Cultural influences on the preferred forms of requesting and re‐requesting

Abstract

Most studies of cross‐cultural requesting strategy have been concerned with initial message production only; rarely have they addressed the issue of what happens when the listener rejects the requestor's initial request and fails to comply. Furthermore, the cultural differences in requesting styles have not been examined in terms of individual‐level analysis. The purpose of this project was to describe and compare the preferred linguistic forms for the first‐ and second‐attempt requests by people of different cultural orientations. The results revealed that the higher one's interdependence, the higher the effectiveness and likelihood of using hint strategies in the first‐ as well as for the second‐attempt request. Independence, however, was positively associated with the likelihood of use ratings of ‘direct statement strategies for both first‐ and second‐attempt requests. Finally, when confronted with noncompliance, participants in general increased their likelihood of use ratings for more direct requesting strategies, even though this tendency was more pronounced among independents.

Key words:

• Requesting
• Re‐requesting
• Self‐construals
• Refusals