The moderating effects of age and gender on the relationship between culture and uncertainty avoidance:Evidence from Europe and Asia

This study investigates uncertainty avoidance of ethnic groups differentiated by age and gender. A total of 5,126 respondents, including 11 different ethnic groups (from Europe and Asia), participated in an online survey. The findings support that women were more uncertainty avoidant than men in five ethnic groups, namely, Bulgarian, French, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese. The opposite was seen for the Spanish and Vietnamese ethnic groups in which the women were more uncertainty tolerant. These gender differences were independent of age. The study points out the importance of self-categorization as an indicator of ethnic groups. This type of ethnic identification is related to the commonly used cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance.Journal information: https://www.abem.ca/journa

Colours of emotion, trust, and exclusivity:A cross-cultural study

Colours influence the way people feel, think, and behave. The globalising (internet) economy induces traditions and beliefs to be transferred from one society to another. Nevertheless, although people may now act more globally, they also still act locally within their cultural groups. This points to the possibility of continuous change in universal and culturally specific colour associations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate variations in colour associations across cultures. To get a better grip on the global impact on the cultural dynamics, cultural groups are distinguished through self-identified membership, instead of through country and nationality demographics. Specifically, a comparison is made with the colours for trust, emotion, and exclusivity between 1,218 individuals from four cultural (ethnic) groups: Dutch; French; Greek; and Russian. Participating in an online survey, they indicated their associations for colour variations of blue, red, yellow, and black. The results confirm general, universal colour associations. Some distinctive independent cultural specifics through varying colour brightness may possibly render the association more or less strong for the colour–attitude relationships of red for emotion and blue for trust. Pure yellow was a noticeable colour associated with emotion by the Russian group

The cross-cultural impact of mobile payment technology:Fingerprint scanning vs. QR-code scanning

Mobile payment is becoming increasingly popular among consumers, with convenient and more or less risky means of identification and authentication. This study aims to investigate the attitudinal and behavioural preferences for two mobile payment application technologies, namely fingerprint scanning and QR-code scanning. Specifically, a comparison is made of consumers from cultures with different levels of uncertainty avoidance. For this purpose, Asian and European consumers from China (N = 70) and the Netherlands (N = 110) participated in an online survey. The findings revealed that both cultural groups regularly used mobile payment technology, whereby they clearly preferred the fingerprint scan technology over QR-code scan technology. Some culture-related differences were found. The Chinese group had higher trust in fingerprint scan technology compared to the Dutch group. In addition to this, the Chinese had higher hedonic and utilitarian attitudes towards QR-scan technology compared to the Dutch

The impact of product tagging on trust and purchase intention:A cross-cultural perspective in visual e-commerce

The present study aims to examine the opportunity of in-app shopping, more specifically, analyzing the influence of product tags and cultural background on consumers’ trust and purchase intention. For this purpose, a comparison was made between European and South American female consumers from two cultures: the Netherlands and Paraguay. A total of 225 subjects, 143 from the Dutch background and 82 from the Paraguayan background, participated in an experimental survey where they judged an Instagram product page (product tag: present vs. absent). The analysis of the results revealed that the Paraguayans had higher purchase intentions than the Dutch. Additionally, the presence of a text appeal in the visual product presentation had a direct positive effect on consumers’ purchase intentions and perceived trust in the shopping environment, for both the Dutch and Paraguayan cultural groups. In virtual web shops, perceiving trust is a decisive point for purchase intentions. This study contributes to the fast-growing investigations on social media effectiveness and visual marketing as an informative and persuasive tool. The findings pinpoint the synergic value of visual and textual cues of product presentation online in the atmospheric trust of in-app shopping. O presente estudo tem como objetivo examinar a oportunidade de compras no aplicativo, mais especificamente, analisando a influência das marcas do produto e da formação cultural na confiança e na intenção de compra dos consumidores. Para tanto, foi feita uma comparação entre consumidoras europeias e sul-americanas de duas culturas: Holanda e Paraguai. Um total de 225 indivíduos, 143 de origem holandesa e 82 de origem paraguaia, participaram de uma pesquisa experimental em que julgaram uma página de produto do Instagram (tag do produto: presente vs. ausente). A análise dos resultados revelou que os paraguaios tinham maior intenção de compra do que os holandeses. Além disso, a presença de um apelo de texto na apresentação visual do produto teve um efeito positivo direto nas intenções de compra dos consumidores e na percepção de confiança no ambiente de compras, tanto para grupos culturais holandeses quanto paraguaios. Nas lojas virtuais da Web, perceber a confiança é um ponto decisivo para as intenções de compra. Este estudo contribui para o rápido crescimento das investigações sobre a eficácia da mídia social e o marketing visual como uma ferramenta informativa e persuasiva. As descobertas apontam o valor sinérgico das dicas visuais e textuais da apresentação do produto online na confiança atmosférica das compras no aplicativo

Establishing language skills in Europe:The inspirations on Chinese foreign language study

In order to promote transparency and coherence for language learning, teaching and especially estimate, Council of Europe(CoE）developed the Common European Framework of Reference(CEFR) and European Language Portfolio(ELP).The CEFR and the ELP are one of the most influential documents of the last decade in the fields of language learning and teaching in Europe and elsewhere. It is therefore also very important for the contacts between Europe and China, in educational contact as well as in professional contexts