In order to successfully implement service internationalisation, a detailed knowledge of the target foreign culture is required (e.g., beliefs, values, lifestyles, symbols, psycholinguistics, and attitudes). This information may be used to manage the alignment of service offerings with local tastes, and create perceptual stimuli to foster trust and encourage consumption (Fugate 1996). Credible tools are therefore required to provide the market intelligence required to understand the cultural context and inform adaptation to local preferences. Service quality modelling and measurement perform such a role in reporting customer perceptions of the effectiveness of service marketing effort. However consideration of culture�s influence upon service quality evaluation has hitherto received only periphery attention within the literature. While numerous researchers have examined the role that values play as an antecedent of the service quality construct (e.g., Donthu and Yoo 1998; Furrer et al. 2000; Mattila 1999; Winsted 1997) there are no published studies adopting a more comprehensive view of culture�s role. The widespread adoption of values as a proxy for understanding culture�s influence upon the service quality construct appears flawed as there is no theoretical justification to isolate values from the rest of the cultural field (Bourdieu 1990; Radcliffe-Brown 1949). Values alone, such as Hofstede (1984a) and Schwartz and Bilsky�s (1987) schemas, cannot fully explain how individual consumers reconcile their individual preferences with broader cultural influences (e.g., institutions, beliefs, regulations, and artefacts). In this study Bourdieu�s (1986) structuralist perspective of culture is utilised as a framework to explore how culture influences service quality. In this perspective the social world is viewed as being comprised of rules and systems that guide/inform an individual�s behaviour. Values are only one element of this social system. In this study a case approach is adopted to map the role of culture in constructing service quality preferences. While the breadth of the research agenda means there is a large population of possible cases, Taiwan is selected as the case boundary principally due its logistical accessibility. Case selection in this study can therefore be classified as a convenience sample. However, to facilitate intensive study (Stake 2005) complexity is added to the case design through purposeful sampling (Patton 1990). In addition to seeking the perspectives of local Taiwanese outside perspectives are sought from expatriate New Zealanders and Taiwanese who have lived in New Zealand. Through purposive triangulation (Patton 1990) of both the sample underpinning the case and an interpretive multi-discipline analysis the researcher constructs a model of culture�s influence upon service quality evaluation within this case boundary. No evidence is found within either the primary data or critical literature review that Taiwanese culture has any impact upon the evaluation of service quality at the primary dimensional level (i.e., �Process/Outcome Quality�, and the �Personal Interaction Quality�). Indeed apriori modelling of the construct has similarly modelled how consumers separately evaluate interpersonal aspects from other key evaluative criteria (e.g., Dabholkar et al. 1996; Gronroos 1984). This level of the dimensional hierarchy is therefore tentatively determined to be etic (Pike 1967), subject to further cross-cultural studies. A moderate level of cultural influence was however noted amongst the second-order dimensions. Finally, the third and subsequent level indicators were widely found to display extensive cultural influence and require significant adaptation efforts for local cultural preferences.

Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2003.

No description available.

It is now well recognised that an effective service recovery program is an essential part of firms??? service quality programs and critical to generating customer satisfaction and loyalty. A number of studies have investigated the impact of service recovery efforts (compensation, speed of response, etc.) on post-recovery satisfaction, mostly in Western countries. However, despite the importance of global markets, very few have examined how Eastern consumers react to service recovery efforts. Furthermore, none have examined the impact of cultural value orientation (cultural values measured at the individual level) in implementing effective service recovery programs. This is one of the few studies that have attempted to avoid the ecological fallacy, i.e., assume all consumers within a country are culturally homogeneous. Based on Justice Theory, this research conducted in Thailand, employed an experimental design to investigate how customer evaluations of service recovery efforts are influenced by interplay of the consumer???s cultural value orientation and service recovery attributes (apology, compensation, cognitive control, recovery initiation, and formality). The results reveal that cultural values of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and collectivism do indeed interact with a firm???s recovery tactics to influence perceptions of justice. In other words, the impact of a firm???s tactics is culturally dependent, and consumer expectations and perceptions of service recovery efforts vary, depending on customers??? cultural value orientation. Finally, all three forms of justice (distributive, procedural, interactional) along with disconfirmation of expectations, positively impact on overall service recovery satisfaction. Unlike previous studies, we found evidence to indicate that there is a temporal sequence associated with the three justice dimensions i.e., interactional and procedural justice precede and thus impact perception of distributive (outcome) justice. The results have implication for marketing theory as well as managerial action.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 289-319). / xxiv, 378 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Explores the link between cultural, social and individual factors and the structure and content of food perceptions. The aims of the thesis were to investigate the content of taste and nutrition perceptions within Korea and Australia and to assess how shared these perceptions were using Q-methodology. Within-country differences between younger and older males and females were examined and the relationships of food perceptions to food use explored. / Thesis (Ph.D.(Sc.))--Adelaide University, Dept. of Psychology, 2001

This qualitative study investigates how music therapists work within a culturally diverse environment in New Zealand and the researcher's own growing experience as a student clinician. This research endeavoured to answer two research questions. Firstly, what do music therapists in New Zealand perceive from their experience of working with clients from different culture? Secondly, how does my own experience as a second generation Korean MTS affect my clinical work in a multicultural environment in New Zealand? This study applied aspects of qualitative research. Four qualified New Zealand music therapists and the researcher herself participated in this study. Data was collected from the interviews with the music therapy participatns, the music therapy student's reflection on case notes from two clinical cases, and a research journal. Music therapists identified various issues that associated with their experiences of working cross-culturally. The main areas of key ideas were categorized under 1) cultural considerations 2) preconceptions 3) building a communicative bridge 4) clinical competency 5) different approaches 6) culturally appropriate practice. The ideas under these categories have crystallized to articulate the different voices of participants for the benefit of the knowledge in the existing literatures and for the enhancement of personal tools towards self awareness and culturally appropriate clinical practice. From the overview of all the participants consulted in this study it was concluded that recognition of the importance of self awareness was one of the most significant factors in building culturally appropriate practice in a multicultural environment.

No description available.

No description available.

This study conceptualizes inpatriates – foreign nationals who are temporarily assigned to the corporate headquarters (HQ) of a multinational corporation (MNC) – as knowledge agents that link the HQ to its subsidiaries. Along these lines, the thesis examines the determinants of knowledge sharing between inpatriates and HQ staff as well as the resulting implications for inpatriates’ careers. Integrating research on international assignments and MNC knowledge flows with social capital theory, the main argument is that inpatriates can only share their local subsidiary knowledge with and learn from HQ employees if they establish social capital with them. The empirical investigation of inpatriates as the study’s principal unit of analysis follows a multi-method approach. First, a qualitative and inductive case study based on 13 interviews with inpatriates at three German MNCs is conducted, aiming to provide a deeper understanding of the inpatriate phenomenon. The interview findings highlight inpatriates’ role as knowledge conduits and derive various factors that may impact on inpatriates’ knowledge sharing, such as inpatriates’ acculturation attitudes, their host language fluency, host ethnocentrism and available organizational support.

The multicultural classroom is a phenomenon now found in most countries. As a result of globalisation and the burgeoning transnational education market, university classrooms that span national borders are now commonplace. Within these classrooms the cultures of both the delivering and receiving countries converge, resulting in the creation of a new and complex cultural territory that is often unfamiliar to educators and students alike. Australia has been a key provider of transnational education in the South East Asian region, however little research has investigated the interplay of culture and pedagogy within Australian transnational programs, despite the cultural distance which exists between Australia and its Asian neighbours. This is surprising given the importance of transnational provision to both the Australian economy and the internationalisation agenda of Australian universities. / The unfamiliar cultural territory found within these transnational programs places high demands on educators and students, yet the impact of exposure to cultural difference and culture learning seems rarely considered in the development and delivery of such programs. This thesis examines one transnational program that was delivered in Singapore by an Australian university. An ethnographic methodology is employed, applying a ‘cultural lens’ to an analysis of the program. The author provides background information on the Australian and Singaporean education systems and reviews a range of previous research which focuses on culture and pedagogy in the region. Interviews and classroom observations reveal educator and student experiences of the program. The author concludes that cultural phenomena have a profound impact on participants’ experiences of transnational education programs and that this is substantially unrecognised by key actors in the process. Recommendations are made for changes in practice that could be incorporated in transnational programs in order to ameliorate negative impacts of cultural difference.