Self-presenting strategies in a culturally and nationally mixed group: a definition in terms of power distance, individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity

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 Vietnamese letter contained a lot of self-oriented and direct expressions, while the Canadian and British applicants seemed to be very competitive and work-oriented. The German applicants had a tendency to be modest; they were very implicit in stating their qualities and expressed respect to a great extent according the employer. Finally, the Danish and Dutch applicant both seemed to be competitive as well as direct. They also had a tendency to include personal anecdotes in their letters, just like the German applicants.