Effects of cultural-context, gender, and acculturation on perceptions of work versus social/leisure time usage

Abstract

Findings of an empirical study support the hypotheses that time usage patterns for work versus social/leisure activities differ across individuals originating from low-context cultures of Western Europe and individuals originating from high-context cultures of Asia, Japan, the Middle East, and South America. Perceptions of work time were higher (i.e., more work hours per day) in high-context cultures and perceptions of social/leisure time were higher (i.e., more social/leisure hours per day) in low-context cultures. Such effects of cultural-context were more dominant for men than for women. The findings further indicate that these differences get narrowed with high acculturation in U.S. culture. The theoretical rationale for these hypotheses is developed by integrating concepts of time activity, time priority, and time setting in a summary conceptual model. Implications of results for marketing to subcultural as well as cross-cultural groups are discussed with particular reference to the high-context cultures of developing countries that tend to handle time in a polychronic manner compared to low-context cultures of developed countries (with the exception of Japan) that handle time in a monochronic manner.