The document presents research comparing cultural characteristics of learners in different educational contexts in Germany, finding that while national cultures may exist, concepts of a single general national culture are misleading and not helpful for design-oriented research, as educational contexts like higher education and adult/professional education showed different cultural patterns even within the same country. Research contrasting university cultures in Germany, South Korea, and characteristics of German professional training found significant variations rather than uniform national cultures.

1. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)
On the Myth of a General National Culture
CATaC 2012, Aarhus Thomas Richter
Heimo H. Adelsberger
Picture:
Winding-tower, Essen
Pictures:
University of Duisburg Essen

2. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
of Learners in Different Educational Contexts in Germany
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Open Discovery Space: European project as example
for specific research situation
n started April 2012, http://www.opendiscoveryspace.eu/
n 51 partners, 20 European countries, 14,3 Mio € budget
n Objective: Build up a Meta-OER-Portal for European Schools
o transparently connecting 1.5 Mio open learning resources
o penetrate > 1% of all European schools
o motivate teachers and students to use the resources in their daily school work
o & support building local and international communities
How to overcome cultural barriers?
n Idea: Define cultural contexts through Meta-Tags and provide
instructions for possible cultural adaptation needs:
o maybe we can use what we already have?
o There are national culture models and national values available (most
prominent example: Hofstede)2
n Culture = majority criterion (“common believes and attitudes within
a cultural context”)
1 Hofstede G (1980) Culture's Consequences – International Differences in Work Related Values. Newbury Park, London.

3. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
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The concept of (value-based) general national culture:
Cultural example aspect: “role of the lecturer”
Does national culture actually also reflect specific
(sub-)cultures within a national context?
If collecting data on learning culture from students in the university
context, are those also valid for learners in the context of professional
education?
Herein used example: “role of the lecturer”
(relationship to authorities commonly agreed being culturally biased1,2,3,4
1 Carkhuff RR (1969) The communication of respect in interpersonal processes: A scale for measurement. In: Carkhuff RR (Ed.), Helping
and human relations (Vol. 1), Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York.
2 Ruben BD (1976) Assessing communication competency for intercultural adaptation. Group and Organization Studies, 3(1), S 335-354.
3 Hofstede G (1980) Culture's Consequences – International Differences in Work Related Values. Newbury Park, London.
4 Schwartz SH (1999) A theory of cultural values and some implications for work. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 48(1), S
23-47.

4. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
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study setting
n questionnaire-based, 102 items, educational context (focus HE)
o investigate specific cultural attitudes and expectations of university students
n Germany & South Korea (in national language)
o more or less language-homogenous
o similar technological development
o similar economic status, and relationship rich/poor
n Research concept:
1. Emic: internal perspective – deep context-related understanding
2. Etic: external perspective – contrasting (what seems to be comparable)1
n Germany: in-depth study, 1800+ sample elements from 3 universities
o analysing faculty-culture and university culture
n South Korea: broad study, 280+ sample elements from 39 universities
o here: analysing specific learning culture from 9 universities (n>8)
Question: Are results transferable to other educational contexts?
n study expansion for scope-determination: vocational training
o 6 German DAX-noted enterprises (low sample size but results actually sound)
1 Triandis HC, Marín G (1983) Etic plus Emic versus Pseudoetic. A Test of a Basis Assumption of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Psychology.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 14(4), S 489-500.

5. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
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Findings on faculty level: spectrum of different answers; similar answer patterns
Analysing learning culture on faculty level in Germany:
3 German universities
Displayed here:
% positive answers
4P Likert scale results
binarised

6. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
of Learners in Different Educational Contexts in Germany
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Spectrum could be understood as level of acceptance of situation different to known
Question: Are the found patterns specific for a certain national culture?
Contrasting German university culture

7. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
of Learners in Different Educational Contexts in Germany
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Contrasting university culture on South Korean
national level
again: spectrum of answers but also similar patterns
Question: Is pattern different from German pattern?

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of Learners in Different Educational Contexts in Germany
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Question:
How does pattern of professional training in German enterprises look like?
Contrasting national German university results with
those from South Korea

9. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
of Learners in Different Educational Contexts in Germany
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Question: How does the pattern of German enterprises in the context of professional training contrasts to
the one from the German universities?
Adult Education in German DAX-noted enterprises

10. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
of Learners in Different Educational Contexts in Germany
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German educational HE learning culture != German educational AE learning culture
Contrasting average German adult education with
German university average result

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Conclusions
n nationally specific HE-culture pattern exists1
n HE-culture patterns different to AE-culture patterns
General National Culture has academic interest but not
helpful and even potentially misleading in design-oriented
research
1statement limited to language homogenous countries

12. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
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Are there any questions?
(Also feel free to contact me via e-Mail or discuss with me after the session)
contact: thomas.richter@icb.uni-due.de

13. On the Myth of a General National Culture: Making Visible Specific Characteristics
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In Case: Contrasting of the nat. HE contexts Bulgaria,
Germany, Turkey, South Korea and Ukraine