatory factor analysis --- p.48 / Tests of factorial invariance --- p.51 / Mean differences of latent variables --- p.53 / Hypothesis results --- p.54 / Chapter V. --- Discussions --- p.57 / Limitations and future research --- p.63 / Conclusion --- p.66 / References --- p.67 / Appendices / Chapter Appendix A --- The 40-item MLQ-1 --- p.78 / Chapter Appendix B --- Sample LISREL program --- p.80 / Chapter Appendix C --- Descriptive statistics and correlations of the 40-item MLQ-1 --- p.82 / Chapter Appendix D --- Correlations of the 5 latent variables-HK data --- p.87 / Chapter Appendix E --- Means and standard deviations of all 40 items of MLQ-1 for US and Hong Kong data --- p.88 / Chapter Appendix F --- Means and standard deviations of all 40 items of MLQ-1 for Hong Kong-ingroup and Hong Kong-outgroup data --- p.90 / Chapter Appendix G --- "Means and standard deviations of the 5 latent variables for US, Hong Kong, HK-ingroup, and HK-outgroup data" --- p.92

This study aims to further understand the mechanisms through which work interference with family (WIF) influences important attitudinal, behavioral, and well-being outcomes. First, the study expands the content of employees' psychological contract through creating a measure of Work-Family Psychological Contract Breach (WFPCB). The study also examines the mediating role of WFPCB in the relations between WIF and work-related outcomes. Finally, the study explores potential cultural influences by looking at the moderating role of individualism-collectivism on the relations between WIF and WFPCB as well as between WFPCB and the outcomes. Research was carried out in three stages: 1) telephone interviews were conducted to understand the content of work-family psychological contract; 2) the WFPCB measure was piloted; and 3) a final survey study was carried out to test the main hypotheses. Data were collected in both the U.S. and China, resulting in 20 participants each for the interview study, over 60 participants each for the pilot study and over 200 respondents each for the final stage. Support was found in both samples for the link between WIF and WFPCB, and some of the direct paths with the outcomes, especially the attitudinal variables. Full mediation effect of WFPCB was found for organizational commitment in the U.S. and for job satisfaction in China. Evidence for partial mediation was also found for the other attitudinal variables. The moderating role of individualism-collectivism at the individual level was only found in the Chinese sample for organizational commitment, such that the negative relationship between WIF and commitment was stronger when individualism was high. A country comparison of the hypothesized direct effect was posed as research questions. The present study contributes to the psychological contract and work-family literature by introducing the psychological contract theory and shedding some light on the potential mechanism through which work interference with family affects important outcomes such as employee job attitudes and well-being.

<p>China and France have both adopted the International Standards on Auditing (ISA). Thelargest firms in auditing and accounting in the world, known as Big Four, are established inFrance as well as in China. Auditors from those firms apply procedures that have beenharmonized worldwide within Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, and Ernst &Young. When it comes to audit, French auditor and Chinese auditor talk the same language,use the same software, boundaries seem to be knocked over. On the other hand, what BigFour firms are not able to standardize is the culture of their auditors. Does auditor’s culturemay shatter all efforts that have been put to deliver the same services throughout the world?Does auditor’s culture may call the work of the International Auditing and AssuranceStandards Board (IAASB) into question? Do either French or Chinese auditors enable ahigher audit risk to the audited client? Many other questions could be raised about the effectof cultures on the audit process.</p><p>The purpose of this research is to explore, measure and analyse the cultural impact on theaudit process. In order to highlight the difference(s) of the audit outcome due to culture,countries have to exemplify a certain numbers of cultural differences. China and France havebeen chosen because their belonging to the Eastern and Western clusters, and as we know,Eastern and Western countries have substantial cultural differences (Hofstede, 2001).According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Individualism (versus Collectivism) andUncertainty Avoidance are the two dimensions that get the higher cultural differences whenhe compares Chinese and French Culture. We want to discover how Chinese and Frenchauditors rely on analytical procedures and assess audit evidence and internal controlenvironment. We want to study if their audit results reflect the cultural differences betweenChina and France based on the two cultural dimensions.</p><p>In order to manage our empirical research, we use a sample of 28 Chinese auditors and 14French auditors. We use primary data collection through our design questionnaire. Theauditors’ answers were analysed using a quantitative approach to reveal the eventual existenceof a connection between the auditor’s cultural background and how the audit process iscarried out.</p><p>Our findings about cultural differences within Big Four companies are not so categorical. We did not find significant differences regarding Chinese and French auditors’ culture. However,Chinese auditors appear to have a higher willingness to refuse a misstatement in the client’s financial statements, due to collectivism cultural dimension, than French auditors. Auditors from both countries assess in similar way audit evidence, but they do not consider of the same importance some components of the internal control environment. French auditors considerof greater importance components that can directly influenced the accuracy of the accountingreporting process, because an individualism society as France tends to “encourage”accounting and cut-off errors within organizations.</p>

Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

This study aims to investigate elementary models of social relations in Turkish cultural context and to link these models with horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism and personal value priorities. Fiske (1992) suggested that four elementary relationship models: communal sharing, authority ranking, equality matching, and market pricing motivate, organize, generate, coordinate, and evaluate almost all social relations. First, the Modes of Relationship Questionnaire (MORQ) asessing the four relational models was adopted to Turkish. Second, systematical associations of relational models with horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism and personal value priorities were examined. It was expected that horizontal cultural dimensions would predict equality matching and vertical dimensions would predict authority ranking, individualism would be linked to market pricing and collectivism would be linked to communal sharing. For personal value priorities, self-trancendence values would be associatedwith communal sharing, self-enhancement with authority ranking and market pricing, and conservation with authority ranking. Participants (N = 214) completed the MORQ, the Individualism and Collectivism Scale (INDCOL), and the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ). The four factor-structure of the relational models was supported in comfirmatory factor analyses. The hypothesized associations between relaitonal models, cultural orientations, and personal priorities were mostly supported. The results indicated that collectivism predicted communal sharing, vertical dimensions predicted authority ranking, horizontal collectivism predicted equality matching, and vertical individualism predicted market pricing. It was also found that self-trancendence predicted communal sharing and equality matching, self-enhancement predicted authority ranking and market pricing, and conservation predicted authority ranking.Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the findings were discussed considering previous work and cultural context.

The goal of the study was to understand the nature of the relationship among self construal, family functioning and sibling number in terms of gender. Five hundred twenthy-nine high school students participated in the study. Participants were selected from seven general public high schools in Ankara. Data was gathered via Personal Information Questionnaire, Autonomous-Related Self in the Family Scale (Kagit&ccedil / ibagi, 2007a) and Family Assessment Device (Epstein, Balwin &amp / Bishop 1983). Results of the study indicated that, for both genders, relational selfconstruals had significant correlations with healthy family functioning. It was also evidenced that autonomous self-construal scores of males were significantly higher than females and related self construal scores of females were significantly higher than males. Furthermore the family functioning dimensions that families tend to be v healthy or unhealthy were displayed. All findings were dicussed in line with the relevant literature.