Business Communication Quarterly

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wong, I. F. H.
Right arrow Articles by Phooi-Ching, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 1, 9-22 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/108056990006300102
© 2000 Association for Business Communication

Chinese Cultural Values and Performance at Job Interviews: a Singapore Perspective

Irene F. H. Wong

Nanyang Technological University, Republic of Singapore

Lai Phooi-Ching

Nanyang Technological University, Republic of Singapore

In a country like Singapore, which is rated high in power distance and low in indi vidualism (using Hofstede's dimensions of national cultures), interviews for entry- level positions in multinational corporations (MNCs) may reveal subtle clashes in culture. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed transcripts of job interviews involving nine English-speaking applicants from Chinese backgrounds and two experienced interviewers from Anglo-American MNCs in Singapore. Our assumption was that a person's cultural background and upbringing influence his or her perform ance at job interviews. The findings reveal that Chinese applicants tend to defer to the interviewer (i.e. superior) and focus on the group or family, besides being averse to self-assertion. Hence, applicants from a Chinese background may be dis advantaged when being interviewed for jobs with MNCs which are heavily influ enced by Anglo-American culture.

Key Words: Interviewing • cultural differences in the job search • oral communication


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?