The DOI matches its Crossref record.
Unequal Relationships in High and Low Power Distance Societies: A Comparative Study of Ibtor-Student Role Relations in Britain and China
Abstract
This study investigated people's conceptions of an unequal role relationship in two different types of society: a high power distance society and a low power distance society. The study focuses on the role relationship of tutor and student. British and Chinese tutors and postgraduate students completed a questionnaire that probed their conceptions of degrees of power differential and social distance/closeness in this role relationship. ANOVA results yielded a significant nationality effect for both aspects. Chinese respondents judged the relationship to be closer and to have a greater power differential than did British respondents. Written comments on the questionnaire and interviews with 9 Chinese academics who had experienced both British and Chinese academic environments supported the statistical findings and indicated that there are fundamental ideological differences associated with the differing conceptions. The results are discussed in relation to Western and Asian concepts of leadership and differing perspectives on the compatibility/incompatibility of power and distance/closeness.
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“In hierarchical countries, students likely perceive greater status differences with their teachers (Spencer-Oatey, 1997).”
From Students’ Sense of Belonging at School in 41 Countries: Cross-Cultural Variability (2016) · cites this paper as Spencer-Oatey, 1997
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Cited by
Students’ Sense of Belonging at School in 41 Countries: Cross-Cultural Variability
Chiu, M. M., Chow, B. W.-Y., McBride, C., & Mol, S. T. (2016) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022022115617031 · Cited by 180
Metadata
- Authors
- Spencer-Oatey, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Luton,
- Venue
- Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1997-05
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 284-302
- ISSN
- 0022-0221 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-5422
- OpenAlex
- W2129529453
- Cited by
- 112
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Business and International Management › Global and Cross-Cultural Management
- Social Sciences › Communication › International Student and Expatriate Challenges
- Keywords
- power distance, social distance, role relationships, tutor-student relationship, power imbalance, cross-cultural comparison, graduate students, leadership theory
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
