American football players in Finland: The cultural differences
Viljanen, Mikael (2019)
Viljanen, Mikael
2019
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201905098566
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201905098566
Tiivistelmä
The goal for this research was to discover and analyze the cultural differences between Finnish and American cultures, more specifically between Finnish and American athletes playing American football in Finland. This was done by interviewing American athletes who have played American football in Finland as professional import players. The interview the writer held was a qualitative open-ended question interview and was conducted to five American athletes who have played American football in Finland.
The framework for this thesis is earlier cross-cultural research about Finland and United States. The writer uses the cultural dimension theories by cross-cultural researchers Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars to research about the ways in which the two research groups could be culturally different.
Despite Finnish and American culture are perceived quite similar to each other in the theoretical framework of this thesis, this thesis did find out there is distinctive differences between Finnish and American culture according to the research interviews. The cultural differences are mostly in the cultural dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity, specificness and affectiveness of the researched Finnish and American cultures. This thesis explains what each of these cultural dimensions stand for, as well as explaining the theory of cultural dimensions in general.
An important background difference between the two research groups is that the game of American football is played very differently in Finland and in United States. The writer demonstrates in the beginning of this thesis that in which ways is the game of American football different in Finland and in United States.
This thesis was conducted between October 2018 and April 2019. The writer is a Bachelor’s of Business Administrations student, specializing in International Business. The writer has over eight years of experience in American football, five of these years playing in a multi-cultural American football team including Finnish and American players. With this thesis, the writer wants to give his contribution to the field of cross-cultural management and cross-cultural understanding by researching about the cultural differences of Finnish and American culture by doing the research to a field he’s familiar with.
The framework for this thesis is earlier cross-cultural research about Finland and United States. The writer uses the cultural dimension theories by cross-cultural researchers Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars to research about the ways in which the two research groups could be culturally different.
Despite Finnish and American culture are perceived quite similar to each other in the theoretical framework of this thesis, this thesis did find out there is distinctive differences between Finnish and American culture according to the research interviews. The cultural differences are mostly in the cultural dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity, specificness and affectiveness of the researched Finnish and American cultures. This thesis explains what each of these cultural dimensions stand for, as well as explaining the theory of cultural dimensions in general.
An important background difference between the two research groups is that the game of American football is played very differently in Finland and in United States. The writer demonstrates in the beginning of this thesis that in which ways is the game of American football different in Finland and in United States.
This thesis was conducted between October 2018 and April 2019. The writer is a Bachelor’s of Business Administrations student, specializing in International Business. The writer has over eight years of experience in American football, five of these years playing in a multi-cultural American football team including Finnish and American players. With this thesis, the writer wants to give his contribution to the field of cross-cultural management and cross-cultural understanding by researching about the cultural differences of Finnish and American culture by doing the research to a field he’s familiar with.