Information and culture: Cultural differences in the perception and recall of information

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Highlights

  • Culture plays an important role in the perception and recall of information.

  • Cultural differences affect the perception of information in high-context conditions.

  • People in collectivistic cultures comprehend more information in high-context conditions.

Abstract

Culture is found to play an important role in the perception and recall of information. Hypotheses based on the two cultural models (individualism and context) were tested using a 2 × 2 factorial between-subject experimental design: individualism/collectivism and high/low-context conditions. The subjects consisted of 82 American students and 82 Korean students. The cultural tests confirm that the American culture represents individualism, whereas the Korean culture represents collectivism. The results indicate that Koreans tend to be more comfortable with a high-context culture that uses indirect and ambiguous messages. The Korean subjects show higher ratings for perceptions of information in a high-context design compared to the American subjects. There was no statistically significant difference in recall of information from high- and low-context conditions between the American and the Korean subjects. The findings of this study may benefit information professionals who are looking for effective ways of conveying information to intended audiences.

Introduction

Cross-cultural research demonstrates that audiences who are fostered by different cultures may have different understandings of information (Komlodi and Carlin, 2004, Machlup and Mansfield, 1983, Menou, 1983). Machlup and Mansfield (1983) discuss the role of information in society and contend that information is culture-specific. They hypothesize that data are collected, organized, and communicated within a cultural context. Menou (1983) also describes the culturally intrinsic dimension of information, saying that “information is culture-specific and consequently is largely incommunicable unless it has been acculturated” (p. 121).

Information, as a system of signs, depends on contextualizing cultural, historical, and collective meanings (Machlup & Mansfield, 1983). De Saussure (1959) contends that a signifier will lose its adequacy in representing a signified (informative object) in different conditions (or cultures). An informative object which is useful and meaningful for one culture might be useless and meaningless to another culture. For instance, Evans (1999) explains that the word “pet” marks a category that falls between the human and the animal—so we can pet animals. However, people who live in the north of England are famous for calling their human loved-ones “pet.” Other languages just have “house-animals”.

Komlodi and Carlin (2004) explore the influence of culture on information with Hall's (1976) cultural dimensions, which are popular dimensions frequently cited in cross-cultural studies. They contend that different cultures will express different information needs depending on how reliant they are on the information contained in the context. Bates (2005) argues that there is no discussion of how information processing in individuals varies by, for example, people in oral cultures compared to people in literate cultures. Similarly, Goody (1987) suggests that important cultural developments include the development of oral languages, the development of written languages, and the development of mathematical symbols, music scores, and other symbolic systems.

Section snippets

Problem statement

Most information behavior studies in cultural contexts have been less concerned with the larger contexts of individual lives and instead have focused on users intersecting with information system in terms of their external behavior rather than internal cognitions (Jeong, 2004, Lee et al., 2005, Ziming, 1993). In addition, previous studies in cross-cultural settings have primarily dealt with finding information sources used in different cultures (Bishop et al., 1999, Fisher et al., 2004, Hsia,

Literature review

In the narrow sense, culture means the results of human creative work and interaction as demonstrated in the arts, literature, and education; however, in a broader sense, it means generally accepted patterns of thinking and feeling (Hofstede, 1991). Geertz (1973) defines culture as a historically transmitted pattern of meanings represented in symbols. People can “communicate, perpetuate, and develop their own knowledge and attitudes towards life” by means of culture (Geertz, 1973, p.89).

Hypotheses

This research uses cross-cultural models to explicate differences in perceiving and recalling information in high- or low-context conditions between people in individualistic and collectivistic cultures (Fig. 1).

Numerous studies explore the differences between the cultures of the United States and Korea in terms of individualism and collectivism. Hofstede (1980) ranks the United States as the most individualistic culture at the top with a score of 91, whereas Korea is ranked 43rd with a score

Method

The hypotheses were tested using a 2 × 2 factorial between-subject experimental design: individualism/collectivism and high/low-context conditions. The subjects consisted of 164 undergraduate and graduate students at Florida State University (FSU). Students were asked to participate in the study voluntarily through recruiting emails and in-class presentations encouraging participation during the classes at a large southern university. The Korean subjects were studying in the US at the time of the

Demographic characteristics

The final sample consisted of 82 American students and 82 Korean students. Demographic statistics (gender, age, and college years) were collected for each subject (Table 2). The American sample consisted of 63 men (76.8%) and 19 women (23.2%), and the Korean sample consisted of 48 men (58.5%) and 34 women (41.5%). Most of the subjects were undergraduate students: 68 American students (83%) and 62 Korean students (75.6%). The Korean subjects had lived in the U.S. for 1.5 years on average.

Discussion

The test results indicate that students in individualistic and collectivistic cultures respond differently to information in high-context design. Korean students perceive more information than American students from images, moods, and symbols.

Conclusion

Information professionals are faced with the challenge of growing populations of multicultural students. The findings of this study may benefit information professionals who are looking for effective ways of conveying information to such audiences. This study suggests that Koreans prefer some types of information in a visual form, while Americans prefer text and visuals. Information professionals should consider the differences between people in individualistic or collectivistic cultures, and

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Dr. Melissa Gross for her valuable guidance throughout this research and to doctoral colleagues for their assistance in conducting the experiments.

Ji-Hyun Kim completed his doctoral degree at the College of Communication and Information Studies, Florida State University. He received his master's in mass communication from the University of Oklahoma. His primary research interest is in the influence of social media on information behavior, health informatics, and social informatics. His recent research concentrates on the information behavior of various cultures.

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    Ji-Hyun Kim completed his doctoral degree at the College of Communication and Information Studies, Florida State University. He received his master's in mass communication from the University of Oklahoma. His primary research interest is in the influence of social media on information behavior, health informatics, and social informatics. His recent research concentrates on the information behavior of various cultures.

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