PRO285: Cultural Dimensions and Public Relations in Singapore

This essay provides an overview of the cultural dimensions of Singapore and their impact on public relations and communication within the country. It discusses Singapore's culture, history, and their relationship with public relations activities, referencing Hofstede's cultural dimensions to explain aspects like power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence. The essay also explores how these cultural factors influence public relations planning, social media management, and communication strategies, emphasizing the importance of cultural competence for organizations operating in Singapore. It concludes that a deep understanding of Singaporean culture is essential for effective public relations practices and building strong relationships with the local population.

Running Head: Public Relation
Public Relation

Public Relation 1
The purpose of this task is to provide a brief overview about the cultural dimensions of the
country Singapore and how it affects the public relations and communication in the country only.
Culture of a country and public relations has direct link with each other as public relations
activities helps in managing relationship with people in the country. So, if people know the
culture which is being followed in the country then it becomes easier for them to maintain a long
lasting relationship with other people. Further it shall also be noted that the communication
process is totally dependable on the culture and ethnicity of a country (Holderness, 2017).
According to culture people living at different places use different languages for communication
with each other in the environment. Communication plays a vital role in initiating all the
activities in the environment. So, details about culture of Singapore and its link with public
relations are discussed below:
The task explains culture and history of Singapore and its impact on public relation activities
prevailing in the environment. The public relation is maintained by observing the culture of the
country. So, the below mentioned task explains the culture of Singapore, a literature review of
public relations, relation of both the aspects, and the impacts of culture on entertainment and
social media industry.
Singapore is a sovereign city and island country present in south East Asia. The territory of the
country consists of one main island and 62 other islets. Official languages spoken in the country
are English, Mandarin, Malay and Tami. The multi-ethnicity society consists of 77 percent
Chinese, around 6 percent Indians, around 15 percent Malay and expatriate around 2 percent.
Further the Hofstede cultural dimension clearly explains about the culture and history of a
country. It is a framework for cross cultural communication; it enlightens the reader about five
different dimensions prevailing in the environment which are discussed in the latter part.
The dimension of power distance deals with the extent to which the less powerful members
present in society accepts and except that the power in distributed unequally in the society. High
degree of this index explains that hierarchy is clearly established in the society. The country
Singapore captures the 74 in the international market in terms of cultural ethnicity present in the
country. The country has syncretic approach to religion with the background of Confucian
teachings (Hofstede Insight, 2018). This approach is a dominating factor in the country, these
teaching relate to the nature of attaining unequal relationship with people that are divided into

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five basic relationships that are, ruler-subject; father-son; older brother-younger brother;
husband-wife; and senior friend-junior friend. These relations are based on mutual understanding
and complimentary obligation. So, there is high degree of power distance as people keep the
nation and community above themselves (Liu, Meng, & Fellows, 2015).
The individualism refers to the degree of interdependence in the society with its members. The
country has a score of 20 in being collectivist society which states that the people exchange
loyalty with each other. In this country people defines self-image as ‘I’ instead of ‘WE’. The
norms of Confucian teachings states that a person is not an individual but he is a part of a family
and society. Further in the country communication is indirect where yes does not always means
yes, people are more considered towards politeness in the society. Masculinity has a high score
in the country which states that working women are not preferred in the society and not admired
as well (Dinnie, 2015). Low score of females states that the dominant gender of the society is
responsible for the livelihood of women. Score in this case is 48 which is inclined towards
women. The dimension of uncertainty avoidance talks about the fact with which the society
deals, that the future can never be known. Further in this country, the score of uncertainty
avoidance in very less up to eight. There is low score because more people in the country focus
on power distance due to which they abide rules in the culture. The people of Singapore call their
society a fine country because they get a fine for every act which is not performed according to
the decorum (Schechner, 2017). The next dimension talks about the long term orientation, which
refers to the ways in which the society deals with the present and future challenges by
maintaining links with the past. Under this aspect, the country showed a high grade of 72 which
states that the cultural qualities of the country supports the long term missions and visions as
well. Lastly, indulgence dimension talks about the extent to which people try to control their
desires and impulses. If there is relatively weak control of culture then it is called indulgence
whereas if there is strong control then it is called restraint. Further, it is not possible to judge the
indulgence or restraint of culture of Singapore as the score is 46. (Hofstede Insight, 2018).
Jun, ki Eyun and Childers Hon Linda (2007), explained that perception of people about their
relationship with organization will influence their attitude towards the organization. It refers to a
planned process which is initiated to influence the opinion of public on a whole. This process
tells about the image of an organization of country in the eyes of the people. Further Broom

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(2009), said that public relation refers to the function which are established by the management
and it creates a mutually beneficial relationship in the environment. Further it also tells about the
work which public relation actually does, that is, it helps communities and organizations to
effectively communicate with each other and initiate healthy relationship well. It should be noted
that pubic relation and communication are two most important aspects which helps the country to
progress effectively (Ki, Kim, & Ledingham, 2015). Communication is a way through which
public relations are maintained in the environment. There are various functions of public
relations in organization which helps the communities to sustain their image in the market like,
internal relations, publicity, public affairs, and press agentry etc. Relating it to culture, it shall be
noted that culture widely influence the public relations scheme or organizations and communities
in the environment (Shodhganga, 2018).
People in a country are highly influenced by the culture prevailing in that area and the culture
also tells about the taste and preference of the people. So, the culture of a country helps the
public relation team of an organization to initiate proper relations in the market. Pubic relation
helps in creating a brand image of an organization through which they can influence people to
purchase their product as well (Musambira, & Matusitz, 2015). For instance, in the culture of
Singapore tells about the preference of people in food, so it will help the organizations present
the country to initiate the communication skills in such a way that they can attract more and
more customers. Culture is formed by the views, opinions and practices of public in the
environment and public relation means developing relations with public in the environment. So,
it shall be concluded that public relation and culture of a country are directly linked with each
other (Chong, 2014).
Culture of Singapore influences the public relation and communication activities initiated in the
environment. As discussed above, the culture of Singapore proclaims that the country has high
degree of power distance which shows that people believe in following their superior to perform
some tasks and taking decisions as well. Further it shall be noted that culture does not influence
the public relation practice in the society but it contributes in these activities. It is important for
organizations to become culturally competent so as to initiate public relation with their
customers (Greckhamer, 2016). The culture impacts the planning of public relation practices in a
country; like talking about the impact of individualism practice in the country Singapore, there is

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low degree of individualism in the country which states that people are more inclined towards
attaining benefit for the society instead of attaining benefit for oneself. This will impact the
public relation practices and communication in such a way that the organization initiating the PR
practices will then look for benefit of the whole society rather than attracting one individual
(Soh, 2016). Culture of individualism in the country will impact the communication in such a
way that the organization will now aim to communication to whole community and address the
society instead of a single person. Further with respect to uncertainty avoidance in the country,
the public relation and communication of the country will get affected in a negative manner. As
this process explains that the people do not rely on other person’s opinion rather, they only rely
on the teaching of their superior. Due to this culture it can become different for organizations to
distract people in the country. As the people of Singapore have the mentality to abide the rules
and laws and do not trust easily, so this activity cannot affect the public relation activities of
different organization (Duhé, 2015).
Long term orientation of the country show that people of Singapore focus on their long term
growth and survival. So, this feature of the culture can affect PR and communication in such a
way that through this process people will aim for initiating a long term relationship with
organizations and communities due to which the PR practices will create a bond between
organizations and people of Singapore. With the initiation of long lasting relationship people will
trust the activities of different organizations as well (Hutchins, & Tindall, 2016). Adding to it,
the masculinity dimension states that women employees are not preferred in the country so it can
affect the PR and communication in such a way that if any campaign consists of female
employees then people will not become a part of that event. So, in this way it can negatively
affect the PR activities of different organizations. Lastly, indulgence in the country is neither
negative nor positive, as indulgence reflects the degree to which people of the country get
distracted towards things. So it shall be noted that people of Singapore are both indulgent and
restraint towards the PR practices present in the environment (Austin, & Pinkleton, 2015).
Social media management is a technique of public relation; this activity helps in communicating
to people on a whole. So, the culture affects such activities in such a way that the marketers
display things which the people of the country are interested in watching. Social media has
become an important tool which helps organization in targeting a larger segment in the market

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(Tsui, & Tollefson, 2017). With cultural boundations it is becoming difficult for the marketers to
display things as it can negatively affect the interest of people and damage the reputation of the
company as well. Further it shall be noted that every activity of maintaining public relations are
impacted by change in culture. Culture of the country represents their ethnic values and the
nature of people of that country. So, if an organization has adequate knowledge about the culture
of Singapore then it will become easy for them to influence people of that country (Wei, 2016).
Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events it should be noted that culture of a country have
a high degree of influence on the PR activities of the country. Singapore is a diversified country
where people have their own views and opinion towards aspect. So, the PR and communication
activities fluctuate according to the culture present in the environment.

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References
Austin, E. W., & Pinkleton, B. E. (2015). Strategic public relations management: Planning and
managing effective communication campaigns (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Chong, T. (2014). Bureaucratic imaginations in the global city: arts and culture in Singapore.
In Cultural Policies in East Asia(pp. 17-34). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Dinnie, K. (2015). Nation branding: Concepts, issues, practice. Routledge.
Duhé, S. (2015). An overview of new media research in public relations journals from 1981 to
2014. Public Relations Review, 41(2), 153-169.
Greckhamer, T. (2016). CEO compensation in relation to worker compensation across countries:
The configurational impact of country‐level institutions. Strategic Management
Journal, 37(4), 793-815.
Hofstede Insight, (2018). Country comparison. Viewed on February 7, 2018 from <
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/singapore/>
Holderness, C. G. (2017). Culture and the ownership concentration of public corporations around
the world. Journal of Corporate Finance, 44, 469-486.
Hutchins, A., & Tindall, N. T. (Eds.). (2016). Public Relations and Participatory Culture:
Fandom, Social Media and Community Engagement. Routledge.
Ki, E. J., Kim, J. N., & Ledingham, J. A. (Eds.). (2015). Public relations as relationship
management: A relational approach to the study and practice of public relations.
Routledge.
Liu, J., Meng, F., & Fellows, R. (2015). An exploratory study of understanding project risk
management from the perspective of national culture. International Journal of Project
Management, 33(3), 564-575.
Musambira, G., & Matusitz, J. (2015). Communication technology and culture: Analysing
selected cultural dimensions and human development indicators. International Journal of
Technology Management & Sustainable Development, 14(1), 17-28.

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Schechner, R. (2017). Performance studies: An introduction. Routledge.
Shodhganga, (2018). Review of literature. Viewed on February 7, 2018 from
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/8779/16/16_chapter%208.pdf
Soh, K. (Ed.). (2016). Teaching Chinese Language in Singapore: Retrospect and Challenges.
Springer.
Tsui, A. B., & Tollefson, J. W. (Eds.). (2017). Language policy, culture, and identity in Asian
contexts. Routledge.
Wei, R. (Ed.). (2016). Mobile media, political participation, and civic activism in Asia: Private
chat to public communication. Springer.