This paper reports the findings of a 12-nation study designed to test empirically the relationships between societal cultural values, individual social beliefs, and the perceived effectiveness of different influence strategies. The relationships between three types of broad influence strategy (persuasive, assertive, and relationship based) and four dimensions of individual beliefs (cynicism, fate control, reward for application, and religiosity) were examined. Three of Project GLOBE's cultural values (in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and future orientation) were selected to investigate their direct effects on the rated effectiveness of influence strategies, and their possible interaction with dimensions of individual beliefs. Results showed that different dimensions of individual social beliefs predict the perceived effectiveness of the three types of influence strategy, and that cultural values can moderate the strength of the relationship between these dimensions of individual social beliefs and the perceived effectiveness of influence strategies.

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The goal of this study is to examine if hosting major sporting events represents a relevant strategy to brand a place "internationally" through brand association transfer and to identify whether or not it should be seen as co-branding process. Based on social representation theory and an abductive research strategy, a survey was carried out among British citizens to identify their opinions about the Olympic Games and the city of Beijing following the organisation of the Games in August 2008. The content and the structure of the social representations were analysed and then compared to determine whether or not a double transfer of associations occurred between the place and the sporting event. The analysis concludes that although there was a transfer of elements from the sporting event to the place, few clearly positive elements were transferred and several negative associations remain. The results do not explicitly corroborate the transfer of associations from the place to the sporting event. The paper confirms the value of sporting events in place branding strategies but highlights some limitations such as the transfer of negative elements and the lack of media control. It also highlights the importance of the place selection process to protect the sporting brand.

The aim of this research is to develop a procedure for data collection within a social representations perspective that may be of use in diverse contexts in which investigators wish to understand and compare the norms and values associated with a particular social object in different social or cultural groups. The social representation of sport is studied in two culturally distinct countries, Morocco and France, with the use of an innovative procedure derived from the Model of Basic Cognitive Schemes (Rouquette, 1990, 1994b). The results reveal a difference in the appropriation of values related to sport in the two countries: the social representation of sport for the Moroccans is focused around hard work related to sport (the education, discipline, and training necessary to achieve competitive performance), whereas for the French, importance is also given to the recreational aspects of sport (sport for pleasure, as a leisure activity and as a way to relax).

Résumé Cette recherche vise, par la comparaison de deux populations relevant de pays différents du point de vue de leur développement socio-économique, à mettre en évidence comment la représentation sociale, supportée par un sous-groupe dans chacune de ces sociétés, joue un rôle de filtre face aux évolutions impulsées par les dynamiques macro-sociales. A partir de l’analyse de l’implantation du sport au Maroc et en France ainsi que des idéologies qui lui sont associées, nous avons pu schématiser le contexte social et idéologique à travers les notions de sport moderne/post-moderne, de manière à vérifier la relation entre ces effets de contexte et les représentations sociales des sous groupes étudiés, à savoir des étudiants sportifs des deux pays. Une analyse de représentation est menée à partir d’une tâche d’associations verbales. Les résultats permettent de souligner la prise en compte, dans les deux pays, des valeurs modernes et post-modernes, même s’il apparaît des spécificités interprétées en termes d’appropriation différente des valeurs.