A pilot study of the dimensions of disciplinary culture among engineering students

Author

Murzi, Homero ; Martin, Tom ; McNair, Lisa ; Parerti, Marie

Author_Institution

Coll. of Eng., Virginia Polytech. Inst. & State Univ., Blacksburg, VA, USA

fYear

2014

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

Hofstede´s theory of national cultures has been widely used to analyze cultural differences. In this pilot study we describe our experiences applying an instrument based on Hofstede´s work to determine whether his dimensions of national cultures can be mapped to academic disciplines. In this paper, we present information about Hofstede´s model as well as critiques of both the model and the instrument used. We also report initial results of a pilot survey based on Hofstede´s model that we administered to a sample of 687 undergraduate engineering students. Preliminary results show that the instrument is reliable and valid; in addition, we present preliminary results regarding how different engineering majors map to Hofstede´s cultural dimensions.

Keywords

cultural aspects; engineering education; Hofstede´s model; academic disciplines; cultural differences; cultural dimensions; disciplinary culture; national cultures; undergraduate engineering students; Business; Cultural differences; Educational institutions; Engineering students; Instruments; Reliability; Uncertainty; Hofstede; cultural dimensions; culture; interdisciplinarity;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE), 2014 IEEE

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FIE.2014.7044110

Filename

7044110