Self-presenting strategies in a culturally and nationally mixed group

Self-presenting strategies in a

culturally and nationally

mixed group

A definition in terms of power distance, individualism versus

collectivism and masculinity versus femininity

Mariëlle Winter

MA in Applied Linguistics | Faculty of Liberal Arts | University of Groningen 15 May 2013

Supervisors:

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Abstract

This master’s thesis is written in the final stage of the Master programme Applied Linguistics, at the University of Groningen – Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. It aims at bringing together Applied Linguistics and International and Intercultural Communication. The focus of the study is on how self-presenting strategies in job application letters can linguistically be defined in terms of cultural values (Hofstede, 2001). The research question that is at the center of this study is:

How do applicants with different cultural backgrounds linguistically present themselves in job application letters concerning the cultural value dimensions power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity? And how do these findings correspond with the existing indexes concerning these dimensions?

In order to answer this question, a qualitative structure- and content analysis is conducted. The focus was on how applicants present themselves, rather than on to what extent the applicants behave in a certain pattern. Therefore, the goal was to provide an overview of all possible self-presenting behaviors that are present in job application letters, defined in terms of the cultural values power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity. Eleven authentic job application letters, written by a group of students from the master International Communication at the Geert Hofstede Consortium (Hanze University of Applied Sciences), is extensively analysed on structure and content in order to identify patterns in the self-presenting behaviors of the students. These students originated from Vietnam, Canada, The United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark. The content analysis consists of a power distance analysis, an individualism versus collectivism analysis and a masculinity versus femininity analysis. The values that seem to identify these value dimensions are the expected categories. Firstly the research defines how the cultural value dimensions are revealed in job application letters and secondly, an attempt is made to find an indication for what strategies are characterizing different nationalities.

The analyses proved that power distance is mostly revealed by showing respect, in the form of politeness, while individualism versus collectivism is mostly exposed by an orientation on ‘self’ versus ‘other’ and the directness and degree of honesty of what is said. Finally masculinity versus femininity is shown by the degree of competitiveness, the preference for work versus quality of life and the degree of assertive utterances. Secondly, the different nationalities seem to be behaving in clusters. The

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Foreword

Communication and language have always had my heart. Therefore undertaking a bachelor in Communication and Information Sciences, followed by a master’s programme in Applied Linguistics: Teaching English as a Foreign Language, at the University of Groningen, seemed to be the perfect path to follow. And that is exactly what I did. However, the emphasis on teaching English as a second language – though very interesting – did not totally satisfy my hunger for communication. A

conversation with my study advisor Hilde Hacquebord helped me deciding to take another road than the pre-paved one. Researching and solving communicational problems that arise when people are applying language in practical situations; that was what intrigued me. This pragmatic approach of Applied

Linguistics made it possible for me to do an internship at the Master International Communication at the Geert Hofstede Consortium (Hanze University of Applied Sciences), with the main task of developing a international job application training to be given at the end of this internship. The culturally and nationally mixed group of students that was subject to my training, inspired me to write my master’s thesis on the differences in self-presenting strategies in job application discourse that existed in that particular group.

First and foremost I would like to thank my supervisor Hilde Hacquebord for supporting me in writing my master’s thesis and for giving me the freedom to follow my own path within the master’s

programme Applied Linguistics. I would also like to thank my internship supervisor Jeanine Deen for her useful feedback and tips, that really helped me shaping my thesis.

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Table of content

Abstract ... i

Foreword ... ii

1. Introduction ... 1

1.1 Analyzing self-presenting strategies ... 2

1.2 Reading manual ... 2

2. Theoretical framework... 4

2.1 Self-presentation in job application letters; a culturally colored affair ... 4

2.2 Cultural value dimensions ... 4

2.2.1 The choice to focus on power distance, individualism and masculinity ... 5

2.2.2 Linguistic appearance of power distance ... 6

2.2.3 Linguistic appearance of individualism ... 6

2.2.4 Linguistic appearance of masculinity ... 6

2.3 Job application discourse; a type of branding ... 7

2.4 Speech act – request and persuasion ... 7

2.4.1 Locution... 7

2.4.2 Illocution ... 8

2.4.3 Perlocution ... 8

2.4.4 Focus of the analysis ... 9

2.4.5 Speech act versus writing act ... 9

2.4.6 Speech acts in job application discourse ... 9

2.5 The concept of face in job application letters ... 10

2.5.1 Face and requests ... 11

2.5.2 Face and claims about competencies ... 11

2.6 FTA’s and politeness ... 11

2.6.1 Off-record strategies in job application letters ... 12

2.6.2 Bald-on-record strategies in job application letters ... 12

2.6.3 Positive politeness ... 12

2.6.4 Negative politeness ... 12

2.6.5 The use of negative politeness for reducing positive FTA’s and vice versa ... 13

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2.7.1 Power distance scores of cultures of participants ... 13

2.7.2 Application of theory on analyses ... 15

3. Method ... 17 3.1 Data ... 17 3.2 Participants ... 18 3.3 Analyses ... 18 3.3.1 Structure analysis ... 19 3.3.2 Content analysis ... 19

3.3.3 Power distance analysis ... 20

3.3.4 Individualism versus collectivism analysis ... 22

3.3.5 Masculinity analysis ... 26

4. Results ... 29

4.1 Participants ... 29

4.2 Job application letters ... 29

4.3 Structure analysis ... 30

4.4 Content analysis ... 33

4.4.1 Power distance ... 33

4.4.2 Individualism ... 42

4.4.3 Masculinity ... 48

5. Conclusion and discussion ... 54

5.1 Features for linguistic self-representation in job application letters ... 54

5.1.1 Power distance and individualism ... 54

5.1.2 Masculinity ... 55

5.2 Self-presenting strategies ... 55

5.2.1 Self-presenting strategies that are classified as power distance ... 55

5.2.2 Self-presenting strategies that are classified as individualism ... 57

5.2.3 Masculine strategies ... 57

5.3 Self-representation per nationality ... 58

5.3.1 Self-representation in the Vietnamese letter ... 58

5.3.2 Self-representation in the Anglo-Saxon Letters ... 58

5.3.3 Self-representation in the German letters ... 59

v 5.4 Power distance, individualism and masculinity in job application letters and the correspondence with

the original indexes ... 60

5.4.1 How do the cultural values power distance, individualism and masculinity linguistically appear in job application letters, in the light of self-presenting strategies? ... 60

5.4.2 How do the findings correspond with the indexes concerning these dimensions? ... 60

References ... 62

Appendix I, data ... 65

Appendix II, structure analyses ... 76

Appendix III, power distance analysis ... 87

Appendix IV, individualism analysis ... 130

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1. Introduction

“I won’t waste your time inflating my credentials, throwing around exaggerated job titles, or feeding you a line of crapp about how my past experiences and skills set align perfectly for an investment banking internship. The truth is I have no unbelievably special skills or genius eccentricities, but I do have a near perfect GPA and will work hard for you” (M. Ross, 2013)

This phrase was originally written by Matthew Ross, an undergraduate finance student at San Diego University, and comes from a job application letter that he wrote in order to become hired as an intern at an investment bank. Certainly not the most conventional way of presenting yourself in a job

application letter, nevertheless; it worked out. At least for Matthew it did. His honest and direct way of describing himself and his qualities – or rather his lacking experiences and special skills – caught the positive attention of the managers at the bank to be addressed. Matthew reached his goal and got an internship and after his job application e-mail got viral, he received several job offers on top of that. Though this strikingly honest job application letter appeared to be appreciated by the Northern American bosses of Wall Street, the letter was also highly criticized. While some people respected his honesty, others believed that the letter was rude and impolite. It appears that a discrepancy might exist – based on culture-bound preferences – between the way applicants want or expect to be seen by others and the way others actually see them, and also between the points of view of various addressees. Applicants – like all speakers – present and represent themselves and their goals in a way that they think is the most suitable for reaching the goal. They try to create a social identity that they believe is

desirable in order to be accepted (LePage, 1986). However, what is accepted and appreciated differs from person to person and is influenced by culture (Shadid, 2007).

To be honest, I understand why the great men of the financial world were interested in Matthew. His application letter was refreshing and new. In addition, Matthew showed courage and proved to have the ability to stand out from the mass. However, that is my opinion. And I am Dutch. Not that special, although according to Hofstede (2001), The Netherlands belong to the top individualistic countries of Europe. And one of the characteristics of an individualistic society is that its members value honesty (De Mooij, 1998). No wonder that the big bosses of Wall Street were interested in Matthew; the United States is classified to be even more individualistic than The Netherlands (Hofstede, 2001). On the contrary; in a collectivistic country, for instance China, the letter would probably be a shame. Collectivistic societies are shame cultures (Wong and Tsai, 2007) and believe that admitting your shortcomings will make you lose face (Wing and Tsai, 2007; De Mooij, 1998). When Matthew would have sent this letter to an investment bank in China, his application would be rejected right away. However, can we state it that bluntly? Are cultures generally classifiable in boxes, even in today’s globalizing era?

2 How do applicants with different cultural backgrounds linguistically present themselves in job application letters concerning the cultural value dimensions power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity? And how do these findings correspond with the existing indexes concerning these dimensions?

1.1 Analyzing self-presenting strategies

The aim of this qualitative study is to shed light on the different self-presenting strategies that appear in the job application letters of applicants from Vietnam, Germany, Canada, The Netherlands and Denmark and on how these strategies are related to the cultural values power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity (Hofstede, 2001). Rather than testing how many times the applicants use a certain strategy, the focus is on what strategies they use. Therefore, the final goal is to provide a complete overview of self-presenting strategies and values that the applicants seem to use. The cultural value dimensions power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity function as a starting point for the analysis. The aim of this analysis is not to check to what extent a participant from a certain country is behaving conform the scores on the dimensions as stated by Hofstede (2001), but rather to determine how applicants from a specific culture deal with strategies that ‘belong’ to a specific dimension according to Hofstede, regardless the indexes for the countries the applicants originate from. Therefore, one can state that the content of the dimensions is used in order to conduct a qualitative analysis. However, the results are quantitatively presented, in order to create a clear overview of the frequencies of the distributions.

1.2 Reading manual

Firstly, the theory that is of importance to interpret the analysis and its results is presented in chapter 2. This chapter outlines the conventions that already exist on job application discourse, self-presenting strategies and cultural differences. Firstly, chapter 2.1 explains some general agreements about self-presentation in job application letters across cultures, followed by an explanation on the Cultural Value Dimensions by Hofstede (2001) in chapter 2.2. The expected linguistic appearances of the dimensions and an elucidation on the decision to focus on power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity will be given. In the chapters that follow, the central view in this study on job application discourse will be discussed (2.3) as well as the speech acts (2.4) and the face-work and politeness to be expected in job application letters(2.6 and 2.6). Finally, chapter 2.7 explains how the theory will be applied to the analysis.

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2. Theoretical framework

This chapter will explain the theory that was used in order to create an analysis on self-presenting strategies of applicants with different cultural backgrounds. It also provided a framework for the

presuppositions on which the analyses are based. Firstly self-presentation in job application discourse in an intercultural context will be explained, secondly cultural differences will be clarified with the Cultural Value Dimensions Theory (Hofstede, 2001) and finally the notions concerning the type of discourse will be explained. These notions concern the genre as well as the speech acts that are realized and the other-oriented face-work strategies that are used in order to realize self-presentation.

2.1 Self-presentation in job application letters; a culturally colored affair

Self-representation; how does one want to be seen by others? In job application letters, an applicant performs self-presenting strategies in order to reveal his or her suitability concerning a job to be offered to someone who might be their future employer. The aim of the letter is to become hired and therefore, people will have to show their employability. The aim of the letter is to become representative as suitable for a specific job. Concerning to Yorke (2006), employability is “a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy” (Yorke, 2006, pp. 8, §6)

Although applicants aim at one and the same thing – being hired -, the term ‘employability’ is not a static feature. What is perceived as employability seems to differ among individuals. Therefore, the choices individuals make in order to reach employment will vary. Especially individuals with different cultural backgrounds seem to value different norms and standards concerning what employability exactly entails (Gumperz, 1979). When people with different values are conversing towards a specific goal – e.g. employment – but have different ideas about how to reach that goal, they might get involved in a situation of misunderstanding. In his documentary Crosstalk (1979) Gumperz refers to a job

application interview with an Indian applicant and a British employer. When the Indian man is asked about his academic experiences – or rather his lack of academic experiences – the Indian applicant does not answer in a desired way. Rather than selling himself, he is stating to be ‘qualified’. The Indian man is focused on his academic education and is assumes that this accomplishment automatically makes him competent for a job. The employer however, is not so much interested in his education but rather in his competencies. It seems that the employer believes that an academic level will be reached by working hard and gaining experiences, while the applicant assumes that an academic level automatically follows after being graduated from a university. A theory that is seeking to find an explanation for these cultural differences is the Value Dimensions Theory by Geert Hofstede (2001).

2.2 Cultural value dimensions

A theory that aims at explaining cultural differences is the Cultural Value Dimensions theory by Geert Hofstede (2001). This theory states that cultures can be explained by these six dimensions:

- Power Distance (PDI)

5 - Individualism versus collectivism (IDV)

o The extent to which members from a society are used to look after themselves (IDV), or after the group (COL).

- Masculinity versus femininity (MAS)

o The extent to which members from a society adhere to competitiveness, assertiveness, heroism, material rewards and a division of gender roles (MAS), or to quality of life, consensus and an overlap of gender roles (FEM).

- Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)

o UAI explains to what extent the members of a society feel uncomfortable in unknown or uncertain situations.

- Long-term versus short-term orientation (LTO)

o The way a society deals with time; long-term oriented societies are oriented towards the future and short -term oriented societies are oriented towards the past and present time. - Indulgence versus Restraint (IVR)

o IVR explains how a society deals with the basic human thrifts; hedonism. In an

indulgence society, members are free to fulfill these basic needs. In a restraint society, members are bound to strict rules.

2.2.1 The choice to focus on power distance, individualism and masculinity

According to Hofstede, the dimensions explained in the preceding paragraph more or less play a role in all cultures. However; in this study, the choice is made to focus on three of the six dimensions. These dimensions concern power distance, individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity. The reason for this is that these dimensions are expected to be the most relevant concerning self-presentation. Hofstede (2001) and De Mooij (1998) explain that power distance is the extent to which people accept and expect that power is unequally distributed. This might influence the beliefs of applicants about how one should ideally be seen by others; as a lower-positioned or as an equal (De Mooij, 1998). This expected social order is influencing the language to be used (Gumperz, 1982).

Individualism/collectivism is the second dimension that will be taken account for during the analyses. According to Hofstede (2001) and De Mooij (1998), individualism versus collectivism will be expressed by the way people are oriented towards their own lives (individualistic) or how they live on behalf of the group (collectivistic). Logically, people who live on behalf of the group will probably be more concerned about how they will be seen by others than individualists, as the latter only have to take care for themselves. As this study focuses on self-presentation, individualism versus collectivism is expected to influence these self-presenting strategies.

self-6 presenting strategies directly as they are not directly related to how one wishes to be seen by others. The three dimensions – power distance, individualism and masculinity – will be explained in more detail in the next three paragraphs.

2.2.2 Linguistic appearance of power distance

In communicational settings, the amount of respect or disrespect is expected to be the most important indicator for power distance (West and Turner, 2010). De Mooij (1998) gives an example of this

expression of respect, namely apologizing. People from high power distance cultures will apologize more often, as they are seeking the fault by themselves. She also states that people who become dependent – and applicants are more or less dependent concerning the employer – will enhance the employer’s self-esteem “by giving a sense of being needed and idealized” (De Mooij, 1998, pp.75). Consequently, people from low power distant cultures will probably show less respect and politeness (See chapter 2.6, FTA’s and politeness). They will treat the employer as equal. The extent to which an applicant adheres to power distance will for instance be revealed in the salutation and greeting. Denmark for instance, is a country with a very low power distance index. In the next chapter (§3.3.3) describes the analysis of power distance. The results (§4.4.1) show that the Danish applicant did not realize a salutation, nor a greeting. Another example from the linguistic appearance of power distance is the German way of dealing with salutations and greetings. According to Hofstede (2001) Germany has a higher power distance index and totally in line with the expected linguistic appearances of West and Turner (2010), none of the German applicants lacked in saluting or greeting extensively.

2.2.3 Linguistic appearance of individualism

Individualistic members have a tendency to be direct, as they only have to look after themselves (De Mooij, 1998). They do not hesitate to tell the honest truth, tell personal anecdotes and are very much oriented towards their own benefits (Wu and Rubin, 2000). The direct component in individualistic communication makes it difficult to analyze individualism and power distance as two separate

dimensions. Therefore in this study, the choice is made that an expression of respect and idealization – expressing face-work (see chapter 2.5, The concept of face in job application letters) – is an indication for power distant behavior, while the orientation towards ‘self’ or ‘other’ will be coded as individualistic versus collectivistic behavior. In addition, this study also adheres to the idea that individualistic versus collectivistic expressions could be recognized due to directness; omitting to delay the claims that are made (IDV) or using extensive introductions in order to make the expression less direct (COL) (Wu and Rubin, 2000).

2.2.4 Linguistic appearance of masculinity

According to de Mooij (1998), there are four important indications for masculinity; achievement,

7 “I believe I am a top candidate for such a position …”

This utterance is an expression of self-confidence and competitiveness as well. On the one hand the applicant is expressing to ‘believe to be a top candidate’ and on the other hand the terminology (‘top’) indicates that the applicant tries to explain that he belongs to the best candidates that are available. These expressions of competitiveness as well as the expression of self-confidence are masculine characteristics, according to De Mooij (1998).

Femininity in job application discourse

The aspects that belong to femininity are quite contrary to the goals one is trying to achieve while participating in job application discourse. The main reason for participating in job application discourse is: receiving a job offer by showing how employable one is (Yorke, 2006). De Mooij (1998) states that in feminine cultures, “quality in life is more important than winning” (pp. 80) and Gudykunst (2003) explains that people from feminine cultures work to be able to live rather than live to be able to work. That said, it appears quite unlikely that applicants will use explicit feminine strategies in order to brand themselves. That does not mean that there will not be different gradations in the use of masculinity. Therefore, when no feminine expressions will be found, a lack of masculine expressions will be regarded as an indicator for femininity.

2.3 Job application discourse; a type of branding

In this study, showing one’s employability – in order to gain employment – is regarded as a type of branding. Where salespeople try to sell their services and goods to customers by marketing strategies, employees try to sell themselves to their potential future employers by self-presenting strategies. In that regard, Marieke de Mooij’s research on Hofstede’s value dimensions in marketing strategies (1998) is – though slightly adjusted - applicable to a research design on self-presenting strategies. Although marketing strategies and self-presenting strategies are not directly the same, the choice to apply her theory on research to job application letters will be justified by the fact that both marketing- and job application discourse are based on one and the same speech act; request and persuasion (see chapter 2.4, Speech act). McCorkle et al. (2003), who also states job application discourse to be a kind of

marketing, refers to self-presenting strategies as self-marketing. The idea of job application discourse as a form of self-marketing is one of the presuppositions on which the analysis models are based.

2.4 Speech act – request and persuasion

Next to a type of self-marketing, job application letters can be perceived as so-called speech acts. The term speech act entails that what is said, is not said without intentions; the speaker wants to accomplish a goal by realizing an utterance (Searle, 1969). In other words; a speech act is realized in order to get something achieved; the utterance is not only speech, it is an act. In this sense, this act is a request for employment that is realized by different strategies. A speech act always consists of three levels; the locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary level (Austin, 1962).

2.4.1 Locution

8 letter or the sentences or phrases within that letter (this depends on the level on which one would like to analyse the written content) at face-value. Examples of concepts that could be analysed on

locutionary level are the words that are used and the misspellings that are made (Austin, 1962). When an applicant for instance states: “I’m looking for a job that I can have a chance to apply the knowledge and gain more experience” than exactly that sentence is the locution. With exactly is meant that the whole written sentence with its belonging letters, words, misspellings, abbreviations, text color(s), and font is the locutionary act. This also means that the locutionary act for spoken language is even more complex; all the slip of the tongues, tonations, pauses etc. have to be taken into account for analyzing the locutionary act.

2.4.2 Illocution

The illocutionary act is the message that the speaker means to carry out. The illocution covers what the speaker means with what he or she is uttering (Austin, 1962). This means that three different locutions might have one and the same illocution. The next three expressions are closing sentences of application letters. They all have different locutions, but the same illocutionary function, namely a request. The illocution will be; “do you want to hire me?”:

1. “It would make me very happy in case you take a positive decision on my application” 2. “Please consider me for the programme and let me know your thoughts”

3. “I’m really interested in this job”

Next to the illocution of requesting, the first and last expression also have another illocution, which could be described as guaranteeing. The applicant in sentence 1 guarantees to become happy, while the applicant in sentence 3 claims to be interested.

2.4.3 Perlocution

Next to the locutionary and illocutionary act, a speech act also contains a perlocutionary act. The perlocutionary act is the intended or unintended effect that the speaker or writer accomplishes with his or her utterance. A locution might have one illocution, but could have various perlocutions. When the perlocution is in alignment with the illocution, than the speech act is successful for the speaker (Austin, 1962). The following two sentences are locutions that are isolated from job application letters:

1. “I am hopeful that my academic background, personal perspective, and strong motivation make me a unique candidate for this position”

2. “I’m really interested in this job”

Again, both utterances have the same illocutionary function of requesting and claiming. However, the second utterance seems to entail other perlocutions than the first expression. The first expression has three perlocutions at face-value;

- Making the hearer understand the illocution, thus the message - Convincing the employer of the applicant’s qualities

9 The second utterance has different (and seemingly more) perlocutions;

- Making the hearer understand the illocution, thus the message - Convincing the hearer of the claim that the applicant is interested

- Convincing the hearer of incapability concerning the competency to write adequately in English - Preventing the hearer (employer) from acting in alignment with the illocutionary function of

request because of doubts concerning the qualities of the applicant 2.4.4 Focus of the analysis

During the analysis, the focus is mainly on the illocutionary level. Important for analysing perceptions about self-presenting strategies is the way applicants believe how they should present themselves, rather than what effect their strategies have on the employer. For the latter, a view on perlocutionary level will be more interesting.

2.4.5 Speech act versus writing act

Although job application letters are written rather than spoken discourse, they writer of the letter still wants to accomplish something by what he or she has written; getting hired. In this sense, the medium that is used in order to perform the speech act does not change the act of requesting. This however might be the case for actions that are subject to the moment on which they occur, for instance commands or bets. According to Bornedal, these actions are set in the “motion of the very moment of the pronunciation” (1997, pp. 146). The term speech act therefore, might sound too limited for the concept it is describing. Tseng (2010) describes the speech act in institutional settings to be a pragmatic act; an act that is subject to the context and need not to be speech per se. The term pragmatic act better fits the context of this study.

2.4.6 Speech acts in job application discourse

Not much research is done concerning speech acts in job application discourse. Although a lot of studies focus on the job interview, these findings can hardly be applied to research concerning job application letters, as letters do not allow for interaction. However, Tseng (2010) dis research on the effectiveness of the performances and their relevancy in job application videos. Though a video is a significant different device than a letter, they have one important characteristic in common; both do not allow for interaction (Tseng, 2010). He states that an applicant “aims to affect its addressee or persuade him/her to act in a certain way, e.g. to impress and to influence the addressee’s decision-making” (Tseng, 2010, pp. 573). From that notion, one can deduce that in job application videos – and thus letters – persuasion plays an important role. The applicant is trying to convince the employer of his or her suitability, but how the applicant is realizing this persuasive act will differ according to personal and cultural preferences. According to Kennedy (2011), a persuasive act might be masqueraded, for instance by expressing ‘thank you’.

10 While zooming in on the illocutionary forces, more or less complicated speech act seems to be going on in job application discourse. Applicants are both offering themselves (Al-Ali, 2004) and requesting for employment (Tseng, 2010), as their goal is to convince the employer that he or she is the right candidate to hire. The applicant wants to cause the employer to take action (reading the letter, inviting the

employer and eventually hiring the employer), which characterizes the application letter as a directive action (Searle, 1975). In this study, the act of offering is considered to be a means for realizing the request. The act of offering, which belongs to the commissive actions (Searle, 1975), is not considered to be the main act of the letter. Another act that is described by Zseng (2010) is the identification. This identification is the shaping of the desired identity by the applicant (Zseng, 2010). In job application letters, the applicant is trying to identify him- or herself as a capable – or sometimes as the best – applicant. This will logically be realized by claims about competencies (Zseng, 2010).

This decision is made based on the fact that the applicant not just doing the employer a favour but rather wants to get hired for personal benefits (pursuing a career, receiving salary) and – even more important – would not be the only applicant that is aiming at the job. Therefore, applicants have to compete. So one can carefully deduce that when applicants are competing to get hired, the claim of a job application to be an offer will not sufficiently explain the situation. The whole situation would be different when the job – which is at the centre of the situation – will be voluntary and hard to find employers for. In such a setting, the applicants would not have to compete and will do the employer a favour, rather than that the employee will benefit from the job to be offered.

To summarize, the directive request is at the centre of the application letter, and this request will be realized with claims about competencies (representatives), and offers and promises for the future (commisives). These requests, claims about competencies and offers and promises do put a pressure on the employer in a certain way. Therefore, they might have an effect on the self-image of the reader as well (Brown and Levinson, 1987). How these speech acts might affect the employer’s self-image and how applicants might take this into account while presenting themselves, will be explained in the next chapter.

2.5 The concept of face in job application letters

Everyone has a desired self-image; a speaker (or writer) as well as hearer (or reader) both have an image or desired identity that he or she will try to protect and that will also be protected by others in most situations. This self-image is called face (Goffman, 1955). Goffman calls the strategies that people use in order to protect their and other’s faces face-work (1955). Face-work can be self- and other-oriented (Ting-Toomey and Oetzel, 2001). In this study, the focus is mainly on how the applicants present

11 applicants realize face-work and to what extent they will do so, might be varying from person to person, and from culture to culture.

According to brown and Levinson, the concept of face consists of two parts; a negative and a positive face. The negative face is said to be the desire to be free in action and choice. As soon as a speaker reveal to want something from the hearer, this freedom might be impeded and so the negative face of the hearer will be harmed (Brown and Levinson, 1987). The positive face is said to be the wish to be approved and appreciated, and will be harmed when expressions of a speaker are in conflict with this wish, for instance insults (Brown and Levinson, 1987).

2.5.1 Face and requests

According to Brown and Levinson, requests impede the freedom of action and choice of the hearer. In the case of job application letters, the freedom of action and choice of the employer will be impeded by reading a job application letter. The job application letter aims at persuading the employer to hire the applicant (Tseng, 2010). Therefore, requests might be harming the negative face of the employer. For that reason, requests are called negative face threatening acts (Brown and Levinson, 1987).

2.5.2 Face and claims about competencies

When an applicant claims to be competent, he or she is uttering a positive face threatening act. Positive FTA’s might harm the hearer’s feelings of being appreciated, admired, liked etc. (Brown and Levinson). When an applicant is claiming to be the ‘the best’, or more indirectly indicating to be competent, this might negatively affect the feelings of the employer about his or her own competencies or self-image. In some cases, it might even be perceived as ‘boasting’ (Marieke De Mooij, 1998).

2.6 FTA’s and politeness

12 2.6.1 Off-record strategies in job application letters

For realizing a FTA, there are two options; doing the FTA on- and off the record. Doing on off-record FTA means that the FTA is masqueraded; it is a total indirect FTA. An off-record FTA will only be done when the FTA is expected to be very damaging thus risky (Brown and Levinson, 1987). An example of an off-record request (negative FTA) is;

- “I am hopeful that my academic background, personal perspective, and strong motivation make me a unique candidate for this position”

The applicant is trying to avoid to damage the negative face of the employer by making the request look like a simple constative, hiding the request.

2.6.2 Bald-on-record strategies in job application letters

For doing the FTA on the record, there are three possibilities; doing it bald-on-record, using positive politeness and using negative politeness. Bald-on-record is the most damaging form of politeness and is in fact the absence of politeness (Brown and Levinson, 1987). It means that the FTA is not redressed at all, for instance;

- “Hire me” (negative FTA)

- “I am better than the rest” (positive FTA)

Taking the quote of Brown and Levinson into consideration – that bald-on-record FTA’s will only occur in situations that the speaker does not care about the hearer’s face and is only aiming at a maximum effect of the FTA (Brown and Levinson, 1987, pp. 59-60) – one can carefully assume that this type of

‘politeness’ will not be used in job application letters. 2.6.3 Positive politeness

Positive politeness means that the speaker is redressing the FTA by meeting the positive face of the hearer. The expression is positively dressed (not that the expressions are also off-record);

- “I consider it an honour to work for the company” (Negative FTA)

- “Though I know that your company maintains high standards, I believe I can meet them” (positive FTA)

The first utterance is a request that is realized by positive strategies; the applicant is flattering the employer. However, it is also an off-record strategy, as the applicant is actually realizing a request for employment by flattering the employer. This sentence could be seen as a part of the realization of the request for employment. The second example is a positive FTA, as the applicant is claiming to be

competent. However, he is weakening the FTA by premising that the company maintains high standards; the employer does not have to feel affected in his or her self-esteem.

2.6.4 Negative politeness

13 - “Could you please take the time to take my letter into consideration?” (negative FTA)

- “I think and hope that I will work sufficient” (positive FTA)

In the first expression, the applicant is trying to avoid to impede the freedom of action and choice of the employer. The applicant gives the employer the freedom to make his or her own choice by offering time and being humble by adding ‘please’. In the second expression, the applicant is trying to solve a positive FTA (claiming to be competent) with negative politeness. The applicant gives the employer the freedom to judge about the applicant’s qualities; “I think and hope ..”.

2.6.5 The use of negative politeness for reducing positive FTA’s and vice versa

Brown and Levinson (1987) implicate that positive politeness strategies try to solve positive FTA’s and negative politeness strategies aim at solving negative FTA’s. However, the analyses of this study show that positive strategies will also be used for reducing the effect of negative FTA’s and negative strategies are also realized in order to reduce the effect of positive FTA’s. Therefore, the strategies that applicants use, are an indication of what face is important for them. The strategies that the applicant is realizing will reveal what face the applicant values and along with that, how the applicant is aiming at being accepted by the employer.

2.7 Analysis on self-presenting strategies in job application letters based on

the cultural dimensions power distance, individualism and masculinity

The cultural dimensions theory was originally designed as an explanatory tool for the intercultural differences that exist regarding work-related values (Hofstede, 1980). Therefore, the values are expected to be very applicable in a work-related environment. The theory nowadays turns out to be very applicable to several other disciplines next to the work-related environment (Hofstede, 1980), for instance to the marketing (De Mooij, 1998) and communication field (Shadid, 2007).

The fact that the theory is applicable to so many disciplines indicates that the theory has a very open character. This open character seems to make the Cultural Dimensions Theory applicable for qualitative purposes. The theory also embraces various components that are related to self-presenting strategies, e.g. honesty – which is an individualistic feature (Wu and Rubin, 2000) –, politeness and face-keeping strategies – mostly shown by collectivistic and feminine people – as well as competitiveness versus modesty (De Mooij, 1998). According to the communicational and linguistic appearance of the dimensions (De Mooij, 1998; Shadid, 2007; West and Turner, 2010; Wu and Rubin, 2000), the theory seems to be a good starting point for an analysis on self-presenting strategies as self-presenting strategies do reveal the values that the employer adheres to (Gumperz, 1979).

2.7.1 Power distance scores of cultures of participants

14 Figure 1, indexes for Vietnam and Germany

Source: http://geert-hofstede.com

Figure 1 reveals that Germany is both masculine and individualistic, however; the members of the society are also moderately power distant. Therefore, they are expected to behave in a competitive and direct manner (De Mooij, 1998). Vietnam on the contrary, is very power distant and collectivistic. Vietnamese applicants will probably use a lot of politeness strategies and avoid honest, hurting expressions and direct language (Wu and Rubin, 2000).

Figure 2, indexes for Canada and the United Kingdom

Source: http://geert-hofstede.com

Figure 2 displays the indexes for Canada and the United Kingdom. They both score quite similar and are expected to be very self-oriented and competitive, as they are both individualistic and masculine countries (De Mooij, 1998).

PDI= Power distance index IDV= Individualism index MAS= Masculinity index

15 Figure 3, indexes for the Netherlands and Denmark

Source: http://geert-hofstede.com

Finally, figure 3 outlines the results for Denmark and The Netherlands. They are a feminine country, thus expected to behave in a modest, caring and anti-competitive way (Hofstede, 2001). They are also honest and direct, as they score very high on individualism (De Mooij, 1998; Wu and Rubin, 2000). Their job application letters will probably lack politeness strategies, as both countries have a low power distance index (West and Turner, 2010).

2.7.2 Application of theory on analyses

While applying the Cultural Value Dimensions to an analysis on cultural differences concerning self-presenting strategies, one has to keep in mind that the results by Hofstede (2001) were acquired by analyses on data which was gathered by a longitudinal study on the different values among individuals that were employed by IBM. As the data for Hofstede’s study was gathered in a specific setting – IBM – one cannot directly generalize these results to nationalities in general. Therefore, the cultural

dimensions in this study are considered to be a means in order to explain the and categorize the outcomes, rather than a static given that will be analyzed in terms of how often it appears per culture. In the next chapter, an analysis model will be explained that aims at analyzing the act ‘request’ with persuading arguments in the form of a job application letter. When it comes to how the requests and persuasive acts will be realized, the cultural dimensions will come into play. The dimensions cover the culturally colored values that the applicant adheres to (Hofstede, 2001). Therefore, three content analyses will be conducted. The first analysis will be based on the indications for power distance, the second analysis on the indications for individualism and the last analysis will be constructed by keeping in mind the indicators for masculinity.

2.7.2.1 Application of theory on power distance analysis

Regarding the dimension power distance, the most important indicator is respect (Kirkman et al., 2009) which linguistically seems to appear as the realization of face-work (Merkin, 2006). Therefore, the realization of politeness strategies is expected to be the most important indicator for power distance. However, one has to keep in mind that the focus of the study is qualitative. Therefore, the categories should be kept as open as possible (see paragraph 3.3.3, Power distance). The categorization of

utterances will mainly be based on the realization of off-record and on-record strategies. The on-record PDI= Power distance index

16 strategies that will be used will be divided up into bald-on-record, positive politeness and negative politeness. According to Brown and Levinson (1987), speakers use politeness when they believe there is a risk that their utterances might harm the face of the hearer. Each strategy seems to fit a different expected degree of risk. According to the politeness theory, the order of strategies from most face-saving to leas face-face-saving will be given below;

Off-record  used for a FTA with very high risk of damaging FACE Negative politeness  used for a FTA with a risk of damaging face Positive politeness  used for a FTA with a small risk of damaging face

Bald-on-record  Used for a FTA with no risk of damaging face or in order to insult someone

Therefore, the results could be classified in different categories, from extremely polite – thus very face-saving – until impolite. Thus ‘impoliteness’ will be classified as equality, given that the applicant is not using politeness strategies thus is not uttering respect, which indicates that the applicant does not accept and expect that power is unequally distributed (Kirkman et al. 2009; Merkin, 2006; Brown and Levinson, 1987).

2.7.2.2 Application of the theory on individualism analysis

The most important indicators for individualism in this study are considered to be looking after oneself versus looking after others (Hofstede, 2001) and the amount of directness versus indirectness (Wu and Rubin, 2000). Along with these indicators, five important features concerning individualism are expected to play a role in the appearance of individualism in communicational settings. The first one is directness; applicants from individualistic societies are expected to express themselves in a direct way as they are only interested in what matters for them, rather than what matters to others (Wu and Rubin, 2000). They do not waste time by ‘cozy’ and casual chats. The second one is the orientation on self or others, as individualistic people have a tendency to focus on themselves (Hofstede, 2001). Individualistic people are also known for being honest (De Mooij, 1998). This tendency to be honest stems from the fact that individualists do not take into consideration the opinions and beliefs of others (De Mooij, 1998). Finally, individualistic applicants are expected to have a preference for independent work over teamwork. This assumption is fed by the fact that they like to take responsibility for their own acts rather than for other’s. Individualists live for themselves (Hofstede, 2001).

2.7.2.3 Application of the theory on the masculinity analysis

For masculinity, there are expected to be four main indicators; achievement, competitiveness,

17

3. Method

In order to find the most fitting answer to the research question, we have to take a closer look at the question:

How do applicants with different cultural backgrounds linguistically present themselves in job application letters concerning the cultural value dimensions power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity? And how do these findings correspond with the existing indexes concerning these dimensions?

A qualitative research method will be most suitable for investigating cultural differences in self

presenting strategies. The study aims at taking into account all possible outcomes within the framework of intercultural and international job application discourse, rather than to find one general solution that globally gives an answer to a wide arrange of problems. In short, the purpose of this study is to provide a complete representation of all possible variations in job application-oriented self-presenting behavior that occurs within a culturally mixed group (Dinklo, 2006). The ways applicants from Vietnam, Canada, England, Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark present themselves in job application discourse will be analyzed and investigated in relation to Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions (Hofstede, 2001). This analysis may shed light on all possible differences that may exist and might lead to the answer on the research question.

Although the main approach of this study is qualitative, this research also has a comparative component, asking for a clear representation of the distribution of frequencies of certain behavior. Consequently, some quantitative means are used in order to organize and represent the results. A method that perfectly fits a qualitative research with quantitative components is the content analysis, which is said to be “the bridge between qualitative analysis of the research material and quantitative analysis” (Plancke, 2002, para. 4.1.1). In this research, the raw data exists of units in the form of job application letters. These will be divided up into propositional units, which can be compared both qualitatively and quantitatively.

3.1 Data

The data that will be used for analyzing, exists of job application letters written by a class of students of the Master of International Communication from the Geert Hofstede Consortium at the

Hanzehogeschool Groningen. These students had to hand in a job application letter and a CV for their unit Personal Development Planning. The students were asked to hand in a letter they had already available, in order to gain authentic data. Unfortunately, this entails that not all letters are written for the same purposes and organizations and some letters are written in a language different than English. As this might be interfering with the cultural values, the different purposes and languages of the letters are taken into account during the analyses. Eventually, it was choosing between artificially written and authentic job application letters.

18 as employable, they have to show what they think that will be presenting them as the best suitable applicant. From the expressions that the applicants use in order to show their suitability and employability, we will try to deduce the relevant values that they adhere to.

3.2 Participants

The participants in this research are fifteen students that participate in the Master’s programme International Communication at the Geert Hofstede Consortium. It is a culturally mixed group; the students have varying ethnicities and nationalities and their age is approximately around 25. The group is also sexually mixed; a feature to take into account while analyzing the letters. Regarding their

participation in the Master’s programme International Communication, the students are expected to have a background in linguistics or communication. Though the group is culturally mixed, the other conditions are kept as stable as possible. They all have a bachelor in communication or linguistics or another related field and therefore, the conditions ‘age’ and ‘interests’ are also expected to be quite stable.

3.3 Analyses

In this study, both a structure and a content analysis will be conducted. Although this research adopts a qualitative approach, not all analyses will be totally qualitative and data-driven. While the structure analysis will be totally data-driven, the content analyses will be semi-qualitative. This semi-qualitative design involves loosely pre-framed analysis models, based on literature, which are expected to catch all the self-presenting expressions that could be used in job application discourse. The analysis models will be based on very broad categories, and these categories will be modified during the analyses if

necessary.

A theoretically funded starting point is chosen in order to conduct the contentanalyses on self-presenting strategies. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the foundation in this research exists of three of the six Cultural Dimensions of Geert Hofstede (see §2.2.2, The choice to focus on power distance, individualism and masculinity);

 Masculinity

 Individualism

 Power Distance. (Hofstede, 2001)

The Cultural Dimensions Theory is suitable as a starting point for analyses on self-representation, as it aims at capturing all values that might be important for different cultures. Hofstede’s theory on the cultural value dimensions is applicable to all aspects in daily life, and its rather ‘open’ ends make it very suitable to use in favor of a qualitative approach. In addition, it also fits a research design concentrating on self-representation, as self-representation has everything to do with norms and standards;

19 feminine people – as well as competitiveness versus modesty (see chapter 2.2, Cultural value

dimensions).

3.3.1 Structure analysis

Though the emphasis in this research is on self-presenting strategies, it is important to gain some knowledge about the general structure of the job application letters, as the placement of expressions might also be part of the self-representation. Therefore, before the actual content analysis, a structure analysis will be conducted that exists of two parts.

In the first part, a general look will be taken at the structure of the letters. The first step is to generally analyze the letters on their structure at face-value, to see whether there are cultural differences on that level. During this analysis, the content is not yet taken into account. The most important goal of this analysis is to detect striking differences between the ‘look’ of the letter, for instance a totally aberrant structure at face-value. It is also meant as a means to arrange the results in a clear way, so that the analysis outcomes are easy to find in the original data.

The second step is to observe the more specific structure, to check what pieces of content are included and where they appear in the job application letters. These different pieces of content will be coded with digits from 1 to 100, in order to be able to compare the structures and pieces of content of the different letters. This method allows the researcher to investigate to what extent the letters have a structure in common and also the uniqueness of the different pieces of content in job application letters.

3.3.2 Content analysis

In the content analysis, a closer look will be taken at the self-presenting styles that applicants from varying cultures use in order to present themselves to their potential future employer. As the study will be qualitative with quantitative components, a research design is needed that allows both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. Therefore, a content analysis is conducted in order to identify the different self-presenting styles. For conducting the content analysis, the physical units (letters) are divided up into smaller units. These units consist of the so-called syntactic units (in this case sentences that function as utterances in the letters) and propositional units, which for this study are the logical parts of

20 analysis model that allows taking into account the frequency of distributions, the Cultural Value

Dimensions Theory by Geert Hofstede (2001) functioned as a framework.

Cultural dimensions as a starting point

In order to classify the self-presenting styles that applicants use, the Cultural Value Dimensions

(Hofstede, 2001) are used as a starting point. Three of the six cultural value dimensions are used for the research design of this study; power distance, individualism and masculinity (see paragraph 2.2.1, The choice to focus on power distance, individualism and masculinity). The analysis aims at defining self-presenting strategies in terms of power distance, individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity. Therefore, it is important to map how the three dimensions manifest themselves in job application letters. In order to do so, three analyses are designed; a power distance analysis, an

individualism/collectivism analysis and a masculinity/femininity analysis.

The Cultural Value Dimensions Theory has a very open character, as it tries to capture all aspects of daily life. Therefore, it is open enough to function as a starting point for qualitative research. In fact, it is a very suitable tool in order to develop an analysis model that is theoretically funded, as well as open enough to use for conducting a qualitative research. The following paragraphs will outline the content analysis – existing of three parts – based on power distance, individualism and masculinity in more detail.

3.3.3 Power distance analysis

The focus in this analysis will mainly be on the most extreme cases as for the purposes of this study, those are the most interesting. However, the ‘grey’ area between the most extreme cases cannot be ignored, because a lot of applicants are expected to behave in a moderately power distant-way. Therefore, we created a ‘moderate’ category, next to the two ‘extreme’ categories, which involves all expressions that are somehow not extreme enough to be put in the other two categories. What should be defined as ‘extreme’ or ‘moderate’ will, qualitatively wise, become clear during the analyses and be further discussed in the results and discussion (see §4.4.1, Power distance). The categories are based on the assumption that power distance – the extent to which people in a society accept that power is unequally distributed – is expressed by the amount of respect that people show in respect to their superiors and the disrespect or ignorance that superiors in a society express in respect to the lower positioned (Kirkman et al., 2009).

3.3.3.1 Categories

The three categories in this research for power distance will be: - Total equality  low power distance

21 The first category is based on the assumption that people from low power distance cultures value equality (Hofstede, 2001). This category includes all expressions that do not testify of an unequal relationship between the writer (applicant) and the reader (employer).

The second category involves all the expressions that do not testify of a total equivalence of power, nor an unequal distribution of power. Assuming that “unless a speaker’s want to do an FTA with maximum efficiency (defined as bald on record) is greater than a speaker’s want to preserve the hearer's (or speaker's) face to any degree, then the speaker will want to minimize the face threat of the FTA” (Brown and Levinson, 1987, pp. 59-60), we expect the moderately power distant expressions at least to contain politeness to some extent. The quote by brown and Levinson (1987) implies that most speakers – writers in this case – will use politeness to some extent. Therefore, the category is named ‘formal polite’.

According to Hofstede (2001), De Mooij (1998), people from high power distance cultures accept that power is unequally distributed. Consequently, in communicational settings, this value appears as showing respect to superiors (West and Turner, 2010). Therefore, the last category will be based on the assumption that in communicational settings, high power distance equals total respect.

The way applicants express respect, indicates how much they value power distance. The more an applicant will value power distance, the more face work he or she will use (Merkin, 2006). From that perspective, the operationalization of power distance is based on the politeness strategies by Brown and Levinson.

The operationalization of power distance in this study is based on three assumptions. The first one is that an applicant as writer of a job application letter will never avoid the face threatening act (FTA) (see chapter 2.6, FTA’s and politeness). This proposition is founded on the implication that writing a job application letter is already an FTA, as a job application letter is considered to be a speech act in the form of a request (see chapter 2.4, Speech act – request and persuasion). Therefore, the question is not if, but how the FTA it is realized. Given that the FTA will be realized in all cases, there are two possible ways to do so; on the record and off the record (see chapter 2.6, FTA’s and politeness). The second proposition is that power distance will mainly be shown by expressing respect to superiors (see paragraph 2.2.2, Linguistic appearance of power distance). The last proposition is that respect – thus power distance – in written communication will probably be expressed by showing politeness (Stephan, Liberman and Trope, 2010).

3.3.3.2 Labels

According to Brown and Levinson (1987), there are four possible ways to realize a face threatening act. These include three on-record styles:

22 - Off-record  Almost total reduction of the effect of the FTA

(Brown and Levinson, 1987)

These types of FTA-realizations are called politeness strategies (Brown and Levinson, 1987) and will form the labels for the categories. Bald-on-record-strategies will testify of total equality, positive strategies of formal polite and negative and off-record strategies of total respect. In order to keep the analysis as open as possible, due to the qualitative character of this study, there is also a label ‘other expressions of PD’. In case there might be another strategy in order to express power distance, this will be described under this label.

Although the research is qualitative, the categories and labels for power distance are loosely

pre-framed. Both the categories and labels are quite broad - thus are expected to catch every power distant expression in the letters - and will be modified during the analysis if necessary. See table 2 for an

example of the coding of power distance.

3.3.3.4 coding of power distance

The following tables will show the coding examples for the power distance analysis. Table 1, coding of power distance

Category Code

Total equality TotEqual

Formal Polite FormPol

Total Respect TotRes

Labels Code

Bald on record BALD

Positive politeness POSIT Negative Politeness NEGAT

Off-record OFFR

Other expressions of PD OTHER

Table 2, analysis example of power distance

3.3.4 Individualism versus collectivism analysis

The dimension power individualism can also be regarded as a scale, with individualism at the very left side and collectivism at the very right. This content analysis will take both sides of the scale into account. The reason for this lies in the fact that in persuasive communication, both individualistic and

collectivistic expressions could be used. The writer could choose to persuade by being self-centered and direct (individualistic), however one could also choose to persuade by more collectivistic strategies like

Letter Sentence ELEMENT TotEqual FormPol TotRes

BALD OTHER POSIT OTHER NEGAT OFFR OTHER 2CTRINma I believe I am a top

candidate for such a

position

23 being indirect, thus more face-protecting (Wu and Rubin, 2001). Therefore, the analysis of individualism will be two-sided, contrary to the masculinity analysis that only takes the masculine side of the scale into consideration (see chapter 3.3.5, ‘Masculinity’).

For the qualitative analysis of individualism in self presenting strategies, the framework is also based on theoretically funded key terms. The basic terms, that formed the basis for the key terms, are defined as follows:

- Looking after him- or herself versus looking after others - Being direct versus being indirect

(Hofstede, 2001)

All the utterances in the letters that somehow implicate one of these two characteristics are stated as individualistic or collectivistic utterances.

The key terms that will form the categories, are based on the operationalization of individualism by Wu and Rubin (2000) in their study on the influence of individualism and collectivism on argumentative writing. The categories that are used in order to conduct the individualism-analysis and categorize the outcomes are:

Directness

Does the applicant use direct or indirect formulations? Orientation

Is the applicant self- or other-oriented? Honesty

Is the applicant expressing honesty where it could be avoided? Cooperation

Does the applicant put an emphasis on independent tasks or teamwork? Politeness

Does the applicant use face-saving strategies?

3.3.4.1. Directness

Directness refers to the explicitness of the utterances. Members from individualistic cultures are used to express themselves very directly, as they are not used to take into account other people’s feelings and face. They look after themselves in the first place and do not feel to live on behalf of the group (De Mooij, 2011).Therefore, they are expected not to delay claims in order to protect the face of other people. Individualists rather state their claims directly (Wu and Rubin, 2000).When a face threatening act is stated very explicit and realized without any attempts to delay the claim or statement the

24 In their research on the influence of the values collectivism and individualism on argumentative writing, Wu and Rubin have split the category that in this research is referred to as directness, in two distinct categories: indirectness and assertiveness. In this research, directness is an umbrella category that includes both indirect and direct utterances. Therefore, indirect and direct are the labels for this analysis, while Wu and Rubin used two distinct categories rather than two labels under one category. Wu and Rubin also refer to directness as assertiveness, which in this research would be too ambiguous, as assertiveness is also a category in the masculinity-analysis.

3.3.4.2 Orientation; self or other

Generally, individualistic persons are expected to be self-oriented (Hofstede, 2001). They seemingly apply to a job because they could benefit from it and are not afraid to share that they apply out of selfish intentions, as they are used to look after themselves rather than to look after others (Hofstede, 2001). This automatically implies that expressions that are other-oriented are marked as collectivistic, as collectivistic societies have a tendency to live on behalf of others (De Mooij, 1998).

The concept that in this study is referred to as ‘orientation’, with its two labels self and other, is in the operationalization of Wu and Rubin split in two categories. They refer to orientation as personal disclosure (orientation on self) and collective self (orientation on other). For this study, the choice is made to create one category with two labels, rather than two separate categories, as collectivism and individualism are part of one and the same scale; collectivism would not exist without individualism and vice versa.

3.3.4.3 Honesty

Honesty is more or less related to directness. However, in this study honesty is meant to study the conversational implicature, rather than the syntactic placement of a claim. This involves that honesty is more about the content; do the applicants make confessions? Directness in this study has more to do with how statements are realized (syntactic placement of a claim).

According to Ting-Toomey and Chung (2011), honesty is a ‘top individualistic value’. Honesty in this sense is meant as a confession, testifying of an insensibility for losing face, which is an individualistic feature (Hall et al., 2004). Honesty also refers to an applicant’s openness about his or her own life. This contains the expression of personal preferences and personal stories (Wu and Rubin refer to this as personal anecdotes) that put an emphasize on the applicant as an individual.

The category honesty in this operationalization is more or less related to the two categories collective virtues and humaneness of Wu and Rubin. However, those categories only take account for the

collectivistic ways of argumentation, that are based on loyalty to the in-group and the moral values that people adhere to in order to keep their relationships strong (Wu and Rubin, 2000). In the