Todd Plocher and Dr. Mark Hansen, Organizational Leadership and Strategy
Recognized cultural differences between nations influence the level of trust that one nation has for another. Trust has long been recognized as an important element in trading relationships between nations, businesses, and individuals. Trust is especially important in trading relationships involving food for reasons such as health concerns, regional and/or national taste issues, national security, and infrastructure differences. This study draws on the differences in Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimensions between Austria and the Ukraine in order to develop hypotheses with respect to the amount of trust that Austrians have toward Ukrainian food imports. Primary survey data was gathered in Austria during summer of 2007 in order to test these hypotheses. Secondary sources on trust and its developmental processes have also been examined in order to supplement the hypotheses and the analysis of the findings. The intended contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that some of the effects of cultural differences on food trading relationships can be anticipated as nations expand their networks of trading partners. Most importantly, it is hoped that policy makers and managers will be able to utilize these findings to better facilitate trade between nations with significant cultural differences.
In Hofstede’s Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations across Nations (1980), a framework of cultural dimensions was introduced that measured four dimensions of culture: Power Distance, Individualism, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Masculinity. These four dimensions are meant to capture the main elements of culture at a national level and may be used to help distinguish one national culture from another.
Having a large body of information about cultural characteristics on 74 different countries allowed us a means of comparing countries based on common measurements. The countries Austria and Ukraine were selected for comparison of cultural differences and their relative cross cultural relations. Areas of significant cultural divergence were then identified as areas of focus.
The initial challenge was developing hypotheses about how each cultural characteristic influenced the trust building process. This required a thorough understanding and clear definition of trust, which is a difficult and often ambiguous concept to define; however we chose to define trust as “a willingness to rely on another party and take action in circumstances where such action makes one vulnerable to the other party” (Doney, P.M., Cannon, J.P. & Mullen, M.R.1998). Using secondary research and postulations about Hofstede’s cultural characteristics and trust from a study by Doney, et al., hypotheses were created based on each of Austria’s rankings within the four cultural dimensions and how they were expected to effect the trust environment given Ukraine’s relative rankings.
The second challenge was the creation of the survey tool. We needed a survey that would provide data for us to measure both dependent and independent variables in our regression model; however, our resources were limited in terms of getting responses from people, so we needed to create as short and simple a survey as possible. We ended up with a 50 multiple-choice question survey that had three sections: (1) How Austrians build trust in general (2) How much Austrians trust Ukrainians (3) How Austrians perceive Ukrainians.
Upon completion of the survey and revision of the written study, materials were submitted to the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association for presentation at the 2007 conference in Parma, Italy. The study was accepted for presentation and nominated as a finalist for best paper award.
The final challenge was getting enough responses for the survey to deliver significant results. This involved a lot of creativity and determination. The sample was based on responses of college age people and methods of getting responses ranged from setting up a stand and advertising free ice cream for survey responses, to working with local professors and educational institutions as means of distributing the surveys. After three months the data collection process was over and ready for analysis.
While still working on data collection in Austria, the study was presented as a working paper at the IAMA conference in Parma, Italy. The presentation was based on a preliminary analysis of the available data, which showed positive relationships with our hypotheses and expected results; i.e., because Austrians were a more masculine culture they would value competence as a base for building trust and therefore Ukraine’s feminine culture would cause friction in the trust building process.
In the end, our analysis showed that there are indeed relationships between cultural characteristics and the level of trust that exists between two nations. Moreover, the knowledge of such relationships and their dynamics allows one to foresee possible areas of strength and weakness that will exist between cultures given existing cultural data. We are now working on getting the study published in the IAMA food and agribusiness journal. We feel confident that it will be accepted for publication and are satisfied with the results of the study.