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and response to insults, confrontation Exhibit
style, trust and mindset. [...] Self-worth Characteristics of Dignity, Face and Honor Cultures
refers to a person’s sense of his or her own Cultural prototype Dignity Face Honor
value in society. Power refers to a person’s
Geographical location Western Europe, North East Asia Middle East, North Africa,
DELOLW\ WR LQÁXHQFH DQ RXWFRPH 6WDWXV America, Australia and Iberian Peninsula, Latin
refers to a person’s position in a social hier- New Zealand America, Southeast Asia
archy. Sensitivity and response to insults
Self-worth Self-determined Socially conferred Socially claimed
refers to the way a person is affected by Variable Stable Dynamic
and responds to another’s offensive behav-
Power and status Egalitarian Hierarchical Hierarchical
iour. Confrontation style refers to how a Dynamic Stable Dynamic
SHUVRQ UHVSRQGV ZKHQ IDFHG ZLWK GHÀ-
Sensitivity and response Low sensitivity Medium sensitivity High sensitivity
ance, opposition, or hostility. Trust is the
to insults
willingness to make oneself vulnerable to
Confrontation style Direct Indirect Direct and indirect
another person. Mindset refers to the way Rational Controlled and measured Expressive
people reason and process information.” Unemotional Use of superiors to resolve
conflicts
What are the dignity, face and honour
Trust Interpersonal Institutional Interpersonal and
cultures? Let us look at each one in turn. High level of in group High in-group and institutional
and out-group trust low out-group trust Low out-group trust
Dignity Culture
Mindset Analytic Holistic Analytic and
Dignity culture is the cultural prototype of the holistic
Western hemisphere. Dignity culture societies
Source: Adapted from Exhibit 2.2 in Jeanne M. Brett, Negotiating Globally, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, third edition, 2014.
are more egalitarian and hence the self-worth
of an individual is self-determined. Since self-
worth is independent of social status and
does not depend on social opinion, it is also face culture. As a result, there is less confronta-
possible that negotiations will focus more tion in negotiations, while interactions are more
on individual welfare. In such cultures, retal- indirect and impersonal. Interpersonal trust is
iation is less common because of the lower important in face culture but this trust does
dependence on others for self-worth. At the not merely emanate from interpersonal interac-
same time, greater importance is attached to tion – rather, it also depends to a great degree
trust and reciprocity. In addition, due to the on institutional approval. Some scholars even
LQÁXHQFH RI *UHHN SKLORVRSK\ DQG HVSHFLDOO\ argue that forms of institutional surveillance
Aristotelian logic, a highly-analytical approach (e.g., surveillance by the family, community,
can be seen in negotiations. Church, etc.) serve as reliable external guar-
antors of individual behaviour. Another
Face Culture LQWHUHVWLQJ FKDUDFWHULVWLF WKDW KDV D KXJH LQÁX-
Face culture is the prototype of East Asian ence on negotiations is the holistic mindset
societies. The main feature of these societies of individuals in face culture. When negoti-
is collectivism. Self-worth is socially conferred ators analyse a situation, they focus both on
and depends on a person’s relative position in the problem and on the context in which it is
a stable social hierarchy. The atomistic unit of embedded. Many executives tell us that almost
society in a face culture is the family. Hierarchies every negotiation in a face culture becomes a
and social relationships are very important in multi-issue negotiation.

Cultural psychologists divide the world into three prototypes and each one has a strong bearing
on negotiations. These culture types are dignity culture (Western culture), face culture (East Asian

culture) and honour culture (Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian and Latin American cultures).

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