Psychological Distance and Culture

Michael Roberts

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:250052 • DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-0214-3.ch002

This chapter introduces psychological distance into cultural studies as an alternative way of conceptualizing individual differences. Unlike most cross-cultural frameworks that are at the group level, psychological distance provides an individual level conceptualization of distance. This conceptualization can complement the more group level and static frameworks that dominate management theory. The framework is rooted in knowledge theory. By developing the concepts of socially embedded tacit vs. explicit knowledge, the chapter demonstrates that explicit models of cultural difference, such as Hoftsede's Cultural Dimensions, do not capture the lived tacit experience of managers working in a cross-cultural setting. This chapter is conceptual, but the framework that is developed here emerged from fieldwork conducted by the author on returnee executives in Korea. Psychological distance consists of four dimensions: time, space, social relations, and probability. These dimensions relate to the level of mental construal between an individual and a foreign knowledge practice.

Business & Organizational Research Business and Management Human Aspects of Business Social Sciences and Humanities