The primary purpose of this study was to investigate how culture impacts recipients' perceptions of the effectiveness of a public apology (Netflix apology). Data were collected through a survey instrument that included both Likert Scale items and short response items. A selected number of participants from each group were also interviewed. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of data were conducted. The study also aimed to identify specific verbal and non-verbal cues that correlate with students' evaluations of this public apology. Overall, the participants evaluated the Netflix apology as ineffective in terms of verbal as well as non-verbal strategies used. Findings show that cultural variations regarding the appropriate non-verbal cues significantly affected the participants' evaluations of the apology. Chinese emphasized the importance of a formal setting, professional dress, bowing posture and remorseful facial expressions, whereas Americans emphasized the importance of eye contact and body posture embodying attentiveness. The majority of the participants commented that the apologizer should have offered compensation as a means of taking responsibility for the offense. The study has teaching implications for raising intercultural competency among the students and business leaders, particularly regarding the use of online speech events in teaching scenarios.

This paper aims to explain survey findings regarding disaster recovery processes among ethnic groups in a rural Texas community. The research was conducted over a 4-year period with most of the survey data collected over the summer of 2004. The research was descriptive in nature, attempting to document processes and sources of recovery aid acquisition following a natural disaster, and viewed through the lens of cultural and ethnic literature regarding minorities and disaster recovery processes. The difficulty in explaining research findings comes from the fact that data was collected at the household level, yet the explanations which best elucidate the findings are derived from a different level of analysis than that of the survey. The variation in aid acquisition between ethnic groups is best understood as a manifestation of community cultural norms, which implies both individual, cognitive norms, as well as social norms. Ethnic literature focused on minorities in disaster situations, excerpts from qualitative data, and personal observations are used to support the interpretation of the data presented herein pointing to cultural flexibility in recovery processes, which are stifled by institutional barriers hampering recovery efficiencies.

PurposeThis research presents an ontological model, to communicate the impact of dynamic preconditions for peri-urban communities. As such, this paper approaches perturbation communities as social-complex-adaptive-systems.Design/methodology/approachPrevious assessment of dynamic preconditions have typically been based on top-down approaches. Through the lens of social-complex-adaptive and systemic design approaches (requiring a range of different disciplines), this work focuses on providing a broader view towards periurban research. The methodological approach involved academic literature, fieldwork observations, in-depth discussions with community, government, experts and research groups, focusing on a region called “Xochimilco” on the outskirts of Mexico City, a unique pre-Hispanic, Aztec ecosystem. This evolving man made agricultural/ecological structure of island plots, still provides environmental services to Mexico City. This region provides the basis of the research and subsequent ontological model. Ontology, in this instance, refers to the nature of being within a range of constraining dynamic forces relating to resilient behaviors of the current Xochimilco perturbation ecosystem.FindingsXochimilco can be considered as a longitudinal phenomenon that contributed to the understanding of observable resilient and precondition elements between the past and present of a living complex-adaptive-system.Practical implicationsThe research has provided a better understanding of community resilience through preconditions, contributing towards preparation of environmental change and future urbanization. To this end, the research focused on visualizing key dynamics elements for communities attempting to absorb new urban conditions (being continuously pushed into it).Originality/valueThe outcomes of this research have provided specific systemic, bottom up approaches with ontological modeling to assist with visualizing and understanding intangible dynamic conditions that impact high complex areas of perturbation regions.