The Influence of Culture on Goal Perception: Qatar Versus Denmark

Abstract

Expectations of control put forth by societal norms impose a constant influence on goal perception. To examine the influence of culture on perception of personal goals, 124 Middle Easterners and 128 Scandinavians rated their perceived locus of control, generated goals and evaluated goal characteristics. Findings show several cultural and gender differences, most notably in perceived locus of control, unhappiness despite goal achievement and adherence to cultural life script. Many differences were qualified by interactions, suggesting that Middle Eastern men deviate from Middle Eastern women and Scandinavians of both sexes. The Middle Eastern men demonstrated greater ambivalence regarding goal achievement, and contrary to previous findings from other cultural samples, they also showed a significant positive association between internal and external control. Furthermore, goals generated by Middle Easterners showed a greater overlap with their imagined future events, and were largely represented by life script events. These findings are consistent with the view that especially Middle Eastern men experience a greater responsibility for the fulfilment of culturally defined goals.

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“…This finding was replicated by Ottsen et al, (2016) who found that men in Qatar perceived more external control by powerful others and by chance than Qatari women (all ps <.006). The Danish sample, however, showed no significant gender difference on any of the scales (all ps >.316).…”

“…All participants completed the multidimensional locus of control scale (Levenson, 1981). This scale is ideal for cross-cultural exploration because data from societies that differ on the individualism index gain validity from a construct that measures internal control and external control on separate dimensions (Cheng, Cheung, Chio, & Chan, 2013;Ottsen et al, 2016). The multidimensional locus of control scale addresses the participant's attribution style: their subjective appraisal of factors that account for the outcome of events in their life.…”

“…Only few studies have found gender differences on the internal control and chance dimensions (Sherman et al, 1997 for review), but various studies across cultures have found that the powerful others dimension show the opposite effect of gender compared with onedimensional scales: men perceive higher control by powerful others than women's in their own culture (Christopher, Saliba and Deadmarsh, 2009;Levenson, 1981;Sherman et al, 1997;Walkey, 1979). This finding was replicated by Ottsen et al (2016), who found that men in Qatar perceived more external control by powerful others and by chance than Qatari women (all ps < 0.006). The Danish sample, however, showed no significant gender difference on any of the scales (all ps > 0.316).…”

“…According to Heine (2010), this conflict is a key difference between individualistic and collectivistic societies. In a recent study, Ottsen, Koppel, Johannessen and Berntsen (2016) found that goals are differently affected by norms for gender across these cultures. Compared to Scandinavians, Middle Easterners showed greater gender difference in perceived control from societal norms.…”

“…A sample from collectivistic societies in the Middle East (predominantly Qataris) is compared to a sample from more individualistic societies in Scandinavia (predominately Danes). The differing external control beliefs across gender in these cultures present a unique opportunity to explore interactions between culture and gender (Ottsen et al, 2016). The specific purpose of this study is to investigate how male and female university students in these two cultures perceive the controlling impact of i) job-related skills, ii) networking upward and iii) serendipity in achieving a leadership position.…”