Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and Tourist Behaviors: A Review and Conceptual Framework

This paper develops a conceptual framework for analyzing tourist behaviors and identifies three categories of behaviors based on the applications of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and the processes underlying these influences. Our findings indicate that tourist behaviors in the Before-Travel, During-Travel, and After-Travel stages differ significantly in terms of the applicability and process through which Hofstede’s cultural dimensions operate. The results of our analysis suggest three categories of behavioral patterns, namely, “Social Interaction Driven Travel Behaviors,” (SID), “Risk Tendencies Driven Travel Behaviors,” (RTD), and “Collectivity Orientation Driven Travel Behaviors,” (COD). SID relates to the evaluation of travel experiences in the after-travel stage. The dominant cultural values associated with SID are Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity, and Power Distance. These three values act either independently or in pairs or all three together. RTD relates to the consumption of travel products in the during-travel stage, and COD relates to the formation of travel preferences in the before-travel stage. Individualism/Collectivism and Uncertainty Avoidance are associated with both RTD and COD. However, the underlying processes differ for these two categories of travel behaviors. In addition to their independent influences on travel behaviors, these two values associated with RTD and COD also have an interactive effect. For RTD, the Uncertainty Avoidance motive determines the Individualism/Collectivism outcome, whereas, for COD, the opposite is true: the Individualism/Collectivism determines the Uncertainty Avoidance outcome. The paper also discusses the application of a fifth cultural dimension, Confucian Dynamism (short-term versus long-term orientation), for the study of tourists’ behaviors.Hofstede’s cultural dimensions; tourist behaviors; traveller’s behaviors; Confucian Dynamism

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Tourist Behaviors: A Review and Conceptual Framework

This paper develops a conceptual framework for analyzing tourist behaviors and identifies three categories of behaviors based on the applications of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and the processes underlying these influences. Our findings indicate that tourist behaviors in the Before-Travel During-Travel and After-Travel stages differ significantly in terms of the applicability and process through which Hofstede's cultural dimensions operate. The results of our analysis suggest three categories of behavioral patterns namely "Social Interaction Driven Travel Behaviors" (SID) "Risk Tendencies Driven Travel Behaviors" (RTD) and "Collectivity Orientation Driven Travel Behaviors" (COD). SID relates to the evaluation of travel experiences in the after-travel stage. The dominant cultural values associated with SID are Individualism/CollectivismMasculinity/Femininity and Power Distance. These three values act either independently or in pairs or all three together. RTD relates to the consumption of travel products in the during-travel stage and COD relates to the formation of travel preferences in the before-travel stage. Individualism/Collectivism and Uncertainty Avoidance are associated with both RTD and COD. However the underlying processes differ for these two categories of travel behaviors. In addition to their independent influences on travel behaviors these two values associated with RTD and COD also have an interactive effect. For RTD the Uncertainty Avoidance motive determines the Individualism/Collectivism outcome whereas for COD the opposite is true: the Individualism/Collectivism determines the Uncertainty Avoidance outcome. The paper also discusses the application of a fifth cultural dimension Confucian Dynamism (short-term versus long-term orientation) for the study of tourists' behaviors.En este artículo se desarrolla un marco conceptual de análisis de patrones de conducta del turista e identifica tres categorías de conducta basadas en las aplicaciones de dimensiones culturales de Hofstede y los procesos subyacentes de estas influencias. Nuestros resultados indican que las conductas del turista en los estadios de Antes-del-viaje Durante-el-viaje y Después-del-viaje difieren significativamente en términos de la aplicabilidad y el procesos a través de los cuales las dimensiones culturales de Hofstede operan. El resultado de nuestro análisis sugiere tres categorías de patrones de conducta a saber “Conductas de Viaje Dirigidas a Interacción Social” (SID por sus siglas en inglés) “Conductas de Viaje Dirigidas a Tendencias de Riesgo” (RTD por sus siglas en inglés) y “Conductas de Viaje Dirigidas a la Orientación Colectiva” (COD por sus siglas en inglés). SID se relaciona con la evaluación de las experiencias de viaje en la fase posterior al viaje. Los valores culturales dominantes asociados con SID son Individualismo-Colectivismo Masculinidad-Feminidad y Distancia del Poder. Cada uno de estos tres valores actúa independientemente en pareja o los tres a la vez. RTD se relaciona con el consumo de productos de viaje en la fase de la travesía en sí y COD se relaciona con la formación de las preferencias de viaje en la fase previa al viaje. Las categorías Individualismo-Colectivismo e Incertidumbre-Prevención están asociadas tanto con RTD como con COD. Sin embargo los procesos subyacentes difieren de estas dos categorías de conductas de viaje. Además de las influencias independientes de conductas de viaje estos dos valores asociados con RTD y COD también ejercen efectos interactivos. Para RTD la motivación Incertidumbre-Prevención determina el resultado de Individualismo- Colectivismo mientras que para COD sucede lo contrario; es decir el motivo Individualismo-Colectivismo determina el resultado de Incertidumbre-Prevención. El artículo también argumenta la aplicación de una quinta dimensión cultural Dinamismo Confuciano (orientación a corto plazo frente a orientación a largo plazo) del estudio de las conductas de los turistas

How Super Are Video Supers? A Test Of Communication Efficacy

Interest in the role of video supers-superimposed video presentations of verbal information-has grouwn among consumers, advertisers, the television networks, and public policymakers, as supers have become prevalent in television commercials. The authors empirically address the communications efficacy of video supers in a sample of 200 different commercials that contain video supers Drawing on a theory of modality effects, the authors examine the comprehensive of video supers relative to commercial content. The authors develop hypotheses and analyze structural determinants of video super comprehension, such as presence of a voice-over, rate of presentation, and presentation size. The findings are supportive of the predictions and suggest that viewer opportunity to process information in a video super might be a critical element in any strategy to increase viewer comprehension rates

A cluster analysis of tourist attractions in Spain: Natural and cultural traits and implications for global tourism

Purpose - Natural and cultural tourism are important motivators for international tourism. Spain has impressive tourist attractions that are outstanding on the natural and cultural tourism dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to identify traits of the most attractive destinations in Spain and to understand the relative importance of natural, cultural, and dual (natural and cultural) attractions to target consumers. Design/methodology/approach - The authors compare the level of tourism in the 17 major regions of Spain and identify the key natural, cultural, and dual attractions using a two-step cluster analysis to ascertain the relative importance of the three types of attractions. Findings - The findings of the cluster analysis suggest that natural attractions had the highest importance, followed by dual attractions, with cultural attractions having the lowest importance in affecting the level of tourism in a region. The study identified four categories of regions resulting from “high vs low” total number of attractions by “high vs low” levels of tourism (operationalized via the number of tourist-nights). The regions with high levels of tourism were either located in the bodies of water (a group of islands) or on ocean/sea(s) surrounding Spain. The study suggests placing greater emphasis on promoting cultural attractions in Spain. Practical implications - The findings suggest that there is a need to put more emphasis on promoting the cultural attractions in Spain. Spain is a diverse country with huge potential for tourism from people all over the world, due to its diverse geography and rich history. Originality/value - To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes 17 regions of Spain in relation to their tourism characteristics, identifying attractions that are not sufficiently leveraged, and suggesting strategies for identifying opportunities for the tourism industry in Spain

Improving dermatology classifiers across populations using images generated by large diffusion models

Dermatological classification algorithms developed without sufficiently diverse training data may generalize poorly across populations. While intentional data collection and annotation offer the best means for improving representation, new computational approaches for generating training data may also aid in mitigating the effects of sampling bias. In this paper, we show that DALL$\cdot$E 2, a large-scale text-to-image diffusion model, can produce photorealistic images of skin disease across skin types. Using the Fitzpatrick 17k dataset as a benchmark, we demonstrate that augmenting training data with DALL$\cdot$E 2-generated synthetic images improves classification of skin disease overall and especially for underrepresented groups.Comment: NeurIPS 2022 Workshop on Synthetic Data for Empowering ML Researc

A comprehensive model integrating UTAUT and ECM with espoused cultural values for investigating users' continuance intention of using mobile payment

Zhao, Y., & Bacao, F. (2020). A comprehensive model integrating UTAUT and ECM with espoused cultural values for investigating users' continuance intention of using mobile payment. In Proceedings of the 2020 3rd International Conference on Big Data Technologies, ICBDT 2020 (pp. 155-161). (ACM International Conference Proceeding Series). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3422713.3422754Mobile payment (M-payment), as an emerging financial transaction method has been widely adopted in various contexts. In order to investigate the significance factors and espoused cultural moderators impacting users' M-payment continuance usage intention in China, this study proposes a comprehensive model integrating Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Expectancy Confirmation Model (ECM) with trust variable espoused by Hofstede's cultural value to investigate factors affecting users' continuance intention of using M-payment. In addition, based on the proposed model, researchers can more accurately explain user' behavior not only corresponding technological perceptions, but also mental expectations and espoused cultural values for various technology continuance acceptance under different cultural background.publishersversionpublishe

Unlimited multistability in multisite phosphorylation systems

Reversible phosphorylation on serine, threonine and tyrosine is the most widely studied posttranslational modification of proteins (1, 2). The number of phosphorylated sites on a protein (n) shows a significant increase from prokaryotes, with n less than or equal to 7 sites, to eukaryotes, with examples having n greater than or equal to 150 sites (3). Multisite phosphorylation has many roles (4, 5) and site conservation indicates that increasing numbers of sites cannot be due merely to promiscuous phosphorylation. A substrate with n sites has an exponential number (2^n) of phospho-forms and individual phospho-forms may have distinct biological effects (6, 7). The distribution of these phospho-forms and how this distribution is regulated have remained unknown. Here we show that, when kinase and phosphatase act in opposition on a multisite substrate, the system can exhibit distinct stable phospho-form distributions at steady state and that the maximum number of such distributions increases with n. Whereas some stable distributions are focused on a single phospho-form, others are more diffuse, giving the phospho-proteome the potential to behave as a fluid regulatory network able to encode information and flexibly respond to varying demands. Such plasticity may underlie complex information processing in eukaryotic cells (8) and suggests a functional advantage in having many sites. Our results follow from the unusual geometry of the steady-state phospho-form concentrations, which we show to constitute a rational algebraic curve, irrespective of n. We thereby reduce the complexity of calculating steady states from simulating 3 times 2^n differential equations to solving two algebraic equations, while treating parameters symbolically. We anticipate that these methods can be extended to systems with multiple substrates and multiple enzymes catalysing different modifications, as found in posttranslational modification 'codes' (9) such as the histone code (10, 11). Whereas simulations struggle with exponentially increasing molecular complexity, mathematical methods of the kind developed here can provide a new language in which to articulate the principles of cellular information processing (12)

Differential roles of push and pull factors on escape for travel: Personal and social identity perspectives

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd This study examines the effects of push and pull motivations linked to an individual\u27s personal and social identities as key antecedents to escape for travel. In terms of push factors, escape for travel is driven from a personal identity perspective by the need for evaluation of self and regression and from a social identity perspective by the need for social interaction but not enhancement of kinship. Cultural motives that reflect personal identity positively influence escape for travel than destination pull factors linked to social identity. Overall, the study contributes to the existing knowledge on push and pull tourist motivations

Inclusion of diverse populations in genomic research and health services: Genomix workshop report

Clinical genetic services and genomic research are rapidly developing but, historically, those with the greatest need are the least to benefit from these advances. This encompasses low-income communities, including those from ethnic minority and indigenous backgrounds. The “Genomix” workshop at the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) 2016 conference offered the opportunity to consider possible solutions for these disparities from the experiences of researchers and genetic healthcare practitioners working with underserved communities in the USA, UK and Australia. Evident from the workshop and corresponding literature is that a multi-faceted approach to engaging communities is essential. This needs to be complemented by redesigning healthcare systems that improves access and raises awareness of the needs of these communities. At a more strategic level, institutions involved in funding research, commissioning and redesigning genetic health services also need to be adequately represented by underserved populations with intrinsic mechanisms to disseminate good practice and monitor participation. Further, as genomic medicine is mainstreamed, educational programmes developed for clinicians should incorporate approaches to alleviate disparities in accessing genetic services and improving study participation

Tscale: A new multidimensional scaling procedure based on tversky's contrast model

Tversky's contrast model of proximity was initially formulated to account for the observed violations of the metric axioms often found in empirical proximity data. This set-theoretic approach models the similarity/dissimilarity between any two stimuli as a linear (or ratio) combination of measures of the common and distinctive features of the two stimuli. This paper proposes a new spatial multidimensional scaling (MDS) procedure called TSCALE based on Tversky's linear contrast model for the analysis of generally asymmetric three-way, two-mode proximity data. We first review the basic structure of Tversky's conceptual contrast model. A brief discussion of alternative MDS procedures to accommodate asymmetric proximity data is also provided. The technical details of the TSCALE procedure are given, as well as the program options that allow for the estimation of a number of different model specifications. The nonlinear estimation framework is discussed, as are the results of a modest Monte Carlo analysis. Two consumer psychology applications are provided: one involving perceptions of fast-food restaurants and the other regarding perceptions of various competitive brands of cola soft-drinks. Finally, other applications and directions for future research are mentioned.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45750/1/11336_2005_Article_BF02294658.pd