Many Asian countries are group oriented; therefore, individuals tend to not separate themselves very much from their country or a company. However, according to Dr. David Matsumoto Americans are very different. A specific example of this is the reaction of the recent Asiana Airlines (South Korean) plane crash at SFO.
“We Americans would see that as a very unfortunate incident about that company but not necessarily be affected as much on a personal level especially feeling shame about that particular incident.”
Dr. David Matsumoto a cross-cultural and facial expression recognition expert interviewed with KGO’s (810Am) Kristin Hanes in regards to this tragedy and the cultural impact it has on South Koreans. He points out that Americans tend to see a distinct separation between individuals their government and the corporations they work for, whereas South Koreans do not.
Asiana Airlines’ chief apologized not just to passengers and their families but to all of South Korea. Along with sadness over one of the highest-profile crashes by a Korean air carrier in recent years, average South Koreans expressed shame and embarrassment about how this incident would reflect on their country.
According to the San Fransciso Chronicle, this is a reaction that would be difficult to imagine coming from people in the U.S. or many other countries. The successes and failures of big South Korean firms are intimately linked to this small, proud, recently developed country’s psyche.
“I really think that foreigners see this accident as a reflection on all of South Korea,“ Cheon Min-jun, an office worker in his mid-30s, said Tuesday in Seoul.
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