Examining media effectiveness across cultures and national borders: A review and multilevel framework

Abstract

We explore the ways that perceptions of media effectiveness are affected by the societal culture, organizational culture, occupational (professional) culture, individual characteristics, and technology acceptance. This is an important subject to explore, as communication is essential to organizational functioning. The continuous drive for communication to individuals in different national and organizational situations around the world, due in part to globalization, leads us to ask: which medium is perceived as the most effective for each of the tasks a manager may be called upon to perform, particularly in different cultures? In other words, is the receiver getting the message that we intend, when the receiver is not in the same situation (societal, organizational, professional, etc.) as the sender? There are contexts of shared values, rules, and experiences that affect communication; words do not have the same meaning and value across languages and cultures (Macnamara, 2004). This means that the message sent from one context may not be the message received in another. If we are not communicating the messages we intend, then our method of communicating may be efficient, but it is certainly not effective. However, there is little research on the effectiveness of media types. We develop a framework highlighting the intersection of variables salient to effectiveness: societal, organizational, and occupational culture, individual characteristics, and technology the sender? In the conclusion, we suggest future work that might be appropriate, given the increasing interest in global communication.

Cultural Determinants of Social Media Use in World Markets

“…Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Portugal, Greece) are characterized by a strong need to perceive the individual as part of the group (Hofstede, 2000). Ties between individuals in these cultures are closer while their members prefer group work and take great care of each other (Hofstede, 1983;Leonard et. al., 2011).…”

Modelling determinants of customer loyalty in services sector across different cultural contexts

“…Culture is important when making decisions about communications between companies and their customers (Kanso & Kitchen, 2004, Alden et al, 2010, Leonard et al, 2011. Developing a deeper understanding of local culture and evaluating its influences on customer preferences is central to all business across cultures (Shaw & Clarke, 1998, Leonard et al, 2011 but, particularly, to international service providers (e.g., Salciuviene et al 2010).…”

“…Thereby there is no doubt that culture does play a role and affects how business is conducted across countries (e.g., Kazlauskaite et al, 2009). For this reason, researchers must take into consideration cultural assessment to avoid mistakes across cultures (Kanso & Kitchen, 2004, Harzing et al, 2005Leonard et al, 2011).…”

“…More importantly, the selected customer communication channel may not be an optimal match to what customers expect from the international service providers. Customers may prefer some communication channels to others either for transaction purposes (e.g., Montoya-Weiss et al, 2003;Gupta et al, 2004;Ansari et al, 2005;Verhoef & Donkers, 2005;Froehle, 2006;Berger, 2009;Hasouneh & Alqeed, 2010;Rai et al, 2012;Polo & Sese, 2016) or for communication purposes (e.g., Koppelman et al, 1977;Mersha, 1990;Moore & Jovanis, 1987;1988;Soteriou & Chase, 1998;Fan et al, 2013;Huang & Liao, 2015) as well as due to individual differences, such as differences in personal values or different cultural contexts (Harzing et al, 2005;Leonard et al, 2011).…”

“…Communications have been the subject of research for many scholars across different disciplines over the years (e.g., Chase, 1978;Mersha, 1990;Delone & McLean, 1992;Yazici, 2002;Negash et al, 2003;Montoya-Weiss et al, 2003;Gupta et al, 2004;Ansari et al, 2005;Verhoef & Donkers, 2005;Froehle, 2006;Keller, 2009;Leonard et al, 2011;Reinold & Tropp, 2012;Maity & Dass, 2014;Auruskeviciene et al, 2015;Tran & Corner, 2016;Rondon et al, 2017). For instance, in services field, Moore & Jovanis (1988) propose a media choice behaviour model, where consumer preferences and choices are made based on knowledge of the communication context, both initiator and recipient of the communication, the alternative media and travel options.…”