Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs, hereafter) are important drivers of the global economic development. For the SMEs, to establish and growth, having access to the sources of finance is of great importance. Anecdotal evidence suggeststhat while the importance of having access for the SMEs is apparent, they have been disadvantageous in many different ways. The disadvantage position of the SMEs can even be worse when they are younger (e.g., The World bank, 2001, p. 6-7). Prior research documents many factors that affect the financial constraints of SMEs. In this study, we investigate the association between SMEs age and financial constraints. In addition, we test the moderating effect of collectivism on SMEs’ financial constraints, as collectivism is documented to have an effect on bank corruption. We first hypothesize that there is a negative association between SMEs’ age and financial constraints. We further propose that the negative association between SMEs’ age and financial constraints decreases as collectivism (at the country level) increases. Using a World Bank’s sample of 31422 firms across 38 countries, we find that younger firms, compared to the older firms, experience higher level of financial constraints.Further, we observe an insignificant results regarding the moderating effect of collectivism on the proposed association.We offer contribution to the existing empirical evidence onfactors that affect financial constraints. Providing such an evidence may be found relevant to the economic institutions such as the World Bank and regulatory bodies, as they are allocating resources and making macro level decisions regarding the economicdevelopment through SMEs around the world.

Although DuBois has been the subject of considerable scholarly work, little of that scholarship has concentrated on his political thought. This dissertation addresses that lacuna in the literature on DuBois by analyzing his writings from the standpoint of a concern with their political and philosophical dimensions and their relation to the social and intellectual contexts within which DuBois wrote and acted. Most significant in this research among the contexts within which DuBois' work was constituted are those aspects related to: (1) rise of the corporation as a central organizing force in United States political economy; (2) development of intellectuals as a self-conscious, discernibly interested stratum in twentieth-century American society; and (3) the continuing efforts of elites within the Afro-American population to congeal a social and political agenda for themselves and hegemony over the organization of the race. This study identifies collectivism as a useful critical concept in interpretation of the intellectual and institutional thrusts of those three elements of the environment of DuBois' theoretical development and points of similarity and confluence among them. Collectivism is seen as a meta-theoretical outlook that values specialized expertise in social decision-making, rational organization and planning and asserts the primacy of the economy in society. To that extent collectivism provides a rubric subsuming the principal ideological stances common among intellectuals during the early decades of this century-i.e., socialism, progressivism, and the varieties of managerialism--and their derivatives. DuBois' thought is found to demonstrate sharp continuities at the philosophical or meta-theoretical level. These continuities are most significant in his attitudes concerning the nature and purposes of knowledge and the proper organization of society in general and of the Afro-American population in particular, and they resonate with the attitudes of his collectivist contemporaries. Notwithstanding DuBois' movements into and out of the university and "activism," the Socialist Party, the NAACP, Pan-Africanism and finally the CPUSA, he is found to have maintained throughout his career commitment to: (1) a positivist-pragmatist view of knowledge; (2) a rationalistic, collectivist view of proper social organization, including a preference for meritocracy; and (3) a belief that the elite of "ability" or the "Talented Tenth" should have primacy in and over the Afro-American population.

This paper aims to measure the kinds of challenges faced by multicultural studentgroups and the influence of culture (individualism and collectivism) on student'sperception of importance on each of the challenges discovered. A 19-item questionnairewas completed by students (N = 234) from different faculties including natural andsocial sciences at Linnaeus University, students were from 47 countries. Challenges inmulticultural groups were measured using a Likert scale (from 1 to 5) that assessedmember participation, communication, group processes and group member compositionand analysed by exploratory factor analysis. To examine the differences in perception ofimportance of the challenges discovered between individualists and collectivists basedon Hofstede's culture framework, t-tests and Mann-Whitney test were conducted. Theresults suggested three main kinds of challenges: culture related challenges, genericgroup work challenges and membership resemblance. Membership resemblance was theonly kind of challenge that significantly differed between individualists and collectivists.Further discussions explaining the results and implementation of this study werepresented.

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) with no cure (Hall, 2011). A variety of treatments exist to help with symptoms and one therapy is applied behavior analysis (ABA) (Virues-Ortega, 2010). ABA works by providing rewarding stimuli, specifically verbal praise, to encourage positive behavior. Most of the current research related to autism and ABA has been done in the US or other western countries (Hall, 2011), but studies show that verbal praise motivates people differently in different cultures (Henderlong & Lepper, 2002). One of these differences occurs between individualist and collectivist cultures. The current study will manipulate verbal praise administered in ABA therapy in two different countries, the United States, an individualist culture, and South Korea, a collectivist culture. There will be two types of ABA interventions: type A, with individualist-focused verbal praise and type B, with collectivist-focused verbal praise. Thirty children from each country will receive type A and 40 from each country will receive type B. The results would likely confirm the hypotheses which are: 1) that children with an individualist upbringing will have a greater improvement in symptoms with intervention type A than children with a collectivist upbringing, and 2) that children with a collectivist upbringing will have greater symptom improvement with intervention type B than children with an individualist upbringing. Further directions regarding the development of treatments for children with autism are discussed. This research will help to provide insight into the importance of considering culture when treating children with autism.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Curtis B. Matthews / China’s society has been changing since 1979, when the open-door policy was implemented. Many great events in politics, economy and culture have brought lots of diversities to the Chinese younger generation who were born after 1979. These diversities have led to a cultural value change from collectivism to individualism among this generation (Cao, 2009; Sun & Wang, 2010; Moore, 2005). Cultivation analysis theory may be appropriate to explain this phenomenon as the open-door policy allowed American and European TV programs and other media products come into China. Effective advertising should cater to its audience in order to effectively persuade them to purchase its merchandise or service (Zhang & Harwood, 2004; Chang, 2006). If the cultural value of the Chinese younger generation has changed, it may be reflected in the commercial content of successful advertisers. This research conducted a content analysis of Chinese commercials, comparing the commercial contents in recent years to approximately ten years ago. It examined if the individualistic factors were more frequently showed in the commercials in recent years than approximately ten years ago, with the consideration to merchandise type and production place. Research results exhibited an increase of individualism revealing in Chinese commercials from approximately 2006 to 2016.

With increasing globalization, researchers are beginning to document the changing patterns of family life in collectivistic societies undergoing rapid economic development, such as India. With these changes, expectations of romantic relationships are also shifting as individuals re-calibrate their gender roles and attitudes towards romantic relationships to meet the challenges of modern society. Yet, not enough is known about the younger generation of collectivist youth and their evolving romantic habits and preferences. Therefore, the overarching goal of this thesis was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of cultural and familial influences in selecting a marital partner, maintaining a relationship, endorsing romantic beliefs, and anticipating future difficulties in marital life. In collectivist cultures, families tend to be characterized by respect for parental authority and strong, interdependent ties. Do these aspects of collectivism exert countervailing pressures on mate choices and relationship quality? In Study 1, I tested my predictions on a British sample by dividing participants into high or low collectivist groups based on their heritage cultural background, whereas in Study 2 I recruited participants from India and the United States. In both studies, I found that collectivism was associated with greater acceptance of parental influence over mate choice, thereby driving relationship commitment down, but collectivism was also associated with stronger family ties (referred to as family allocentrism), which drove commitment up (Study 2). Along similar lines, Study 1 found that collectivists’ greater acceptance of parental influence on mate choice contributed to their reduced relationship passion, whereas Study 2 found that their greater family allocentrism may have enhanced their passion. Study 2 also revealed that collectivists may have reported a smaller discrepancy between their own preferences for mates high in warmth and trustworthiness and their perception of their parents’ preferences for these qualities because of their stronger family allocentrism. However, their higher tolerance of parental V influence may have also contributed to a smaller discrepancy in their mate preferences versus their perceptions of their parents’ preferences for qualities signifying status and resources. Studies 3 and 4 moved away from familial dynamics and took a closer look at the cultural values of collectivism and gender role ideology. Previous studies have established that Indians tend to be greater in collectivism and gender role traditionalism than Americans. The purpose of Studies 3 and 4 was to examine whether these differences explained further cultural differences in romantic beliefs, traditional mate preferences, and anticipation of future difficulties in marital life. Results for both studies revealed that Indians reported greater collectivism than Americans and, in turn, held stronger romantic beliefs. Additionally, Indians’ greater collectivism, endorsement of more traditional gender roles and benevolent sexism in part predicted their preferences for a marital partner possessing traditional characteristics. Collectivism and gender role traditionalism accounted for Indians’ heightened concerns about encountering future difficulties in marital life in Study 3, while in Study 4 only collectivism explained these concerns. Overall, the results from these four studies shed light on the processes underlying cultural differences in relationship attitudes and preferences, and point to the need for greater cultural awareness and sensitivity to the diversity that exists in relationship functioning across societies.

M.A. / The recent social and political changes that have taken place in South Africa, particularly the integration of the universities, makes this an ideal setting for the study of students’ attitudes and perceptions of their own and other cultural groups. A limitation of existing attitude studies in South Africa and abroad is that these studies have focussed minimally on identifying cultural perceptual processes that underlie intergroup attitudes. In addition, these studies tend to focus mainly on the attitudes of single ethno-cultural groups towards one or a few specific ethnic target groups. The variation of group attitudes of each other across diverse cultural orientation groups has thus mostly been neglected. In order to address such problems, this study aimed at examining cultural group attitudes and core value-orientations (Individualism and Collectivism) amongst 1st and 2nd year psychology volunteer students at RAU. More specifically, this study aimed at determining the variation of group attitudes and value-orientations in terms of a number of independent variables, and the correlation between group attitudes and core value-orientations. The study employed a questionnaire survey with a sample of 541 1st and 2nd year psychology volunteer students at RAU. The sample included male and female students from the broad cultural orientation groups (Western, African, Middle-Eastern (Muslim) and Indian/Asian cultural orientation groups), and the three main language groups (English, Afrikaans and African languages), as well as resident students and day-students from various faculties and academic years of study. The assessment instruments comprised of an Individualism and Collectivism Likert Scale (IS/CS) (Gudykunst, 1995), designed to measure generalised core value-orientations, and a Semantic Differential Scale (SDS) (Nieuwoudt, 1973), designed to measure attitudes towards five broad cultural orientation groups, namely: Western-Afrikaans, Western-English, Indian/Asian, Middle-Eastern (Muslim) and Indigenous African groups. The independent variables included in the analyses of the data were: gender, resident vs. day-students (intimacy and frequency of contact variable), cultural group membership/identity, and first language. The construct validity and the internal reliability of the I/CS and SDS were investigated by means of principal axis factor analysis and Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients. Independent t-tests were used to identify statistically significant differences between the IS/CS and SDS scores of the male and female respondents and the resident students and day-students. ANOVA and subsequent Scheffé or Dunnett T3 post-hoc tests were used to identify the group similarities and differences in the scores for the five cultural-identity groups and the three language groups. Finally, Pearsons’ product-moment correlations were used to identify significant correlations between the IS/CS and SDS scores. Important findings were the following: • Females indicated significantly stronger Individualism and Collectivism scores than males. • Day-students indicated significantly stronger Collectivism scores than resident students. • Statistically significant differences were identified in the IS/CS scores of the five cultural-identity groups and the three language groups. • Males and females differed significantly from one another in terms of their perceptions of Indian/Asian cultural groups. • Resident students and day-students differed significantly from one another in terms of their perceptions of Western-Afrikaans and African cultural groups. • The five cultural-orientation groups and the three language groups differed significantly from one another in terms of their perceptions of Western-Afrikaans, Western-English and African cultural groups. • Significant correlations for the Collectivism scores and the SDS scores for the perceptions of the Western-English, Indian/Asian, Middle-Eastern and African cultures were identified. These correlations were however extremely low, indicating that conducting a regression analysis of the SDS attitude scores in terms of the IS/CS scores was not feasible. Theoretical implications were discussed and recommendations were made for future research in this field.

The Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality is one of the prominent models in contemporary psychology and defines personality in terms of five broad factors, namely, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Recent research, however, questions the applicability of the FFM in non-Western cultures, suggesting that it is not exhaustive enough and that it does not account for some other personality factors, most notably Individualism/Collectivism. Therefore, this study investigated whether the FFM of personality is related to Individualism/Collectivism in a sample of South African students. A total of 176 questionnaires were completed by students from the University of the Witwatersrand. The questionnaire contained the individualism/collectivism (INDCOL) scales and the Basic Traits Inventory (BTI) which is a South African instrument based on the FFM. Results indicate that there were no significant relationships between the five factors and Individualism/Collectivism. In addition no significant difference was found between race and the five factors and Individualism/Collectivism. There were also no significant differences between home language and the five factors and Individualism/Collectivism.

Abstract The role of marketing in social issues has grown over the last thirty years since Kotler himself introduced the concept (Kotler & Zaltman, 1971). In the evolution of social marketing it has moved from being entirely marketing process orientated towards expanding its vision to other useful theories from the subject’s parent disciplines. Social dilemma theory, one such theory, evolved in the laboratories, computer programmes and field experiments of psychologists and economists. In 1991 marketers proposed the theory as an aid to understanding individual action in collective problems. The current study assesses the relevance of social dilemma theory for the marketing of water conservation behaviours in an emerging market. As such, it seeks to establish if the key variables were present and what, if any, impact large cultural forces, such as individualism and collectivism have on individual conserving behaviour. Individualism and collectivism were studied at the personal level of idiocentrism and allocentrism and along the sub-dimensions of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. The interactions of these values on individual behaviour were studied, together with two key variables in social dilemma theory namely, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and faith in others (FIO). Individual perceptions of resource abundance and attitudes towards non-marketing solutions, such as a sanctioning system, were investigated. The study was conducted among 444 teenage learners at secondary schools in Gauteng. A descriptive research design was used. The study found that there was an interaction between social dilemma variables and individualism/collectivism which did have an impact on individual conserving behaviour. Most, but not all relationships were verified. Collectivists required higher levels of perceived consumer effectiveness in order to engage in conservation actions, while individualists needed a greater sense of the co-operation of others. Faith in others and individualism/collectivism emerged as having a direct impact on consumer behaviour, while perceived consumer effectiveness was a moderator of the other variables and had no main, direct, effect on behaviour. Water was thought of as an abundant resource and in little need of conservation. Low income consumers favoured a sanctioning system to enforce compliance. The implications of the study for marketing theory and practice are discussed. -