Open Access Article Cultural Studies

Japanese and Norwegian Metapragmatic Perceptions of Contextual Factors in Intercultural Business Communication

Kristin Rygg (1)
1. Department of Professional and Intercultural Communication Norwegian School of Economics
https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v15i2.698

Article Sidebar

Issue
Vol. 15 No. 2 (2015)
Submitted
2013 July 21
Published
2015 July 10
Keywords:
    Intercultural business communication, Japanese, Norwegian, metapragmatics, contextual factors, directness, formality
Ask AI (Dimensions)
Download PDF

Abstract

National culture is frequently used as the dominant influential factor when intercultural business communication differences are explained. Leaning on theories about other contextual factors from the field of pragmatics, a dataset containing metapragmatic comments from interviews with forty-one Japanese and Norwegian business executives has been analysed in order to find what contextual factors are believed to influence Japanese and Norwegian communication with special attention to degree of directness and formality. The analysis indicates that the claim that the Japanese are less direct and more formal than Scandinavians (Norwegians) is highly dependent on contextual factors such as power, distance, the number of participants, message content, interactional/social roles, activity type, individual and organisation variation, language, the interlocutors’ expectations, and business tactics. National culture as the sole explanatory factor is only used to a limited extent. Thus, a one-sided focus on national culture as the main contextual factor in intercultural communication should be cautioned and alternative approaches found.

Full text article

Generated from XML file

References

Aoyama, K. (2002). Request strategies at a Japanese workplace. Texas Tech University Information Technology Personal Web Pages. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://webpages.acs.ttu.edu/kaoyama/aoyama10.pdf Google Scholar | WorldCat

Brown, P., & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness; Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Cardon, P. (2008). A critique of Hall’s Contexting Model: A meta-analysis of literature on intercultural business and technical communication. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 22, 399-428. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Chang, W. M., & Haugh, M. (2011). Strategic embarrassment and face threatening in business interactions. Journal of Pragmatics 43, 2948-2963. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Crystal, D. (2008). A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6:th edition). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Fant, L. M. (1989). Cultural mismatch in conversation: Spanish and Scandinavian communicative behaviour in negotiation settings. Hermes Journal of Linguistics 3. Århus: Århus School of Economics, 247-265. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Giles, H., & Mulac, A., & Bradac, J., & Johnson, P. (1987). Speech Accommodation Theory: The next decade and beyond. Communication Yearbook 10, 13-48. Newbury Park: Sage Publications. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Grenness, T. (2003). Scandinavian managers on Scandinavian management. International Journal of Value-Based Management 16, 9-21. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Gumperz, J. (1982). Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond Culture. New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Hall, E. T., & Hall, M. R. (1987). Hidden Differences. Doing Business with the Japanese, NY: Garden City Anchor Press Doubleday. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Hall, E. T., & Hall, M. R. (1990). Understanding Cultural Differences: Germans, French and Americans. London: Intercultural Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s Consequences; Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Google Scholar | WorldCat

House, R. J., & Hanges, P. J., & Javidan, M., & Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (Eds.) (2004). Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Jandt, F. E. (2012). An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Kobayashi, J., & Viswat, L. (2014). 3-D Negotiation in a business context. Negotiation between Japanese and Americans. Journal of Intercultural Communication, issue 34, March 2014. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Lewis, R. D. (2006). When Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures. Boston, Mass.: Nicholas Brealey. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Matsuda, Y. (2000). Oosutoraria no kyooiku sutairu [Australian teaching style]. Jinbun Ronshuu [Journal of Cultural Science], Kobe University of Commerce 35 (4), 429-451. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Miller, L. (2008). Negative assessments in Japanese-American workplace interaction. In: Spencer-Oatey, Helen (Ed.), Culturally Speaking. Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. London: Continuum. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Nakane, I. (2006). Silence and politeness in intercultural communication in university seminars. Journal of Pragmatics 38 (11), 1811-1835. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Paige, M. R., & Cohen, A. D., & Kappler, B., & Chi, J. C., & Lassegard, J. P. (2006). Maximizing Study Abroad. A Student’s Guide to Strategies for Language and Culture Learning and Use. MN: University of Minnesota. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Peltokorpi, V. (2007). Intercultural communication patterns and tactics: Nordic expatriates in Japan. International Business Review 16, 68-82. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Rygg, K. (2012). Direct and Indirect Communicative Styles. A Study in Sociopragmatics and Intercultural Communication. Based on Interview Discourses with Norwegian and Japanese Business Executives. PhD thesis, Bergen: University of Bergen. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Saito, J. (2011). Managing confrontational situations: Japanese male superiors’ intercultural styles in directive discourse in the workplace. Journal of Pragmatics 43, 1689-1706. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Smith, P. B., & Andersen, J. A., & Ekelund, B., & Graversen, G., & Ropo, A. (2003). In search of Nordic management styles. Scandinavian Journal of Management 19 (4), 491-507. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Spencer-Oatey, H. (Ed.) (2008). Culturally Speaking. Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. London: Continuum. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Spencer-Oatey, H. (2011). Conceptualising ‘the relational’ in pragmatics: Insights from metapragmatic emotion and (im)politeness comments. Journal of Pragmatics 43, 3565-3578. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Takano, S. (2005). Re-examining linguistic power: strategic uses of directives by professional Japanese women in positions of authority and leadership. Journal of Pragmatics 37, 633-666. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Ting-Toomey, S. (1999). Communicating Across Cultures. New York: The Guilford Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Varner, I., & Beamer, L. (2010). Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace. Boston: McGraw-Hill Education. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Warner-Søderholm, G. (2010). DBA Thesis. Henley Business School, Reading University. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Warner-Søderholm, G. (2012). But we’re not all Vikings! Intercultural Identity within a Nordic Context. Journal of Intercultural Communication 29, August 2012. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Yamada, H. (1997). Different Games Different Rules. Why Americans and Japanese Misunderstand Each Other. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Authors

Kristin Rygg
kristin.rygg@nhh.no (Primary Contact)
Author Biography

Kristin Rygg

Kristin Rygg is Associate Professor at the Norwegian School of Economics, department of Professional and Intercultural Communication. She specializes in Japanese language and business culture, intercultural communication, and linguistics with special attention to socio-pragmatics.

Rygg, K. (2015). Japanese and Norwegian Metapragmatic Perceptions of Contextual Factors in Intercultural Business Communication. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 15(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v15i2.698
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX

Copyright (c) 2015 Kristin Rygg

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This journal provides immediate and free open access to all its content and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means readers are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as proper attribution is given. This policy is consistent with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access. 

 

Article Details

How to Cite

Rygg, K. (2015). Japanese and Norwegian Metapragmatic Perceptions of Contextual Factors in Intercultural Business Communication. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 15(2), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v15i2.698

Most read articles by the same author(s)