Transcript Normative influences across cultures: Conceptual differences & potential confounders among drivers in Australia & China Judy Fleiter Barry Watson, Alexia Lennon, Mark King &

Normative influences across cultures:
Conceptual differences & potential confounders
among drivers in Australia & China
Judy Fleiter
Barry Watson, Alexia Lennon, Mark King & Kan Shi
1st International Conference on
Human Factors in Transportation
21-25 July 2012 | San Francisco
CRICOS No. 00213J
Overview
 Speeding in Australia and China
 Normative influences on speeding
 The concept of culture
 Results of qualitative and quantitative studies
 Potential cultural considerations (confounders) in
road safety research
Speeding in Australia
Years of rigorous enforcement & public
education campaigns
Yet still implicated in ~25% fatal crashes
1 of the ‘Fatal 4’
Australian Transport Council, 2011
Speeding in China
• Rapid motorisation in recent years
• Traffic-related mortality increased 81% in 20
years to 2006 (Wang et al, 2008)
• Statistics vary (see Li et al, 2012)
– Total annual fatality estimates range from 67,000 –
100,000+
• Speed implicated in 50-90% fatal crashes
• Road safety research in infancy
Normative influences
(1)
• Friends
– Peer influence
– Graduated driver licensing restrictions
• Family
– Role models
– Parental supervision during Learner phase
• Other road users
– Platoon
– Keeping up with speed of others
Normative influences
• Personal norms
• Group norms
• Subjective norms
• Moral norms….
(2)
Normative influences
(3)
• Commonly examined only in one cultural context
• Usually in highly motorised countries
• What do we know about this issue in rapidly motorising
countries, such as China?
Culture in Road Safety Context
(1)
1. Culture as interaction between specific groups
of road users (eg age, ethnicity, education)
Differential impact of broader societal influences
(eg traffic laws) on specific groups, focussing
on group interaction
Culture in Road Safety Context
(2)
2. Study culture with ‘cross-cultural’ studies:
Same behaviour/group is studied in 2 or more culturallybound contexts
Characteristics that are specific to people because of
geographic location, common natural history
Encompasses broader societal influences and personbased factors
Challenges across Cultures
• Methodological:
– May be fundamental differences in economic,
institutional, social, cultural factors
• Theoretical:
– Understanding behaviour across groups
– How best to operationalise theoretical components
developed in 1 context to maintain essence of original
meaning?
Chinese Road Safety Research
• Limited to date
• Role of ‘self’ different in Chinese society?
• Xie & Parker, 2002
– Culturally specific issues relevant in China, but not
Britain:
– Sense of social hierarchy
– Challenge to legitimate authority
– Value of interpersonal networks
Method
Type
Location
N
Recruitment
Focus group
interviews
Queensland
67
Community &
University
Questionnaire
Queensland
833
Service station
food courts
Focus group
interviews
Beijing
35
CAA Membership
& University
Questionnaire
Beijing
299
Car washing shops
*Normative influence & self-identity examined in both countries
*Part of a larger project examining social learning and reinforcement factors on
speeding behaviour
Self-identity
Is it important to be known as
someone who drives above the
speed limit?
Self-identity
• Australia
–
Project image of responsible & safe driver (ie
obey limits), even if not
• China
– Of no real consequence
– Not worthy of discussion because speeding is
so common
Question...
If you received a speeding ticket,
who would you be embarrassed
to tell?
Embarrassed?
• Australia
–
Embarrassment Dichotomy
– ‘Hide the ticket’ vs. ‘No big deal’
• China
– No embarrassment
– Just ‘bad luck’ if caught
– Happy to warn others of enforcement sites
Community Norms
(1)
When interviewed, drivers in both countries
reported:
*Speeding is commonplace
*Majority of people speed
*Perceptions of community
acceptance/tolerance of speeding
Community Norms
(2)
Australia:
“
I just assumed that everybody speeds. Most on the
road are keeping up with me and I’m sometimes
trying to keep up with them.
”
49 year old male
Community Norms
(3)
China:
Asked a specific question
(based on Perkins & Wechsler, 2006)
Imagine that someone visits you from another country.
They have never been here before. What would you tell
them about driving speeds in Beijing?
Community Norms
(4)
China:
Expecting similar results to those found in Australia
because speeding had already been described
as widespread and ‘no big deal’ by Chinese
participants.
30 yr old male:
“Speaker 1: I would tell them that there is no
speeding in Beijing.
It’s the same as when we tell others that our
University is the best. When we go to foreign
countries, we will tell others that China is the
best country in the world. So when we talk about
speeding with foreigners, you are not just
yourself, you must...
26 year old male:
Speaker 2…take the reputation of our country into
consideration.
Speaker 1: Yes, you are not only yourself. More
importantly, you represent the honour of the whole
country. In our country, we don’t take speeding as
seriously as foreigners. In their eyes, speeding is a big
deal so if they ask me about this issue, I will tell them
speeding is not a common thing.
Speaker 2 :I agree. I would say that I have never noticed
people speeding. We should show others the good side
of our country and city.
”
The Concept of Face
• Integral in Chinese conduct
• ‘An individual’s public or social image gained by
performing one of more specific social roles that
are well recognised by others (Luo, 2007)
• Face saving/reputation saving of nation
• ‘Faking good for foreigners’
• Triandis’ welfare of the collective (Triandis, 2001)
– Individualism-collectivism dimension
Quantitative findings
Type of Driver
Question
Australia
Never deliberately drive
above Speed limit
19.8%
Often drive above Speed limit
24.8%
China
39.7%
2 (4) = 72.81, p<.001,
øc = 0.26
7%
Community Norms
Australia
Drivers here think it is OK to
exceed speed limit
China
Contrary to Interview?
M=3.1*
SD = 2
M=2.2
SD=1.2

Drivers here think you are
unlucky if caught speeding
M=3.58**
SD= 2.1
M= 2.36
SD=1.3

I would be embarrassed to
tell people I got caught
speeding
M=4.45
SD=2.1
M=4.57
SD=1.7
*t(820)=8.08, p<.0001, =.54
** t(827)=11.58, p<.0001, =.69
Scored: 1= Strongly Disagree to 7 = Strongly Agree

Discussion
• Discrepancy between qualitative & quantitative
findings within countries
• Perceptions of greater community acceptance of
speeding appeared higher in Australia
• Australian drivers appear less compliant with
speed limits than Chinese drivers
But are they ?
Conclusions
• Results may reflect ‘reality’ or may be related to ‘faking
good for foreigners’
• However, a foreign researcher (me) was present when
‘faking good’ was discussed
• Could socially desirable responding be taking place in
both countries?
Food for Thought…
• The issue of ‘face’ in road safety context not previously
described
• More research needed to better understand this potential
confounder and to search for others
• Important because international collaborations taking
place to assist rapidly motorising countries deal with
enormous road trauma burden
Thank you, any questions/comments?
Acknowledgements:
Australian Postgraduate Award, National Health and Medical Research Council AustraliaChina Fellowship, Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Psychology
[email protected]
Mark your Diaries!
International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety
Conference (ICADTS T2013)
August 2013, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
References
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http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/national_road_safety_strategy/index.aspx.
Li, Y., Xie, D., Nie, G., & Zhang, J. (2012). The drink driving situation in China. Traffic Injury
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Luo, Y. (2007). Guanxi and business. New Jersey: World Scientific.
Perkins, H. W., & Wechsler, H. (1996). Variation in perceived college drinking norms and its
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Triandis, H. (2001). Individualism-Collectivism and Personality. Journal of Personality, 69(6), 907924.
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