Master Thesis
Websites’ recipe: how food culture affects intercultural business communication on Italian and American corporate websites in the food industry.
Damiano Turrini 11181524
Master’s Program Corporate Communication Graduate School of Communication
Supervised by dr. Irina Lock
Submission date: 30-06-2017
Abstract
This study is one of the firsts to investigate how food culture can affect intercultural business communication on Italian and American corporate websites in the food and beverage industry. The research analyzes issues of standardization/localization and country’s cultural values reflected on the corporate website. A quantitative content analysis study was conducted on Italian and American corporations, which were compared on the base of their food cultures and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Italian based corporations were found to significantly employ standardization strategies more than American based corporations. Additionally, significance was also found in the values of tradition and family expressed by Italian based corporations. This study shows how Italian food culture is closely related to the values expressed through the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions culture and how these can affect intercultural business strategies on corporate websites in the Italian food and beverage industry.
Keywords: food culture, intercultural business communication, corporate website, Italy, United States of America
Websites’ recipe: how food culture affects intercultural business communication on Italian and American corporate websites in the food industry.
Food as a mean of nutritional support is at the base of life as we know it. Throughout mankind’s history, food has gone beyond nutritional aspects and has come to constitute specific symbolic means of human societies (Mintz & Du Bois, 2002). From social linkage to moral significance, food and its elaborated preparations has become a medium itself through which different societies can express their distinctive values (Rozin, 2005). Thus, food cultures can establish and reinforce cultural and individual identities (Williams, Crockett, Harrison & Thomas, 2012). The industrialization of food productions and the consequent rise of the food industry has prompted researchers to study the interplay between food industries and food cultures (Mintz & Du Bois, 2002; Leitch 2003; Stokes, 2013) and the its effect on modern societies. The facilitated accessibility to large varieties of foods and industrial surplus has created different outcomes in different societies (Rozin, 2005). For instance, in the United States, it has created a food culture of overeating , high rates of obesity and food related concerns and stress (Rozin, 2005), whereas in Italy prompted the creation of social movements such as “Slow Food” that promotes positive experiences of healthy eating and the achievement of a higher food consciousness (Stokes, 2013). Thus, food and beverage corporations can find themselves operating in a global market with the need to address consumers belonging to different food cultures. A first departure point of this study is to investigate how food and beverage corporations pursue communication strategies across different countries and how they deal with specific food cultures.
The advent of Internet has prompted corporation to think about their cross-cultural online communication as it has empowered consumers to freely come in contact and get acquainted with the organization by simply accessing their corporate website (Sutikno & Cheng, 2012). Corporate websites are metaphorically exemplified as a virtual business card,
and can promote and affect corporate identity, image and performances (Halliburton & Ziegfeld, 2009; Maynard & Tian, 2004). Amongst the web-based communication tool, corporate websites are deemed to be the most cost-efficient web tool to engage in
stakeholders management activities across cultures(Dou, Nielsen, & Tan, 2002). Indeed, the use of corporate websites has brought communicational advantages to organizations. On one hand, they allow corporation to publish and disclose information without any third party
organizations being involved (Lee, & Caroll, 2011). On the other hand, they enhance two-way communications by creating direct relationship between consumers and organizations (Cho & Cheon, 2005). Nonetheless, websites pose also new communicational challenges to face. Corporate websites allow multinational corporations to tune their identity accordingly to local cultures (Robbins & Stylianou, 2003). This has led to question of whether the content
published on corporate websites should be equal for all the countries, hence standardized, or adapted to the country of destination, hence localized (Shin& Huh, 2009). These strategies are mainly framed in terms of performance and efficiency, constantly leading back to the question whether one has to be preferred over the other (Taylor, 2005). Instead of keep on fueling the debate, Taylor (2005) calls for a different pattern of research that would consider external factors impacting the effectiveness of cross-cultural communications. Although other researches have approached multinationals’ standardized versus localized strategies either in individual geographical markets (Karande, Almurshidee, & Al-Olayan, 2006), or in terms of business size (Kanso & Nelson, 2006), very little research has compared specific businesses and their related culture. The food industry represents an opportunity of valuable comparison as food is at the base of human life and has considerable power in the creation of societal values, symbols and collective of memories (Mintz & Du Bois, 2002). As it can be seen in the next sections, Italy and United States were chosen as countries for this study for two reasons. First, their food cultures inherently differ one from the other and this offer a
meaningful basis of comparison for the scope of this research. Second, although both Western countries, Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimensions indexes report significant
divergences in their societies. Thus, this study want to fill this gap and further explore cross-cultural communication strategies on corporate websites by analyzing the Italian and the American food and beverage corporations through the lens of their food culture. Based on the above discussion, the main research question of this study is:
RQ: How do the Italian and American food cultures influence intercultural business
communication on corporate websites within the food and beverage industry?
Theoretical Background Definition of food culture
When detached of its biological meaning, food can be conceived as a solid pillar that constitutes cultures worldwide (Chiaro & Rossato, 2015). It is a cultural mechanism through which is possible to understand one population’s social, historical, and political processes (Dormani, 2016). Consequently, food is a social glue that holds together ethnicity and nationality and is associated thereof with geographically defined eating communities (Mintz & Du Bois, 2002). Specific foods or food practices may serve as symbols to help define individual, group and national identity (Berg, 2013). Likewise, food corporations can express and reinforce their identity through food, as in crediting producers and exhibiting related food iconography. For instance, McDonald’s “golden arches” symbolize the modern corporate worship; beer brands (Guinness for Irish, Heineken for Dutch, Fosters Lager for Australian) can call forth specific images of the corporations’ home country and their people (Berg, 2013).
Establishing what defines food culture is not easy task as each individual culture has developed its own societal meanings (DeSoucey, 2010). Nonetheless, external observers can
grasp one’s nation food culture by framing it in terms of spatial bounding, temporal
continuity, systemic coherence and self-consciousness (Ray, 2008). Spatial bounding refers to the geographical extension that a cuisine covers. Temporal continuity is the ongoing timespan in which a cuisine thrives. Systemic coherence indicates the homogeneity and the consistency amongst the dishes within one food culture. Finally, self-consciousness relates to the role casted upon food to present national identity to internal and external audiences (Ray, 2008). ). Next, Italian and American food cultures’ are outlined by analyzing the above mentioned four criteria (see Table 1).
Table 1. Summary of food culture
Dimension Definition Italy American
Spatial Boundary
Presence of the national cuisine over the country
surface
72nd largest country on Earth 3rd largest country on Earth
Temporal Continuity Persistency of the cuisine through time Discontinuous. Significant and substantial change in the
1900.
Discontinuous. Several different time points
Systemic Coherence
Consistent relation of the dishes within the national
cuisine
High. Given by the typical Mediterranean products
Low. Migratory fluxes introduced new dishes
Self-Consciousness Food as mean to express national values to internal and external audiences
High. Massive presence in media productions and
national folklore
Low. Few mentions in the newspapers
American food culture
United States and American cuisine are commonly deemed two clashing concepts (Mintz, 1996). Mintz and Du Bois (2002) argue that United States cannot possess a typical cuisine for several reasons. First, being the third largest country on Earth, United States is
simply too large to shelter a consistent cuisine across its entire surface, the spatial boundary is too broad. Second, United States of America was founded by immigrants who came from different countries. American history is well known for its several waves of immigration fluxes, adding at each wave the typical culinary habits brought by the new populations , hence the temporary continuity is not linear. Moreover, this melting pot of populations contributes to the creation of a patchwork of dishes coming from all around the world, therefore lacking of systemic consistency. At last, there seem to be few references and low occurrence of the terminology associated with the American cuisine, although Ray (2008) reported American cuisine mentions as an increasing trend in the major American
newspapers since the 1960. Italian food culture
In many European countries, food is deeply rooted in the national culture to the point where typical dishes become metonyms for the population (“Spaghetti” for Italians, “Frogs” for French, “Krauts” for Germans, etc.) (Sassatelli & Scott, 2001). Food culture in Italy represents one of the most valuable resources for Italians to attest and express their national identity (Brunori, Malandrin, & Rossi, 2013). However this mechanism finds its origin in the making of Italy. The Italian peninsula had always been historically fragmented in kingdoms, grand duchy, republics and provinces up to relatively modern times – 1861 date of the Italian Unification – in which Italy had become a unified state. This prompted the need to create a national identity to foster the new Italian citizenship, which until then was scarce due to Italy’s historical divide. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, authors of the Futurism movement took up this role and attempted to promote Italianism’s feelings by establishing new culinary habits, such as hygiene and health (Helstosky, 2003). The lower and middle-class cuisine reflected the misery of the population after the unification, that is, poor hygiene and minor consideration for quality. Italians were encouraged to pay scrupulous care in the
preparation of their meals, to wash and rinse all the ingredients, ensuring a superior taste quality but foremost avoiding the widespread of common diseases like cholera (Helstosky, 2003). Through all of these changes, the Italian cuisine remained profoundly shaped by typical Mediterranean products, thereby granting the Italian food culture systemic
consistency (Dormani, 2016). Finally, holding the highest number of protected geographical indication (PGI) products (Kurzer & Cooper, 2013) and given the amount of food festivals, books about cuisine for foreigner audiences as well, Italy also scores high on the self-consciousness level (DeSoucey, 2010).
Next, it will be shown how the food culture of the United States and Italy can affect the decision of communicational strategies on Italian and American corporate websites. Intercultural business communication on websites
Intercultural business communication can be defined as the business strategies, goals, objectives, and practices that “ become an integral part of the communication process and help create a new environment out of the synergy of culture, communication, and
business.”(Varner, 2000, p. 44). The advent of the Internet and corporate websites have posed new challenges for the international business communication, one amongst all maintaining the communication consistent across countries (Schultz, Castelló & Morsing, 2011).
Corporations that ensure consistency between their symbolism and their messages can obtain important communicational cost efficiencies (Aaker, 1996). The opportunity given to
consumers belonging to different cultures to access any version of the corporate website threatens organizational consistency and this prompted corporation to rethink their
international business communication (Shin & Huh, 2009). Corporate culture can clash with country specific values leading to the question whether standardized or globalized
communications better serve organizational goals (Varner, 2000). Cross-national comparisons of corporate websites revealed significant differences in the use of cultural
values. Okazaki and Rivas (2005) detected how Japanese and American websites mirrored respectively individualistic and collectivistic principles of their society. German based corporations displayed differences in the amount of contextual cues on their MCW, in which English and German versions reflected the country’s low context communication, whereas Latin American websites exhibited more high-context cultural cues, typical of those countries (Sinkovics, Yamin, & Hossinger, 2007). When operating in the Chinese market, top global brands seem to opt for localized strategies, providing a wide coverage of local events and clearly highlighting awards and honors given by the Chinese government or local community (Maynard & Tian, 2004). In line with these findings, Chinese society, collectivist and
hierarchical, is mirrored in Chinese websites by complex structures, but with easily accessible discussions between same group of consumers, in contrast with American websites that instead reflect individualism values providing direct contacts between consumers and organization.(Pan & Xu, 2009) .
As shown above, the relevance of cultural effects on communication has sparked a long history of debates. On the other hand, internet might aid in the fragmentation of the online market moving the balance towards localized strategies implying thereof that communications must mirror the values expressed in that specific country for which the website is aimed to.(Okazaki & Rivas, 2005; Robbins & Stylianou, 2003).On the other hand, cultural effects are believed to be overrated and therefore standardized approaches are to be preferred (Scott & Costley, 2010). Regardless of the stance, Varner (2000) posits that communication managers neither have to account nor fully understand the foreign culture they are dealing with, but ensure to be conscious about the cultural values that are relevant for the business, in this case food customs. From this, it follows that a country having high regards in the food culture, Italy, would promote more consistently their values. As could be seen in the Italian food culture, food creates feelings of citizenship and has significantly
shaped the Italian culture. Italians tightly hold on their culinary traditions, instituting in this way food as a distinctive feature of their society, through which they foster the uniqueness of their products (DeSoucey, 2010). Seen the this considerable relevance, Italians corporations will likely build up communication strategies around their food culture, resulting therefore in displaying consistent messages across markets to preserve their identity. It is then logical to assume that Italian food corporations’ websites will provide a more standardized content between Italy and United States, as opposed to the United States who will have to appeal to their Italian consumers with a localized content for the Italian website. Hence, the first hypothesis is stated:
H1: Corporate websites of Italian-based companies will be more likely to be
standardized than websites of United States-based companies.
The relationship between cultural dimensions and food culture
The first and fundamental step in the understanding of a country’s culture is to recognize the cultural constitutive elements (Tavanti, 2012). The works of the Dutch social psychologist Geerf Hofstede have significantly contributed to set the foundation of the culture as concept, defining it as a phenomenon that belongs to groups of individuals who share meanings within the same social environment (Hofstede, 2001). Hofstede’s studies have led to the development of its cultural dimensions theory, which proposes a model with four dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity and Uncertainty Avoidance) along which cultural values can be analyzed (Hofstede, 2001). Such model provides scales from 0 to 100 for 76 countries for each dimension, in which each country position itself on each scale or index, in relation to other countries. Within the scope
of this cultural analysis, Italy and United States will be compared on the basis of the Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism/Collectivism, Power Distance dimensions Uncertainty avoidance
The uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) expresses the extent to which member of a given society are at comfort with unpredictability and it measures the population’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity in daily life (Hofstede, 2001). Countries with a high score on the UAI exhibit a fearful closure towards changes and innovations, whereas low scoring countries tend to welcome the change and feel less threatened by novelties and
modernization.
Italy scores much higher (75) than the United States (46) on the UAI. Due to the Italians’ uneasiness to handle uncertain and ambiguous situations, conservatism and
traditional beliefs are in high regards in the Italian society. Commercials in Italy oftentimes depict familiar and traditional contexts in which Italians can safely relate, avoiding thereof unsettling feelings that can arise from new and unexpected scenarios (Calabrese, Capece, Costa, & Di Pilo, 2015). By holding onto their historical traditions, Italians exert a form of control on the incoming uncertainties, acting as point of reference through times of change. Accordingly, Italian websites are expected to mirror the deeply-rooted Italian traditions by emphasizing the history and the ties of the corporation with the nation, making sure to
highlight how traditions are kept alive. This holds especially true for websites of Italian based corporations. Such traditions are intrinsic to the corporate culture as the business was
established and grew in the Italian cultural context. The effect of the uncertainty avoidance then are likely to be stronger for websites of Italian corporations than for American based corporation. The second hypotheses are then stated:
H2a: Italian websites will reflect a higher level of tradition theme than American
websites.
H2b: Websites of Italian corporations will reflect a higher level of tradition theme than
the websites of American corporations.
Individualism/Collectivism
The Individualism/Collectivism Index (ICI) expresses the degree of integration of individuals within groups. On one hand, individualistic societies endorse the affirmation of individuals’ autonomy and the achievement of one’s own goals and people are expected to take care of themselves (Hofstede, 2001). On the other hand, in collectivistic societies the belonging to a larger group and societal well-being are lifelong and cooperative endeavors. Family and group goals are emphasized and put above the individuals’ ones.
The United States ranks at the top of the ICI, being in this conceptualization the most individualistic country (91), and Italy follows not further away at the 7th position (76).
Although Italy is amongst the most individualistic countries, its society is imbued with values typical of collectivistic cultures, such as altruism and family orientation (Galati, Manzano & Sotgiu, 2006) . Despite individuals are more oriented towards the “I” and “Me”, Italian society appears to be dominated by the “We” theme, typical of collectivistic societies, in which national symbolism and appeals to family are constant and desired (Tavanti, 2012). This creates a paradox that can be explained taking into account the deeply rooted cultural influence of the Roman Catholic Church on the Italian cultural values, such as family, faith and helping others (Galati, Manzano & Sotgiu, 2006). Studies have shown that Italians attach equal meanings to family likewise in collectivistic countries (Gelati, Manzano, Sotgiu, 2006). Further support can be found in Banfield (1975) who reported how Italians tend to maximize all the efforts in order to obtain material benefits for their nuclear family. Family businesses
represents more than 85% of the total of business (Associazione Italiana delle Aziende Famigliari, 2017). In the Italian Food and Beverage sector for instance, corporation are primarily owned by families (see the Barilla Group, Ferrero Group, Davide Campari) and are expected to mirror strong family ties on their websites, by emphasizing the family role, addressing employees and consumers as family members and giving high prominence to family pictures. Hence, the third hypotheses are stated:
H3a: Italian websites will reflect a higher level of family theme than American
websites.
H3b: Websites of Italian corporations will reflect a higher level of family theme than
the websites of American corporations.
Power distance
The power distance index expresses (PDI) the extent to which society members in low power positions accept and expect the power to be unequally distributed within organizations and institutions. This dimension does not measure how power is distributed but instead it focuses on how individuals relate to it. In countries with a low PDI choices are made through democratic confrontations, members are equally considered and the hierarchical pyramid results to be flattened. On the other hand, members of high PDI countries are aware of the existing hierarchies, have high respect for the authorities and hardly-ever question decisions taken by the leaders.
The power distance dimension affects the communication style in high PDI by emphasizing information about company hierarchy, organizational chart, ranks in the
industry, prestige of the company and its board members (Singh & Baack, 2004), whereas in low PDI such content is understated or omitted to foster a more egalitarian communication
(Usunier, Roulin & Ivens, 2009). The average score on the PDI of Italy (50) and United States (40) suggests that no significant differences between the corporate communication style of the two countries are to be expected. Nonetheless, Nestle (2000) argues that the food system in the United States has inevitable consequences on the American food corporations. The American food industry has historically been highly productive and its food supply, despite the exports, plenty exceeds the population demands . This overabundance of food poses a major problem for the industry: a fierce competition between corporations to sell their food services. To win this competition, food and beverage corporations spend $30 billion yearly (and constantly increasing) to promote their goods, yet with a scarce regards of ethical concerns (Zimdahl & Holtzer, 2016). This collision of commercial interests and ethical considerations prompts intense public debates about health claims, regulations, safety and labelling of genetically modified foods. To protect their interests, American food
corporations engage in intensive lobbying and congressional campaigns, requiring additional communication efforts to dissuade lawsuits and carefree denigrations (Nestle, 2003). Such communication is expected to be based on buffering strategies (Meznar & Nigh, 1995), that would frame the corporation in a higher power position, hence presenting those features typically found in high PDI countries. The fourth hypothesis is then stated:
H4a: American websites will reflect a higher level of business theme than Italian
websites.
H4b: Websites of American corporations will reflect a higher level of business theme
Methodology
Studies focusing on the relationship between intercultural business communication and corporate websites have already widely employed content analysis method of research (Singh & Matsuo, 2004; Halliburton & Ziegfeld, 2009; Pan & Xu, 2009; Sutikno & Cheng, 2012). Content analysis allows researchers to convert items typically considered qualitative into numerical data to be analyzed through quantitative methods (Bryman, 2016). For instance, texts, pictures and features of a websites can be examined with a content analysis enabling researchers to formulate hypotheses to be quantitatively tested (Halliburton & Ziegfeld, 2009). Hence, a content analysis of U.S. and Italian corporate websites was conducted to examine intercultural business communication in the food and beverage industry.
The sample comprised 20 corporations, 10 American based and 10 Italian based, that both provided an American and an Italian version of their corporate website, that made a final sample size of 40. The inclusion criteria for the corporations was their rank by sales. This decision followed Carroll (2016) who holds that corporations with high sales figures must also account for different stakeholders groups, putting organizations in the situation to efficiently employ all the communication tools at their disposal. American corporations were selected from the 2016 Food Processing ‘s Top 100 companies in the U.S chart (Food
Processing, 2016). Starting from the top and scrolling to the bottom, the first 10 U.S.
corporation providing both Italian and American version of the website made it into the final sample. Italian corporations were instead selected from ReportAziende, an Italian webportal that presents annual reports of all the organizations formally registered on the Italian territory (Reportaziende, 2016). The final sample can be found in the Appendix A.
The units of the analysis were three sections of the corporate website: about us, products and sustainability. After an explanatory pretest on a comparative sample of websites, these were the three sections that could be found in each of the websites, thus allowing an adequate comparison. Moreover, these sections displayed information about how the corporation present itself (about us), how presents its products to the consumers
(products) and its commitment to society (sustainability), which were deemed to serve well the scope of understanding the corporate’s cultural features. The author and another coder, both Italian native and fluent in English, took part in the coding procedure. The other coder was provided with an explanation of the research project and an overview of the codebook by the author. The coder got acquainted with the coding instructions by coding two websites which were not part of the sample. Then, they independently coded 10% of the total data (N = 4) and proceeded to test the reliability of the codebook. To test the intercoder reliability, a Krippendorff's alpha test was conducted (Hayes & Krippendorff, 2007). The Krippendorff's alpha test showed that the coding schema met the requirements of scientific research with an average value of .964 (minimum = .833; maximum = 1). Finally, the author coded the
remaining part of the sample (N = 36). Operationalization
The codebook was developed on the base of existing codebooks (Shin & Huh, 2009; Singh & Baack, 2004). The first part was concerned with the similarities and dissimilarities between the English and the Italian version of the corporate website, while the second part analyzed the content found in each website. The final codebook comprised two formal, five degree of website standardization and 18 content variables (see Appendix B).
The former variable were the version of the websites and the local which indicated the country of origin of the corporation. Both were measured at the nominal level of
measurement where “0” represented the Italian version of the website and an Italian corporation, and “1” the American version and the American origin.
The degree of standardization variables were measured on a 4-point scale, where “1” indicated the two websites to be totally different and “4” to be almost identical. The five measure, adapted from Shin & Huh (2009), were (1) overall color scheme (M = 3.20, SD = 1.15), (2) background image (M = 2.95, SD = 1.47), (3) graphics (M = 2.50, SD =1.23), (4)
content structures (M = 2.70, SD = 1.49), (5) information type (M = 2.55, SD = 1.77).
The content variables were also measured on a four-point scale, where “0” indicated the total absence of the theme, “1” whether the theme had a weak, “2” moderate and “3” a strong focus. Such themes were found in Singh & Baack (2004) and each of them is
representative of one cultural dimension as theorized by Hofstede. The uncertainty avoidance dimension was captured categorizing elements typical of the tradition theme. The
individualistic/collectivistic with elements the family theme and the power distance with elements of the business theme. These themes were individually analyzed first for texts, then for pictures and the score recorded for each of the about us, products and sustainability section. Explanation of the variables with detailed examples were given in the corresponding section of the codebook. The assessment process went through the browsing of the website sections and coders made their own judgements on the pieces of text and the pictures displayed. When websites had several subsections, the coders were instructed to form an overall impression by accessing only the sections they deemed to be relevant for the research. Descriptives of the content variables are summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of the Content Variables
N M SD
Tradition texts focus 40 2.05 1.22 Tradition pictures focus 40 1.97 1.21 Family texts focus 40 1.55 1.28 Family pictures focus 40 1.33 1.40 Business texts focus 40 1.93 1.00 Business pictures focus 40 1.55 1.13 Products
Tradition texts focus 40 1.45 1.18 Tradition pictures focus 40 .32 .86 Family texts focus 40 .40 .90 Family pictures focus 40 .18 .67 Business texts focus 40 .55 .93 Business pictures focus 40 .38 .90 Sustainability
Tradition texts focus 40 .82 1.08 Tradition pictures focus 40 .50 .99 Family texts focus 40 .13 .46 Family pictures focus 40 .02 .16 Business texts focus 40 1.80 1.07 Business pictures focus 40 .85 1.19
Analysis
This section presents the findings of this research. The 7 hypotheses stated were tested through a series of independent samples t-tests.
H1 assumed websites of Italian corporation to be more standardized than the ones of American corporations. In order to test H1 a new variable was computed. This hypothesis addressed websites at an overall level of standardization, hence by summing up the scales of
overall color scheme, background image, graphics, content structures and information type¸
to reflect the degree of standardization of the website. The results of the t-test supported H1 and revealed that there was a significant difference, t(18)= 2.12, p < .05, in the degree of standardization between multinational websites of Italian corporations (M = 16.4, SD = 5.44) and American corporation (M = 11.3, SD = 5.27); t(18)= 2.12. Cohen’s d was calculated to assess the effect size, which was found to be larger (d = 0.95) then the Cohen’s convention for a large effect (d = .80).
Before engaging with the testing of hypotheses from H2a to H4a, three variables were newly computed. The variables represented the overall level of the theme investigated (i.e, tradition, family and business) in the website. Such variables were created by averaging the scores of texts and pictures found in the about us, products and sustainability sections. The descriptive statistics of these newly computed variables are reported in Table 3.
Next, hypotheses from H2a to H4a inquired cultural values in corporate websites with regards of the website version and the country of origin.
Table 3. Means and Standard Deviations for the Overall Theme variable
Overall Tradition Overall Family Overall Business
Mean 5.97 .60 1.17
Std. Deviation .57 .56 .72
Maximum 7.00 1.67 2.83
Minimum 4.83 .00 .00
Overall tradition. H2a assumed the overall tradition theme to be more prominent on the Italian version of the corporate website. The results of the t-test revealed that there is no significant (t(38)= .734, p = .468) difference between Italian (M = 6.03, SD = .55) and
American (M = 5.90, SD = .59) websites. Instead, the testing for H2b yielded significant results (t(38) = 3.72, p < .05), which was therefore accepted. Websites of Italian based corporations (M = 6.26, SD = .41) on average were found to be more focused on traditional values than American based corporations (M = 5.67, SD = .56). Cohen’s d (d = 1.18) revealed a large meaningful effect size between the Italian and American corporations, suggesting websites of Italian corporations to score higher on the overall tradition theme significantly more often than websites of American corporations.
Overall family. There was no significant difference (t(38) = .563, p = .577) in the exhibition of the family theme between the Italian version (M = .65, SD = .60) and the American version (M = .55, SD = .52) of the corporate website, thus rejecting H3a. Significant results were found (t(38) = 5.75, p < .001) between websites of Italian corporations (M = .97, SD = .47) and American corporations (M = .22, SD = .34). Cohen’s effect size value (d = 1.75) suggest a high practical significance. Thus, H3b is supported. These results suggest Italian
corporations provide on their website more content that is family focused than American corporations.
Overall business. Finally, in H4a the business theme was hypothesized to be higher in the American version of the website than in the Italian version. Despite the mean average for American versions being slightly higher (M = 1.31, SD = .82) than Italian websites (M = 1.04,
SD = .60), the t-tests for showed non-significant results (t(38) = - 1.17, p = .248). Hence H4a
was rejected. Likewise, websites of American (M = 1.35, SD = .87) corporation didn’t show any significant difference (t(29.98) = -1.56, p = .129) from the Italian based corporate website (M = 1.00, SD = .49) in the level of business theme.
Overall, the results suggest significance at the country level for the Italian based corporations displaying more tradition and family theme. The hypotheses and the results are summarized in Table 4.
Table 4. Summary of the Hypotheses and Results
Hypothesis Result Test
H1
Corporate websites of Italian based corporations will be more likely to be standardized than American based corporations
Accepted t-test
H2a
Italian websites will reflect a higher level of tradition theme than American websites.
Rejected t-test
H2b
Local Italian corporation websites will reflect a higher level of tradition theme than the Italian corporate websites of American corporation.
Accepted t-test
H3a
Italian websites will reflect a higher level of family theme than American websites.
Rejected t-test
H3b
Local Italian corporation websites will reflect a higher level of family theme than the Italian corporate websites of American corporation
Accepted t-test
H4a
American websites will reflect a higher level of business theme than Italian websites.
Rejected t-test
H4b
Local American corporation websites will reflect a higher level of business theme than the American corporate websites of Italian corporation.
Discussion and Conclusion
This study investigated whether Italian and American food and beverage corporations communicate accordingly to their national food culture on their website. More in particular, to what extent such websites are standardized and how much they reflect values embedded in their society through the lens of food culture.
As far as concerns the standardized localized strategies, Italian food and beverage corporate websites were hypothesized to be more standardized because of the strong cultural ties that Italians have with food. Evidence from this research shows that websites of Italian based corporations tend to be more standardized than localized, supporting Varner (2000) who holds that the degree of standardization localization is arbitrary but should be focused on the relevant cultural values for their business. This significance in the standardization
suggest two possible reasons. One explanation for it might be the relevance of the culture and the other can be found at the product level. In respect to the Italian food culture, the
information disclosed across websites suggests that Italian deem their food culture as functionally important to not deliver customized information according to the market
destination. Examples can be found in the Illy and Lavazza websites, two of the major Italian coffee corporations. They both promote as much in the Italian as in the American website, the Italian way to drink coffee. The Italian coffee heritage (espresso) is personal, intimate and deeply ingrained in the Italians daily routine. Howard Schultz, CEO of the worldwide corporation Starbucks, has stated that his company is refraining entering the Italian market due to the incompatibility between the American and the Italian coffee culture (Scocco, 2006). In fact, the uneasiness at coping with uncertainness creates anxiety that is mainly relived by firmly believing in the certainties offered by the traditions. Italians’ reluctance to abandon their coffee traditions is illustrative of the Italian score on the uncertain avoidance index, thus confirming the uncertainty avoidance’s dimension of the Italian culture and its link with food culture. Another possible explanation is that Italian corporations might take
advantages by the benefits brought by communicational consistency, such as clarity and greater communicational impact (Naeem, Bilal & Naz, 2013). Due to the strong traditional ties, Italian products are hardly subjected to reinterpretation . In the same way, Italian corporations might opt for standardized communication strategies across markets that can replicate the unique features of their products. On the other hand, results for American websites might be explained by the lack of coherence within their food culture. American cuisine is a patchwork of dishes and products, brought by the different waves of immigration throughout its history. American corporations might prefer to take advantage of this multi-cultural composition of their cuisine, thus be more willing to appeal foreigner markets by providing them adapted content.
In regards of the comparison between the Italian and the American version of the corporate websites no significant results were found. Websites, as opposed to the expectation, did not mirror the destination country’s values relative to Hofstede’s cultural dimension framework. This could be because of two reasons. On one hand, food culture is a binding feature of geographically defined eating communities (Mintz & Du Bois, 2002) and De Soucey (2010) recognizes that each country has developed its own societal meanings to attach to food and these are neither readily nor clearly understandable to outsiders. This implies that adapting one version of the website accordingly the food culture of the
destination can be complex and therefore not an encouraging practice to follow. On the other hand, corporation still can display cultural related values on their websites. However,
company values are also equally likely to be displayed on both the version of the websites, thus not generating meaningful differences between the two versions.
Finally, corporate websites were analyzed at the country level. Italian corporations were expected to display more tradition and family themes while American corporation more business theme. Results confirmed the assumptions made for the Italian corporations but not
for the American corporations. Websites of Italian based corporations were significantly found to be more focused on family and tradition. As reported by De Soucey (2010) Italian food culture scores high on the self-consciousness dimension, meaning that Italians cast upon food a far greater role in the diffusion of national values to internal and external audiences. In this way the family and tradition themes running through Italian based corporations websites mirror both Italian cultural values and consequently their food culture. Demonstrative are the examples found in the Barilla and Acqua San Benedetto website. Barilla had been sold to the American group W.R Grace, and Pietro Barilla, nephew of the Barilla founder and responsible of the selling decision, described himself as regretful and his life empty without the family company. The website boldly praises Pietro Barilla as the one who won back Barilla and led it into the tranquil sea of the family business (Barilla, 2017). This
representation is understandable when considering the Italian cultural context, that is the need to rely on traditions to manage stressful situations. It further reinforces the binding
relationship between Italian corporations and their food culture. Similarly, on the Acqua San Benedetto website (Acqua San Benedetto, 2017), the story of the Zoppas family striving to become the only owner of the corporation is displayed as a passionate and long-term commitment for the love of the company which was finalized in 2006. The success still dominates the content on the corporate websites, highlighting all the effort made by the Zoppas for the family ownership, as in line with the dynamics unveiled by Banfield (1958) of Italians to gain the maximum benefits for the family.
This study’s findings confirm the representation of the Internet medium as not culturally neutral. Internet was initially thought to be affected by the same the globalizations forces that begun to shape society in the early 2000s (Hall, 1991; Main, 2001), whereas other scholars suggested that local values would prevail on the homogeneity brought by the
partially support the school of thought that recognizes the valence of cultural values on websites (Okazaki & Rivas, 2005; Singh & Baack, 2004). This holds particularly true in the food and beverage industry where Italian corporations display the major values associated with their food culture.
Managerial implications
The analysis of Italian and American websites revealed that differences exist in the expression of cultural value, raising awareness of the internet not as cultural neutral medium. Hence, from a managerial perspective this study carries important implications. On one hand, communicational managers addressing the Italian food market should indeed account for, and promote the values that Italians attach to food. For instance, more details could be provided about the history and the role assumed by a specific food in the societal context. On the other hand, if corporate websites have proven to be mirrors of a country’s culture, then foreigner websites, when analyzed with the cultural dimension’s framework, can reveal more than simple informational content. For instance, as observed food is an intimate concept in a country’s culture. Managers could reach the mind of consumers by framing their food products in a way that these can come closer to the cultural values of the target country. Limitations
To the author existing knowledge, this study is one of the firsts to compare
multinational corporate website on the base of the country’s food culture. Indeed, as an initial step, certain limitations are to be acknowledged. First, despite corporations were sampled on the base of the highest revenue, imbalances still occurred. The majority of the Italian
corporations in the final sample are family-owned business and this might have skewed the results in favor of the Italian websites when comparing the family theme at the country level of analysis. The public resources available did not provide any reliable list with all the company information needed, hence the revenue criteria offered a valid reason to be employed. Second, the themes were measured on a four-point scales which cannot catch
fairly the delicate nuances characteristic of cultures. One of the main scope of this research was to initially explore the relationship between business-relevant culture and intercultural business communication. For this reason, the development of elaborated scales did not match with the preliminary nature of this study. More elaborated measures could capture the full scope of culture expressionism displayed on websites.
Finally, websites comparability constituted a central problem in the data collection. Due the lack of conventional rules in the development of websites structures, websites could not be adequately compared, thus the unit of analysis had to be limited only to three main section. Nonetheless, corporate websites have at disposal a richer informational content distributed all over and within subsections and three section do not reveal the whole picture of it. Cases were found in which corporate websites are developed around a network of sub-websites that were not analyzed (for instance, corporate’s most iconic products usually have their own website). This study accounted only for corporate country’s culture and food culture. Some of the corporates’ products and typical services have a sub-culture on their own, hence out of the scope of this research.
Future research
This study has generated valuable insights about whether and how food culture plays a role in the international business communication on food and beverage corporate websites. Next, future studies could research what effects food culture is able to produce both at corporate and at the consumer level. On one hand, experimental designs could assess how corporate reputation changes after the cultural adaptation of the websites. On the other hand, it would be also interesting to observe the variations of consumer engagement on websites when these provide content conforming to the country’s food culture and when not. Finally, as shown in this paper, food culture is something extremely subjective to countries and so more cross-cultural comparison, as much as analysis of small-medium sized companies, are
encouraged. . This will unveil tiny, yet colorful details of countries’ food cultures that can contribute to creation of a compendium available to communicational professionals to finely tune their intercultural business strategies.
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Appendix A
List of the food and beverage corporation included in the sample
Company Country Revenue
Acqua San Benedetto Italy Agricola Italiana Alimentare Italy
Barilla Italy
Birra Peroni Italy
Davide Campari-Milano Italy
Granarolo Italy
Ferrero Italy
illycaffè Italy
Lavazza Italy
Perfetti van Melle Italy
Anheuser-Busch InBev United States of America
Cargill United States of America
Coca-Cola Company United States of America
Del Monte United States of America
Dole United States of America
Kellogs United States of America
Kraft Heinz United States of America
McCain United States of America
Mars United States of America
Appendix B Codebook Q1 Corporation
Which corporation are you coding?
Q2 Overall Color Scheme .
Please consider the choice and the use of colors on the website as they appear to regular users. At first glance, the two websites' color schemes are:
The two websites’ color schemes are totally different (1)
The two color schemes are significantly different but there are some similarities in how certain colors are used for specific items (2)
The overall color schemes are within similar themes but there are some discrepancies in how certain colors are used for specific items (3)
The color schemes are identical or almost identical from regular user’s viewpoint not from a professional designer or artist’s viewpoint (4)
Q3 Background Image
Please consider the digital image, that is either placed around the center of a homepage or occupying the major part of the homepage, used as a decorative background for the website. By comparing the websites:
The two websites have totally different background images or if one website has a background image but the other does not (1)
The two background images are significantly different but there are some similarities in terms of location and size of the images (2)
The background images are similar but there are some discrepancies in terms of location and size (3)
Q4 Graphics
Please consider the illustrations, animated graphics, pictures of products, and pictures of people that are found on the website. By comparing the websites:
There are no overall similarities in the type and actual content of each graphic element (1) There are similar graphics used but some different ones are also present (2)
The websites used similar graphical elements (pictures or illustrations) but not exactly the same ones (3)
Both websites used exactly the same graphical elements, and individual pictures and illustrations are identical or almost identical (4)
Q5 Content Structure
Please consider the general homepage structure, focusing on how various elements (e.g. buttons and navigational links) on the homepage are presented and organized. By comparing the websites:
There are no similarity at all (1)
Some parts organized similarly but most parts are structured differently (2) Most parts are organized similarly but some parts are structured differently (3) The two websites are identical in terms of the content structure (4)
Q6 Information Type
Please consider the pieces of information available on the website. By comparing the websites:
The two websites present totally different informational contents (1)
The types of information included in the two websites are significantly different but there are some similarities in individual information pieces (2)
The overall informational contents are very similar but there are some individual discrepancies (3)
The two websites’ informational content are identical or almost identical (4)
Q7 Country
What is the country of the corporation?
Italian (0) American (1)
Q8 Version
What version of the corporate websites are you analyzing?
Italian (0) American (1)
Q9 Now consider the About Us section.
The scope of this analysis is to form an aggregate opinion of the content present in the About Us section. Here organizations communicate information about their business, history and principles. A standard About Us section, when entered, displays a textual description and additional sub-pages for further and more specific
information. However, structure and information-location can vary from website to website. When the content is not immediately available and further subsections must be visited, please navigate the section until the main information about corporation's history, business and principles are found. Then proceed to read the text and analyze the pictures shown, and once you get a general feeling of the content, answer the next question. Please consider the following examples:
• De Cecco website presents a section called "History". Upon clicking, another webpage is accessed and a text and picture are displayed. The analysis of this section has enough material to answer the questions. • General Mills website presents a section called "Company". Upon
clicking, a pop-menu requires to select a sub-section(Business, History, Innovation, Leadership, Our website, Publications, Purpose, and Working with us) before displaying information. Please visit only the sections relevant to the purpose of this analysis, that are Business, History and Purpose then answer the questions.
Please also note that the About us section can be displayed with a different, but similar, terminology. Use this list, with both English and Italian entries, as a guidance throughout the websites: About Us/Chi Siamo; Our History/La Nostra Storia; Our Company/Azienda; The Group/Il Gruppo.
Q10 Tradition texts
Read the texts thoroughly and examine in detail the tradition theme. Such theme is given by highlighting behaviors, symbols and meanings that have originated in the past and how the corporation relates with its historical tradition. How much do the texts focus on the tradition theme? Please indicate the level of the focus given to the tradition theme emerging from the texts. Please consider the following examples:
1. A section has a weak focus on tradition has texts that quickly fly over, barely mention or superficially talks about the topic.
2. A section that has a moderate focus on tradition will have texts in which traditions are listed for narrative purposes. The corporate's tradition is respected for its importance held in the past yet it receives brief mentions in the role played in the present
3. A section that has a strong focus on tradition will have texts with recurring adjectives, such as long-established, time-honored, deep-rooted,
enduring. Moreover the texts will stress the operate of the corporations in accordance to the tradition, how the management keep alive the corporate's traditions and how these are preserved in modern times
The text does not have a theme focus (0) The texts have a weak focus (1)
The texts have a moderate focus (2) The texts have a strong focus (3)
Q11 Tradition pictures
Scan and take a critical look at the pictures on the displayed page. Such pictures portray traditional tools, people and places connected with the corporation's history. How much do the pictures convey a message of tradition? Please consider the following examples:
1. A picture that is weakly focused on tradition is a general picture in which subjects overlap and the object of tradition cannot be grasped easily. For instance if a chocolate manufacturer website shows pictures of traditional tools just highlight the importance of the new, modern and more innovative tools, then the pictures have to be considered weakly focused on tradition.
2. A picture that is strongly focused on tradition clearly portraits the object of
tradition and undoubtedly make it the subject of the picture. For instance, a picture present on a beverage-based corporation website that shows their old alembics,
without any other subject around, and with a special prominence in the page, has to be considered strongly focused on tradition.
The pictures do not have a theme focus (0) The pictures have a weak focus (1)
The pictures have a moderate focus (2) The pictures have a strong focus (3)
Q12 Family texts
Read the texts thoroughly and examine in detail the family theme. In such a theme, the family dimension is highlighted not only by expressing a family ownership(if that is the case) but also by stressing the family-like organizational culture, the beliefs and the importance given to the family as a value. How much do the texts focus on the family theme? Please indicate the level of the focus given to the family theme emerging from the texts. Please consider the following examples:
1. A section that has a weak focus on family will have texts that quickly fly over, barely mention or superficially talks about the topic.
2. A section that has a moderate focus on the family theme describes corporation's origins and mentions whether the corporation is still lead by the founding family. The corporation culture is described as composed by many values, amongst which also the family one is present. Families are mentioned only on the consumer side, especially if relevant for the corporation business.
3. A section that has a strong focus on the family theme extensively talks about the family as key value for the corporation. If the corporation was founded by (or it is still owned by the founding family), a family, considerable details are given about the founding family and its vicissitudes. Corporation management, employees and consumers are defined as one unitarian being in which all belong to one big and supportive family. Modern families are also addressed in these texts, highlighting their importance in nowadays activities.
The texts do not have a theme (0) The texts have a weak focus (1) The texts have a moderate focus (2) The texts have a strong focus (3)
Q13 Family pictures
Scan and take a critical look at the pictures on the displayed page. Such picture portrays the corporation's founding family, the ownership-family, generic representation of families. How much do the pictures convey the family value? Please consider the following examples:
1. A picture that has a weak focus on family is a general picture in which subjects overlap and the family is not readily recognizable. For instance, pictures in which family members are engaged in activities that could distract from the emphasis of the "family-first" value. The placement of the family in relation to other objects in picture's frame is marginal.
2. A picture that has a strong focus on family clearly portraits the family or family members. For instance, pictures of families, either casual families or the
ownership-family, are prominently higher and more recurring than other subjects. Family members intentionally pose to be portrayed in a family picture. The family is not performing any other activity that could mislead the transmission of the ''family-first" value.
The pictures do not have a theme focus (0) The pictures have a weak focus (1)
The pictures have a moderate focus (2) The pictures have a strong focus (3)
Q14 Business texts
Read the texts thoroughly and examine in detail the business theme. Such theme is given by highlighting information about the management, factory developments, supply chain, ranks in the industry and business related terminology. How much do the texts focus on the business theme? Please indicate the level of the focus given to the business theme emerging from the texts. Please consider the following examples:
1. A section that has a weak focus on business has texts that quickly fly over, barely mention or superficially talks about the topic.
2. A section that has a moderate focus on business talks about such topic in a descriptive way. No particular emphasis is given to the information provided. Technical
vocabulary and reports are present only to explain the corporate business to consumers.
3. A section that has a strong focus on business highlights operations, performances, and the management of the corporation. Information about technological advancements of the production plant, specialists or the prestige of which the executive board is
composed and analysis of past and future operations are the core topics on the texts.
The texts have a theme focus (0) The texts have a weak focus (1) The texts have a moderate focus (2) The texts have a strong focus (3)
Q15 Business pictures
Scan and take a critical look at the pictures on the displayed page. Such picture portrays the corporation's business venues, members of the executive board, factories but also graphs and charts. How much do the pictures convey the business value? Please consider the following examples:
1. A picture that has a weak focus on the industrial setting does not explicitly represent the corporate business. For instance, generic landscapes or generic actors are
portrayed instead of the actual ones. There are no pictures but cliparts or digital icons substituting real subjects.
2. A picture that is weakly focused on the industrial setting clearly renders a business atmosphere by mainly framing places and actors of the corporation. For instance, real pictures of the management board, production plants, and group factories are
prominently higher and more recurring than other subjects The pictures do not have a theme focus (0)
The pictures have a weak focus (1) The pictures have a moderate focus (2) The pictures have a strong focus (3)
