CULTURAL VARIATION AND PUBLIC
RESPONSE TO CRISIS
The term culture has many definitions.8 Victor,9 expanding
on Hall’s10 1959 definition, argued that culture is learned, functions within a
group, and is “inseparably tied to communication. . . a person’s culture shapes a
host of business communication factors.” The topic of culture and how it influ-ences public relations has been receiving continuous attention in the literature.
The first in-depth treatments began with Sriramesh, Grunig, and Buffington11 and
Sriramesh and White,12 who explored the impact of organizational and societal
culture. More recently, Sriramesh, Kim, and Takasaki have continued the line of
research.13 Societal culture influences the practice of public relations in every
nation and region of the world. Marra examined organizational culture as an area
for crisis public relations and suggested that it is important to understand the
relationship between organizational and societal culture in crisis communication.
14
One of the best treatments of culture and business communication can be
found in the work of Geert Hofstede,15 who created one of the most popular
definitions of culture: “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes
the members of one human group from another. Culture in this sense,
included systems of values; and values are among the building blocks of culture.”16
Hofstede identified four principal dimensions of culture, power distance, uncertainty
avoidance, masculinity–femininity, and individualism– collectivism, and examined
how they affect communication in the workplace. Although all four dimensions
offer insight into culture and public relations, the uncertainty avoidance
and power distance dimensions are most applicable for studying public response to
crisis.
Uncertainty
CULTURAL VARIATION AND PUBLICRESPONSE TO CRISISThe term culture has many definitions.8 Victor,9 expandingon Hall’s10 1959 definition, argued that culture is learned, functions within agroup, and is “inseparably tied to communication. . . a person’s culture shapes ahost of business communication factors.” The topic of culture and how it influ-ences public relations has been receiving continuous attention in the literature.The first in-depth treatments began with Sriramesh, Grunig, and Buffington11 andSriramesh and White,12 who explored the impact of organizational and societalculture. More recently, Sriramesh, Kim, and Takasaki have continued the line ofresearch.13 Societal culture influences the practice of public relations in everynation and region of the world. Marra examined organizational culture as an areafor crisis public relations and suggested that it is important to understand therelationship between organizational and societal culture in crisis communication.14One of the best treatments of culture and business communication can befound in the work of Geert Hofstede,15 who created one of the most populardefinitions of culture: “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishesthe members of one human group from another. Culture in this sense,included systems of values; and values are among the building blocks of culture.”16Hofstede identified four principal dimensions of culture, power distance, uncertaintyavoidance, masculinity–femininity, and individualism– collectivism, and examinedhow they affect communication in the workplace. Although all four dimensionsoffer insight into culture and public relations, the uncertainty avoidanceand power distance dimensions are most applicable for studying public response tocrisis.Uncertainty
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