Concurrents – Environmental Psychology: Wellbeing and Culture

Recently, at the Wellbeing at Work conference in Paris, I was intrigued by the ways in which national culture seemed to factor into discussions of wellbeing-related policies and programs.

The system developed by Geert Hofstede to describe national cultures seems particularly useful for distinguishing differences between the approaches observed. One of the factors he outlines as differentiating national cultures is how masculine or feminine a culture seems to be. His definition of masculinity and femininity indicates that in feminine cultures “relationships and quality of life are important” while in masculine ones “challenge, earnings, recognition, and advancement are important.” Countries such as Japan, China, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States are relatively more masculine while countries that are relatively more feminine include Scandinavian ones, such as Sweden. (All quotes and statistics are from Cultures and Organizations, by Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede, and Michael Minkov, published by McGraw Hill in 2010.)

Many people now refer to the masculine-feminine dimension of Hofstede’s model as “toughness,” but the original terminology has been included here so that people who want to explore related research will be able to do so more easily; Hofstede himself is in no way sexist in his approach, and chose the name for this cultural dimension decades ago, when different sorts of terminology were acceptable.

At the Wellbeing at Work conference, people from more feminine countries seemed to, generally, have a fundamentally different approach to wellbeing than those from more masculine ones. Delegates from more feminine countries seemed to, as a group, have as their ultimate objective, developing spaces, programs, and practices that at a fundamental level made human lives better. People from more masculine cultures seemed to often be concerned with optimizing wellbeing as a way station on the way to optimizing professional performance.

These differences between more masculine and more feminine countries’ approaches to wellbeing complicate transferring ideas generated in one sort of culture to the other type. Understanding that cultural differences exist, however, makes it easier to understand how people from one set of cultures will interpret wellbeing offerings from the other, in light of their life experiences and expectations, which can aid in sharing useful core concepts, etc., between national groups.

Considering a country’s position along the masculine-feminine continuum is generally useful during workplace development, as it indicates a relative interest in promoting quality-of-life or professional performance via workplaces – it’s important to remember that in major economies today, we are talking about relative focuses in terms of office space design.

The success of the Wellbeing at Work conference, which drew delegates from around the world, indicates that the lives that workers live are important worldwide; an assessment of information presented shows that the context in which design decisions are made can shift from one location to another.

Sally Augustin, PhD, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com). Research Design Connections reports on research conducted by social and physical scientists that designers can apply in practice. Insights derived from recent studies are integrated with classic, still relevant findings in concise, powerful articles. Topics covered range from the cognitive, emotional, and physiological implications of sensory and other physical experiences to the alignment of culture, personality, and design, among others. Information, in everyday language, is shared in a monthly subscription newsletter, an archive of thousands of published articles, and a free daily blog. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.