Cultural identity and convergence on western attitudes and beliefs in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Studies of acculturation have assumed that, under pressure to assimilate, individuals will accommodate by adopting behavioural and attitudinal attributes of the local, dominant culture. In contrast, this empirical study based in the United Arab Emirates used an original survey instrument, together with a range of convergent analytic techniques, to demonstrate pervasive westernization in the Arab and subcontinental-dominant communities. In addition, the study demonstrates a novel use of multiple discriminant analysis to explore differences between cultural and personal identities, a potentially useful tool for the cross-cultural management literature. In contrast to other studies, we examine how individuals perceive themselves as deviating from their home cultures in a context where there is minimal pressure to conform to the local culture and commercial globalization is given free reign. We show that non-westerners perceived themselves both as more deviant from their home societies than those from western nations and as more similar to westerners than to their own societies. The fact that even those born in Gulf Arab nations tended to converge on western beliefs and behaviours suggested the cause of westernization may have been media and western business models. These observations lead us to challenge common theoretical models of acculturation by suggesting that individuals may acculturate by assuming learned transient aspects of cultural identity in order to maximize personal opportunity.

Underlying motivating factors for movie-induced tourism among Emiratis and Indian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates

“…Regarding the research context, the UAE is a multicultural and multi-ethnic country that hosts expatriates (foreign residents) from more than 200 countries (Hills and Atkins, 2013). Its population is approximately 9.45 million.…”

The French Paradox: Implications for Variations in Global Convergence

“…The cross-cultural community is divided, though, between expectations of convergence (Haire et al, 1966;Heuer et al, 1999;Hills and Atkins, 2013), and predictions that cultural differences will remain persistent and resilient (Huntington, 1996;Schaeffer, 2003). "Crossvergence" bridges these camps, arguing that sociocultural and business ideological trends produce a combinatory new value system (Ralston et al, 1993), evidence of which indicates the importance of recognizing such cultural dynamism (Kelley et al, 2006).…”

Talking about my generation: comment les valeurs façonnent la consommation de luxe

“…Pour elles, il est important de se conformer aux coutumes issues de la culture traditionnelle ou de la religion, et d'éviter tout changement qui mettrait en péril l'harmonie de la société. Attachées aux traditions, elles associent la surconsommation de luxe à une perte d'identité due à l'occidentalisation de la société émirienne (Hills et Atkins, 2013) Les changements critiques auxquels la société émirienne a été confrontée après le boom pétrolier ont façonné deux générations distinctes. Nos répondantes les plus âgées montrent une attitude moins favorable à la consommation de luxe que les plus jeunes.…”