Does style matter? : A cross-cultural study into the influence of differences in style dimensions on the persuasiveness of business newsletters in Great Britain and the Netherlands

摘要

An important consideration in the field of intercultural communication is the difference in communication styles between cultures. Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey (1988) distinguish four dimensions of communication styles: direct - indirect, instrumental – affective, personal – contextual and succinct – elaborate. This last dimension is central to the present study. In an experiment the attractiveness and persuasiveness of a succinct and an elaborate business newsletter was investigated in two countries: Great Britain and the Netherlands. Findings show that, although respondents clearly recognized the style differences between the two newsletters, these style differences had a limited effect on respondents’ reactions to the newsletters. The study did not provide any evidence that there were differences between respondents from Great Britain and the Netherlands in their preference for a succinct or elaborate communication style.