Cultural Orientation and Preference for Third Party Help: A Bi-Cultural Comparison between Dutch and Turkish Employees

Abstract

This study is from the disputant perspective to investigate individual preference for different types of third party help, and to explore the impact of individual cultural orientations on the preference for a certain type of third party help across ethnic cultures. Four types of preference for third help are first identified: the preference for procedural help; the preference for relational help; the preference for social-emotional help; and the preference for content help. They are then theoretically linked with the individual cultural orientation (the uncertainty-avoidance orientation; the collectivistic orientation; the individualistic orientation; and the masculinity orientation). Next, we draw a sample in the Netherlands consisting of 106 employees from a Turkish ethnic group and 83 employees from a Dutch ethnic group to empirically test the theoretical assumptions. In line with our hypotheses, the results show that, only in the Turkish group (but not in the Dutch group), the uncertainty avoidance orientation (and the masculinity orientation) has a positive impact on the preference for the procedural help (and the preference for the content help). Contrary to our expectations, the individualistic orientation shows a negative impact on the preference for the relational help, and the collectivistic orientation has a positive impact on the social-emotional help. Explanations and implications of the findings are discussed.