Chan, Stanley Kam-Chung, Bond, Michael Harris, 1944-, Spencer-Oatey, Helen, 1952- and Rojo-Laurilla, Mildred A.. (2004) Culture and rapport promotion in service encounters: protecting the ties that bind. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, Vol.14 (No.2). pp. 245-260. ISSN 0957-6851

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Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating possible cultural effects on the perceived importance of interactional concerns in service encounters. Individual values were examined to establish an explanatory framework for any effects that might emerge. Hong Kong Chinese and Filipinos participated in the present study by rating the importance of 12 interactional concerns in five hypothetical scenarios involving service provision. “Rapport promotion” was the only consistent factor of interactional concerns to emerge from the five scenarios in each of the two cultural groups. The dimensions of individual values, labeled “Conservation” and “Self-Transcendence” by Schwartz (1992), significantly predicted a respondent’s level of rapport promotion across all scenarios, with self-transcendence partially unpackaging the cultural difference that emerged in one of the service scenarios. We use these results to support a model of communication in service provision that predicts communication concerns as arising from cultural socialization for personal characteristics and situational features of the encounter, leading to the petitioner’s being more dependent on the good will of the service provider.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Centre for Applied Linguistics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Social interaction -- Research, Social psychology -- Research, Intercultural communication, Culture -- Research
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
Publisher:	John Benjamins Publishing Co.
ISSN:	0957-6851
Date:	2004
Volume:	Vol.14
Number:	No.2
Page Range:	pp. 245-260
Identification Number:	10.1075/japc.14.2.04cha
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
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URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/2683

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