Culture, collectivism-individualism and college student plagiarism

COVID-19 and Public Masking Compliance in Korea: We-ness and Individualism-Collectivism at the Individual Level

In Korea, mask-wearing behavior (MWB) has become the "new normal" to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This study aimed to explore the cultural factors affecting MWB in Korea and identify the health value of culture hidden behind the collective preventive actions of Koreans through etic (external, general) and emic (internal, indigenous) cultural approaches. We conducted a survey (N = 720) to measure MWB perception based on its necessity and actual MWB, with an individual-level analysis of vertical and horizontal collectivism-individualism and we-ness. The results indicated that horizontal individualism, vertical collectivism, cognitive we-ness, and affective we-ness positively influenced MWB perception, whereas vertical individualism negatively influenced the dependent variable. Our results contradict previous understandings of collective action as rooted in collectivism, and suggest that horizontal individualism with civic consciousness and we-ness are needed to develop culturally appropriate communication strategies that encourage collective cooperation and response.

Work Values of Working Women in Israel: A Comparison of Haredi Women with Those from the Secular and Traditional Segments

The Haredi (or Ultra-Orthodox) sector is the fastest growing population in Israel, but the ability to study their working world is limited, and as far as we know, the work values of Haredi women (who are usually the main breadwinners) have not been studied to date. This unique study compares their work values with those of secular and traditional Jewish-Israeli women. The Meaning of Work (MOW) questionnaire was administered to 467 employed Jewish-Israeli women (309 Secular, 138 Traditional, and 120 Haredi), addressing values, attitudes, and aspirations at the workplace. The findings indicate that, while secular women ascribe more importance to individualistic values related to interesting work and variety than do traditionalist and Haredi women, no significant differences exist among the three groups concerning the interest in good pay, autonomy, interpersonal relations, or job security. In addition, a higher level of religiosity was associated with the importance of convenient hours and inversely associated with the importance of learning new things. Further, Haredi women attribute more importance to promotion and congruence between their personal abilities and experience and the job requirements than did women from the other two groups. Overall, the background demographic variables had little impact on work values. The findings can be explained by the different cultural values (collectivism versus individualism) and the obstacles Haredi women experience in the labor market.

Personal Growth and Life Satisfaction during Fertility Treatment-A Comparison between Arab and Jewish Women

Coping with difficulty conceiving and the ensuing fertility treatments is a stressful experience that impacts many aspects of women's lives. On the basis of Lazarus and Folkman's model of stress and coping and Schaefer and Moos's model of personal growth, and in view of the sparse literature on cultural aspects of infertility and personal growth, this study examined the relationship between stress on the one hand and personal growth and life satisfaction on the other among Arab and Jewish Israeli women. Furthermore, it investigated the moderating role played by perceived stigma, coping flexibility, cultural orientation (individualism and collectivism), and ethnicity. Two hundred five Arab and Jewish Israeli women undergoing fertility treatment completed self-report questionnaires. The results show that Arab women reported higher levels of personal growth and individualism than Jewish women. In the whole sample, a linear negative relationship was found between stress and life satisfaction, and a curvilinear relationship was found between stress and personal growth. In addition, perceived stigma, collectivism, individualism, and coping flexibility were found to moderate the association between perceived stress and personal growth. The findings provide further understanding of personal growth in the context of infertility, showing that personal resources and perceptions are more important than cultural differences in this regard.

The influence of team cultural value orientations on norms of conduct in hybrid teams: Implications for team cohesion and performance

We advance team composition research by adopting a team-norms perspective to examine the effects of team members’ cultural value orientations—collectivism and uncertainty avoidance orientation—on team functioning and performance in hybrid teams (i.e., teams combining face-to-face and mediated communication). Using data collected at three points in time from a sample of self-managing project teams, results support our proposed theoretical model. Team members’ mean level of collectivism and uncertainty avoidance both positively relate to norms of conduct in a team. In addition, team norms indirectly influence team performance through cohesion when team virtuality and team task knowledge are both high, with team virtuality moderating the team norms–cohesion relationship, and team task knowledge moderating the team cohesion–performance relationship. Our findings suggest that characteristics of contemporary teams—team cultural value orientation and team virtuality—have important implications for how norms for acceptable conduct develop and their consequences for team performance.

Denying the accusation of plagiarism: power relations at play in dictating plagiarism as academic misconduct

In academia, plagiarism is considered detrimental to the advancement of sciences, and the plagiarists can be charged with sanctions. However, the plagiarism cases involving three rectors of universities in Indonesia stand out, as they could defend their stand for not committing academic misconduct despite evidence found. By analyzing the three rectors' cases, the present study aims to answer how power relations take a role in plagiarism discourse in Indonesia, particularly in determining what is considered academic misconduct and what is not. By employing critical discourse analysis, we found that when the accusation of plagiarism appears during rectorial elections, the accused could equivocate that the accusation was meant to undermine them as a political opponent. When the accused plagiarists win the election, they have more power to deny and tackle the accusations of plagiarism. The findings indicate that plagiarism issues can be politicized, in which by those in power it can be used as a tool to undermine their political opponents, whereas the accused plagiarists can claim that the actual problem is personal and not about plagiarism. It is also shown that in the real context, whether something is called plagiarism or not is subject to interpretation by those in power.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10734-022-00875-z.

Between Collectivism and Individualism - Analysis of Changes in Value Systems of Students in the Period of 15 Years

INTRODUCTION

The publication deals with the description of selected aspect of young people's mentality, ie their systems of values. The research was conducted four times: in 2003 (325 respondents), in 2008 (379 respondents), in 2013 (368 respondents), and in 2018 (371 respondents) on students of the Bialystok universities. An attempt was made to establish if in the period of the fifteen years between the first survey and the last surveys one could observe changes in the mentality in the desired direction - from the point of view of political transformations - from "collectivism" to "individualism". The way of understanding values was adopted from Rokeach's theory.

METHODS

The Rokeach Value Survey was used to study the system of values.

RESULTS

The comparative analysis of the value preferences indices across all surveys (survey by survey) has not confirmed proposed hypothesis. It has been shown that the value system has changed towards individualism over fifteen years (when comparing surveys from year 2003 and 2018). Contradictory to the expectations, the most individualistic system of values was presented in survey group in 2008, and not in 2018.

CONCLUSION

There was no increase in rates of preference for individualistic values "from study to study". The trajectories of changes in value systems turned out to be much more complex (and thus more difficult to describe).