Journal of Business and Technical Communication Oct 2008

A Critique of Hall's Contexting Model

Peter W. Cardon University of South Carolina

Abstract

Edward Hall's model of low-context and high-context cultures is one of the dominant theoretical frameworks for interpreting intercultural communication. This article reports a meta-analysis of 224 articles in business and technical communication journals between 1990 and 2006 and addresses two primary issues: (a) the degree to which contexting is embedded in intercultural communication theory and (b) the degree to which the contexting model has been empirically validated. Contexting is the most cited theoretical framework in articles about intercultural communication in business and technical communication journals and in intercultural communication textbooks. An extensive set of contexting propositions has emerged in the literature; however, few of these propositions have been examined empirically. Furthermore, those propositions tested most frequently have failed to support many contexting propositions, particularly those related to directness. This article provides several recommendations for those researchers who seek to address this popular and appealing yet unsubstantiated and underdeveloped communication theory.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2008-10-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651908320361
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality technical communication

Citation Context

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CrossRef global citation count: 95 View in citation network →

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