Min-Sun Kim

Relationships Among Attitudes, Behavioral Intentions, and Behavior A Meta-Analysis of Past Research, Part 2

In a recent meta-analysis of attitude-behavior research, the authors of this article found a strong overall attitude-behavior relationship (r = .79) when methodological artifacts are eliminated. The trend in A-B research, however, is to conceive of behavioral intentions (BI) as a mediator between attitudes (A) and behaviors (B). In this study, it is hypothesized that (a) A-BI correlation would be higher than A-B correlation, (b) BI-B correlation would be higher than A-B correlation, (c) A-BI correlation would be higher than BI-B correlation, (d) the variation in BI-B correlations would be greater than that of A-BI, and (e) attitudinal relevance would affect the magnitude of the A-BI correlation. A series of meta-analyses, integrating the findings of 92 A-BI correlations (N = 16,785) and 47 B-BI correlations (N = 10,203) that deal with 19 specified categories and a variety of miscellaneous topics was performed. The results were consistent with all five hypotheses. The theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.

A cross‐cultural comparison of implicit theories of requesting

The primary aim of this paper is to identify cross‐cultural similarities and differences in peoples implicit theories of requesting. Implicit theories are conceptualized as containing information about five interactive constraints that influence choices about requests: (1) Clarity, (2) Perceived imposition, (3) Consideration for the others feelings, (4) Risking disapproval for self, and (5) Effectiveness. The paper compares how these five constraints are perceived and rated across cultures and traces possible links between the constraints and perceptions of the likelihood of using various request strategies. Participants are a total of 595 undergraduates: 296 Koreans (native speakers of Korean) and 299 Americans (native American English speakers) studying in their respective countries. After reading a hypothetical request situation, participants evaluated request strategies along the five constraint dimensions as well as for likelihood of use. The rank‐ordering of the request strategies along the dimens...

A test of a cultural model of patients' motivation for verbal communication in patient‐doctor interactions

In theory, two‐way communication between patient and physician is desirable. However, there is a dearth of research that has explored the effects of patients’ culture and cultural orientations on patients’ ability to actively participate in the medical encounter. The purpose of this paper was to test the effects of patients’ culture and cultural orientations on assertiveness and communication apprehension during medical interviews. According to the proposed model, culture and self‐construals are causal antecedents to patients’ beliefs about verbal communicativeness. Our model suggests that cultural values (self‐construals) are determined in part by culture. In regards to the mediation process, the model proposes that the greater the patients construal‐of‐self as independent, the more positive her/his beliefs regarding patient participation, which, in turn, leads to a higher degree of motivations to communicate verbally with a physician. Our model also suggests that the greater the patients construal‐of‐self as interdependent, the more negative her/his beliefs regarding patient participation, which, in turn, leads to a higher degree of communication avoidance and apprehension during medical interview. The data were partially consistent with the theoretical predictions made. The implications of the model for theory and practice are discussed.

Independent and interdependent construals of self: Explaining cultural patterns of interpersonal communication in multi‐cultural organizational settings

This manuscript aims to explain the cultural interaction patterns in multi‐cultural organizational settings. It focuses on the dimensions of independent and interdependent construals of self, the individual‐level equivalent of individualism and collectivism. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between ones orientation toward independent and interdependent self‐construals and the perceived importance of three interactive constraints in “bind”; organizational communication situations. After being presented with three “bind”; communication situations in an organizational setting, participants rated the perceived importance of each constraint in relation to each situation, then completed scales designed to measure the independent and interdependent dimensions of self‐construals. The results indicated that self‐construals are systematically related to ones perceptions of the importance of clarity, efforts to avoid hurting the others feelings and avoidance of negative evaluation by the hearer. In a...

Cultural Influences on the Preferred Forms of Requesting and Re-Requesting.

Most studies of cross‐cultural requesting strategy have been concerned with initial message production only; rarely have they addressed the issue of what happens when the listener rejects the requestors initial request and fails to comply. Furthermore, the cultural differences in requesting styles have not been examined in terms of individual‐level analysis. The purpose of this project was to describe and compare the preferred linguistic forms for the first‐ and second‐attempt requests by people of different cultural orientations. The results revealed that the higher ones interdependence, the higher the effectiveness and likelihood of using hint strategies in the first‐ as well as for the second‐attempt request. Independence, however, was positively associated with the likelihood of use ratings of ‘direct statement strategies for both first‐ and second‐attempt requests. Finally, when confronted with noncompliance, participants in general increased their likelihood of use ratings for more direct requesti...

Intercultural Communication in the Global Village: How to Understand “The Other”

Intercultural communication scholarship is poised to be a powerful force in the communication field as well as social sciences in general. In this paper, we focus on four main areas which we hope will spur creative academic inquiry in the future. More productive efforts will move beyond the ethnocentrism that permeates current communication research and will entail a thorough redefinition of personhood. Future work will move beyond discussions of how cultures assimilate to include how other cultures interact in a host culture to sustain multiple cultural identities. Additionally, research will move beyond examining linguistic and cultural differences, to also recognize the social-action nature of communication. Finally, future endeavors will move beyond the study of culture-typed identities and question the very notion of cultural boundaries. We predict that the inevitable challenges posed by multiculturalism will allow intercultural communication studies to play a more central role as an interdisciplinary “clearing-house” within the social sciences.

Incorporating Culture into the Theory of Planned Behavior: Predicting Smoking Cessation Intentions among College Students

The validity of the theory of planned behavior is quite well established in the literature. Thus, the goals of this study were to apply the theory of planned behavior to college student smokers and to test the addition of self-construals to the theory of planned behavior (specifically in predicting perceived behavioral control and subjective norms). Current college-aged smokers were surveyed on the key predictive components of the theory of planned behavior and their self-construals. In support of the theory of planned behavior, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms were significantly related to intention to quit smoking. However, attitude toward quitting smoking failed to significantly predict intention to quit smoking. A good fit was found for a modified theory of planned behavior model with self-construals. Interdependent self-construal was linked to subjective norms, which predicted intention to quit smoking. Independent self-construal was linked to perceived behavioral control, which predicted intention to quit smoking. Further research delineating other cultural antecedents of variables identified in the theory of planned behavior is required, as well as investigation into the potential of the modified model used in this study as a culturally sensitive framework for intervention.

The Four Cultures of Cultural Research

One of the most rewarding endeavors in any discipline is to understand the nature of knowledge and the process by which it is acquired within the discipline. Culture is a medium through which we experience the world. Cultures tell their members how to behave, and tell their scholars how to think about the causes of behavior, or even whether to think about causes of behavior (Caprara & Cervone, 2000). The social scientist, just like everyone else, is steeped in the values and ways of thinking of her society. Hence, the behavior that attracts attention, the explanations that are offered as theories, and the means utilized to test the theories are necessarily culture bound (Tedeschi, 1988). One would not expect much challenge to the assertion that communication theories today are imbued with the ideologies associated with North American culture (Kim, 2002). These issues are now recognized as central, fielddefining problems of communication theory. Science is traditionally understood as a search for objective truths. Such truths will be ‘‘ahistorical,’’ ‘‘pancultural,’’ and ‘‘objective’’ (Cappella, 1991). This view of science is no longer tenable. As William Broad and Nicholas Wade, in their book, Betrayers of the Truth (1982), express it, the claim of science to represent a reliable body of knowledge rests four-square on the assumption of objectivity, on the assertion that scientists are not influenced by their prejudices or are at least protected from them by the methodology of their discipline. According to Broad and Wade, however, science is not an idealized interrogation of nature by dedicated servants of truth, but a human process governed by the ordinary human passions of ambition, pride and greed. A more extreme view is expressed by Kenneth B. Clark, past president of the American Psychological Association, who noted that

The Relationship Between Self-Construals, Perceived Face Threats, and Facework During the Pursuit of Influence Goals

Abstract The purpose of our study was to understand how self-construals affect the intensity of perceived face threats and the subsequent deployment of coping strategies within compliance-seeking situations involving three different influence goals (giving advice, asking favors, or enforcing unfulfilled obligations). Five-hundred and seventy-six students from four different ethnic backgrounds (African American, Asian American, Latino, and European American) at six universities in the U.S.A. indicated their levels of independence and interdependence. Then they wrote what they would say to a same-sex friend in a hypothetical advice, favor, or obligation scenario, and whether they would persist in the face of initial resistance from their friend. They also evaluated the degree to which seeking compliance would threaten the targets negative face, the targets positive face, their own negative face, and their own positive face. Written messages were coded for how many reasons participants provided for seeking compliance. As levels of interdependence increased and independence decreased, participants perceived a larger total threat to both the targets face as well as ones own face when pursuing influence goals. Furthermore, people provided more reasons for compliance as well as persisted more after initial refusal as the level of independence increased. Implications for future research on culture, influence goals, and face are discussed.

A process model of request tactic evaluation

The primary aim of this article is to test a process model of request tactic evaluation in two different cultures. It examines possible links between the perceptions of interactive constraints (concern for clarity, concern for avoiding hurting the hearers feelings, concern for nonimposition, concern for avoiding negative evaluation by the hearer, concern for effectiveness), and likelihood of using specific tactics. Theory and research drawn from the areas of communication competence, conversational goals, and requesting behaviors were used to formulate a causal model of request tactic evaluation. Data to test the proposed model were drawn from undergraduates studying in Korea (N = 296) and the U.S. (TV = 299). The results indicated that in both cultures, perceived effectiveness functions as a mediating variable between the four interactive constraints and perceived likelihood of use. Among Korean participants, two social‐relational constraints (concern for avoiding negative evaluation by the hearer, and ...