• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.93-100
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• 2015

Purpose - The objective of this research is to investigate whether national culture influences consumers' service evaluations. The services industry is receiving increasing attention from academia and practitioners as its position grows in global markets. Standardization or localization is a traditional managerial decision in global business. As the boundaries of services expand across national borders, firms are required to decide whether to standardize services or adjust to local needs. Though it is imperative to reflect global perspectives in marketing theories, these perspectives are mostly based on Western conceptualization of the world. Through a comparison of consumer groups from two culturally remote countries, service quality evaluation mechanisms are examined based on similar stimuli. The study tries to expand service marketing perspectives across national borders. Research design, data, and methodology - Eastern and Western countries are known to be culturally distinct. One Eastern and one Western country were chosen: an Anglo-Saxon country (the U.S., England, and Australia) and South Korea. In Hofstede's cultural dimensions, the differences between the two are pronounced. The Anglo-Saxon based countries share many similarities. Samples of the same sites are targeted. Questionnaires using a service quality scale (SERVQUAL) and a customer satisfaction scale were distributed. Utilizing Hofstede's typology of culture, the service evaluation mechanisms of the respondents from the two groups are evaluated. Three hypotheses are proposed from the review of the literature. These are service evaluation habits, importance of service quality dimensions for the individualistic/collectivistic countries, and strong/weak uncertainty avoidance cultures. Consumers from the individualistic countries are considered to care about themselves and demand a higher level of responsiveness and assurance. On the other hand, consumers from high uncertainty avoidance cultures are assumed to rely more on tangible questions of service quality, as these are the only predictable service quality indicators. A t-test and regression analysis are applied to validate the constructs. Results - The respondents from the Anglo-Saxon countries are more generous on service evaluations than Koreans. Researchers have indicated that Americans tend to give higher service evolution scores than European, Mexican, and Korean counterparts. The tendency is the same here. The sample from Anglo-Saxon countries demonstrated higher service evaluation scores on every dimension of SERVQUAL. For the second hypothesis, the respondents from the collectivistic culture rely less on core service dimensions (assurance and responsiveness) due to their tendency to place more value on group harmony than individual interest. However, the third hypothesis was not validated. Conclusions - The study attempted to expand the scope of service marketing to reflect cross-national perspectives. Service quality is known to have a strong influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty behavior. However, this research demonstrated that individuals from different cultural territories respond heterogeneously to the same stimuli. Scholars argue that national cultures are main factors in such deviated behavior. Scholars and global managers should be aware of differences in consumer value judgment mechanisms such as satisfaction, expectations, and perceptions.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.107-116
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• 2023

Concerns related to diversity are important throughout society, especially in the context of expansive globalization. In education, diversity-related issues require careful consideration to ensure social groups that have historically been marginalized benefit from educational opportunities. In this study, we investigated a case from within the United States aimed at addressing diversity issues in schools and discuss the implications of this study in relation to diversity issues in Korea. More specifically, we examined the features of the professional development program designed and implemented by the Smithsonian Science Education Center, as well as survey results from teachers who participated between 2019-2020. Our findings revealed that the program provided participants context specific experiences, space and time to develop an in-depth understandings of the causes of diversity issues and supports to attend to the various perspectives needed to set specific goals and action plans and to examine, refine, and revise their plans. Further, features of the professional development program had meaningful effects on participants' learning experience as they were supported to identify useful proposals and take action to solve their specific diversity issues. The findings from this study offer important implications for designing professional development and organizing supports to address varied current and future diversity issues in Korean school contexts.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.159-184
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• 1988

Race and ethnicity are important factors which influence the elderIy's residential adjustment behaviors, although it is unclear whether this reflects influences unrelated to race and ethnlcity. Culturally, the norm of family supportoften obseved among various minority ethnic groups is likely to provide flexible family suppof for the elderIy. Economically, the life-long hardship ofminority groups is likely to force them to maintain extended family living arrangements simply to reduce expenses via economies of scale. Thecontroversy about the economic need versus the cultural prescription forextended living arrangements remains unresoIved because it fails to articulatethe meaning of family supports among many disadvantaged groups.This study aims to test previous economic and cultural arguments, byexamining ethnic differences iu the eiderIy's responsiveness to their health andeconomic problems. Two hypotheses about cultural influences on the elderly's resideutiai adjustment are examined. First, do elderly minorities receive famiiysupporis for longer periods when they are poor if economic and health status\ulcorner Second, do elderiy minorities receive family supports more often when their health status declines\ulcorner Using the Longitudinal Suvey on Aging from 1984 to 1990. this study employs Markovian multi-state life tables, and discrete and contonuous competing hazard analyses for the transition in living arrangements. The main results provide substantial evidence against the cultural resource thesis. Elderly minorities experience more frequent transition between living alone and living with relatives than white elderly persons when group differences in the extent of mortality and insititutionalization are controlled. The shorter timf of living alone among elderly monorities stems from their greater likehood of joining relatives as well as greater mortality and attrition rates than elderly whites. Coresidence of elderly whites with their relatives is more likely to occur in response to their needs for health care than of elderly whites. it implies that instability. not flezibility. characterrizes elderly minorities living arrangements.