Understanding the Impact of Cross Cultural Business: Protestant vs Confucian Ethic

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The term or expression 'culture' is frequently used loosely in everyday language to explain a number of different concepts. The term is sometimes used to explain concepts such as national culture or organisational culture, as well as arts and culture (Dahl, 2004). Definition of culture crosses many disciplines including history, linguistics, literature, anthropology, sociology, psychology and, more recently, economics, business, management science, information systems, technology, and management information systems. Each field has its own approaches to and methodology for dealing with the question of culture (Srite, Straub, Loch, Evaristo, & Karahanna, 2004). Definitions and analyses of the culture concept have been numerous since at least 1952 when Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) reported the presence of more than 164 definitions. Definitions vary from the general to the specific, depending on the discipline and the level of analysis. The term "culture" is a broad one, and usually includes things such as norms, beliefs, values, traditions, language, clothing, or art of a certain group of people. Cultures are by no means simple to understand and interpret. The concept of culture can be applied to social systems at different levels, not only at the national level but also at the sub-cultural levels of ethnic group, region, gender, generation, religion, profession, and organisation. Culture is the substance that holds and binds groups together. Hofstede (1991) suggests that there is no such thing as human nature independent of culture. What, then, are the common features in definitions of culture? Most of the major definitions refer to culture as a set of shared values, beliefs, and practices. These definitions embody specific behavioural, motivational, and other psychological aspects depending on the research emphasis. Generally, anthropologists tend to define
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