TOUR1001 Lecture 10: TOUR1001 WK10
Lecture WK10: Culture Shock, Perceived Risk and
Behaviour
Thursday, 17 May 2018
14:53
Cultural Distance (Tourism):
• Hofstede paid special attention to the role of uncertainty of avoidance (UA):
~ consumers from national cultures of higher levels of UA prefer to use information
sources that are related to the distribution channels (e.g. travel agent), instead of
personal, destination marketing-related, or mass media sources
~ also more frequently purchase pre-packaged tours, travel in larger groups, stay
shorter, and visit fewer number of destinations
• Results also show that consumers from less masculine cultures were found more loyal, while
consumers from more masculine societies are more likely to show higher customer defection
• This can be particularly relevant for tourism organisations attracting tourists from different
nations, joint ventures may be required to relate to the specific tourism markets
• Cultural distance is a concept that represents the distance or gap between one culture and
another
• Examines the similarities and dissimilarities that exist between different cultural groups
• the concept is especially relevant to international tourism as it is thought a visitor's ability to
intellectually understand and emotionally relate to foreign countries will be based on the
perceived cultural differences between the two nations
• Cultural distance may affect demand (if a place is perceived as too different or frightening)
• Measured by physical proximity
• Jackson (2001) generated a cultural diversity index by summing the absolute ranked
differences in Hofstede's (1980) study
~ 4 dimensions: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance (UA)
• In Jackson's study, Australia was used as a focal country, according to his cultural diversity
index, the USA, NZ, and Canada were the most similar cultural groups to Australia
• Familiarity is a concept that is frequently employed by tourism managers when considering
cultural distance and its influence on potential tourism
• Familiarity is the number of product related experiences or the amount of product related
information that a tourist has or will experience
• Usually broken down into several dimensions:
~ level of knowledge
~ amount of information
~ previous visitation
• Out of safety and security concerns, tourists tend to avoid uncertainty in unfamiliar
destinations
• People who are less familiar with a destination are more likely to seek more information
• The cultural distance construct has also been used to understand:
~overseas students' efforts towards adjustment
~ young overseas volunteers adjustment to unfamiliar destinations
• Cultural distance is a strong predictor of the level of culture shock that an individual
encounters during a cross-cultural transition experience
Cultural shock:
• Culture shock refers to the anxiety foreign travellers feel while trying to operate in a foreign
culture
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• This emotional disturbance has been recognised as one of the major difficulties encountered
by individuals entering a new culture
• Can be broken into 6 dimensions:
~ 1. the strain of adapting to the new culture due to the effort required to make the
necessary adaptions
~ 2. a sense of loss and feelings of deprivation
~ 3. the feeling of being rejected by and/or rejecting the members of the new culture
~ 4. confusion regarding one's role, expectations, values, feelings and self-identity
~ 5. realisation of the differences between the new and home culture
~ 6. feelings of impotence in a new culture due to not being able to cope with the new
environment
• An individual's level of culture shock relates to various factors:
~ the distance between the visitor's culture and the host culture
~ individual's knowledge of the host culture
~ language ability
~ amount of interaction with the host communities
~ acculturation strategies (e.g. adapting to your new culture - but keeping some of your
own culture intact)
Stages of culture shock:
• Oberg (1960) presented 4 different stages people experience as they adapt to a new culture
~ 1. honeymoon stage: people are excited about the new culture
~ 2. hostility stage: people start to express a negative attitude toward the host
community
~ 3. recovery stage: people start to accept and cope with the different culture
~ 4. adjustment stage: people accept the new culture and enjoy being in a new culture
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Cultural distance (tourism): hofstede paid special attention to the role of uncertainty of avoidance (ua): ~ consumers from national cultures of higher levels of ua prefer to use information sources that are related to the distribution channels (e. g. travel agent), instead of personal, destination marketing-related, or mass media sources. Jackson (2001) generated a cultural diversity index by summing the absolute ranked differences in hofstede"s (1980) study. ~ 4 dimensions: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance (ua) In jackson"s study, australia was used as a focal country, according to his cultural diversity index, the usa, nz, and canada were the most similar cultural groups to australia. Familiarity is a concept that is frequently employed by tourism managers when considering cultural distance and its influence on potential tourism. Familiarity is the number of product related experiences or the amount of product related information that a tourist has or will experience: usually broken down into several dimensions:
