Zoekresultaten

Oasistan: an intercultural role-playing simulation game to recognize cultural dimensions

Aim. Although cultural dimensions theory is a topical strand of quantitative cultural research, few intercultural simulation games use it. We present the design and review of the application of OASISTAN, an intercultural role-playing simulation game that is specifically based on cultural dimensions theory. Method. OASISTAN was first designed in 1999 for use in Master’s courses on cross-cultural management at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, attracting 20-23 year old students with a Bachelor degree in engineering and from various cultural backgrounds. Since its first design the game has been played approximately 45 times at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and three times at Harbin Institute of Technology in China in the years 2006-2008. We reviewed their experiences designing and facilitating OASISTAN since 1999. Results. The game has a no-tech role-play design and revolves around the geopolitically complex region of the Caspian Sea, specifically the fictional country of ‘Oasistan’. The game consists of students forming small teams of Oasistani, Western and non-Western public/private actors collaborating with each other to try and reach the common goal of oil exploration and production in this country. In total 15-30 students were involved. We found that OASISTAN allowed its players not only to intensely experience the difficulty and awkwardness of being confronted with cultural differences, but also to interpret and understand these differences through cultural dimensions. Students who played OASISTAN identified ten out of the 12 dimensions by Maleki and De Jong. The two dimensions that students were not able to identify are uncertainty avoidance and collaborativeness. Conclusion. OASISTAN shows how a game design field (i.e., intercultural simulation gaming) can be reinvigorated in light of new or updated scientific theories pertaining to the field’s subject matter (i.e., cultural dimensions). Several opportunities for future research are identified.

Business Process Management and Process Performance

Abstract Business Process Management (BPM) is an important discipline for organizations to manage their business processes. Research shows that higher BPM-maturity leads to better process performance. However, contextual factors such as culture seem to influence this relationship. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of national culture on the relationship between BPM-maturity and process performance. A multiple linear regression analysis is performed based on data from six different countries within Europe. Although the results show a significant relationship between BPM-maturity and process performance, no significant moderation effect of national culture has been found. The cultural dimension long term orientation shows a weak negative correlation with both BPM-maturity and process performance. Through a post-hoc moderation analysis on each dimension of BPM-maturity, we further find that long term orientation negatively moderates the relationship between process improvement and process performance. Three other moderation effects are also discovered. The results of this study contribute to insights into the role of culture in the field of BPM.

Intercultural Communication - An Interdisciplinary Approach

Euro-Asian Challenges for the knowledge economy

Often, simplified cultural explanations of a nation‟s economy are common sense and taken for granted. Amidst the debate about the propensity of European countries to compete with other prosperous knowledge economies, some consultants in The Netherlands postulate that the Dutch will never be able to match the requirements of the new economy because of their „polder-model‟, a term used for the Dutch model of gaining consensus in which employers, syndicates and the government meet with each other to make agreements about labour. This postulation was made against the general opinion of some years ago, when this same polder-model was perceived as the main cause of the economic success of the Dutch in the 1990s: “Consensus lies at the heart of the Dutch success where unemployment has been cut to half (2% in 2000) of what it was in 1997. The government, with support of employers and unions, has cut public spending as a share of GDP from 60 to 50%. It is the combination of a quiet and flexible labour market with a solid monetary and fiscal policy and introducing more dynamic markets which is the core of the polder model.”

Examining acculturation in three generations of Turkish-Dutch citizens

Despite decades of residence, Turkish-Dutch citizens, one of the largest immigrant groups in the Netherlands, continue to face significant disparities in health, social, and economic factors compared to native Dutch citizens. To better understand this persistent disparity, we examined the acculturation process of Turkish-Dutch citizens across three generations. Our study addressed two critical research gaps: (1) acculturation processes across three generations within a specific immigrant group, and (2) different acculturation domains across these generations. Data from 464 participants (232 Turkish-Dutch, 232 Dutch) show that acculturation varies significantly across generations (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) and domains (i.e., national identification, cultural values, language, and media use), with the second generation demonstrating the strongest resemblance to native Dutch citizens in most domains. These findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of acculturation processes and confirm the need for future research to consider generational differences and domain-specificity. The results have potential implications for policymakers and practitioners aiming to reduce disparities of Turkish-Dutch citizens with tailored policy and communication strategies.

Understanding perceived COVID-19 changes, collectivism, and social exclusion

This cross-cultural study examines the relationship between perceived COVID-19 changes due to the impacts on everyday life by the pandemic with social exclusion and across 32 cultures and their levels in collectivism. With data from the start of the first outbreak from March 2020 to June 2020 (N = 9245), multilevel analysis indicated that as individuals perceive greater daily life changes induced by the pandemic, they experience heightened levels of social exclusion, with this association being particularly pronounced in less collectivistic cultures. These findings underscore the importance of considering cultural context in understanding responses to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, with implications for culturally sensitive interventions aimed at promoting social inclusion across diverse cultural contexts.