Culture and Communication – MICM The Hague University 2008/2009

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Nuffic is welcoming a new support office located in Thailand, which was opened in
the beginning of March 2009. Although it has established in other offices in China,
Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries, Nuffic needs to develop an intercultural
communication competence to approach the Thai market. Thailand is sandwiched in
between India and China, which makes Thailand so special and different to other
Asian countries. The transition from being underdeveloped to a modern developed
state was accomplished only recently, and at great speed. There are obvious
challenges between these two countries. Thailand has the tendency to be a
collectivist society that emphasises the sense of togetherness and family, which is
the total opposite of Holland.

Furthermore, the Thais are from high-context society. Considering these facts, the
Dutch has to put some efforts to understand and communicate with the Thais.
Moreover, Herbig also discussed about religion, gender equality and ethnocentrism,
and their correlation with the innovation in Thailand.

However, there are some culture shifts that influence the culture in Thai society.
Technology has influenced the way people communicate and behave. Thai people
are becoming more open-minded and creative; yet at the same time more
individualistic. The cyber crime law, indeed, limits the online growth, yet, at the
same time, the Thais are becoming more critical and sharp.

Acknowledging these challenges and opportunities in approaching the Thais, this

research is developed to give recommendation to Nuffic to develop intercultural
communication awareness to reach Thai students using social media.

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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

LIST OF FIGURES 5

INTRODUCTION 6

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 6
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 6
PROBLEM STATEMENT 7
CHAPTER OVERVIEW 7

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 8

GOAL 8
RESEARCH METHOD 8
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 9

DEVELOPING CULTURAL AWARENESS 10

INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES 10
COMMUNICATION STYLE 12
INNOVATION 14

CULTURE SHIFT 19

TECHNOLOGY 19
WESTERN INFLUENCE STYLE 21
NON CULTURAL BARRIERS 21

CONCLUSION 22

ADVICE PAPER: BECOMING INTERCULTURALLY COMPETENT 24

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BIBLIOGRAPHIES 26

APPENDICES 28

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List of Figures

Table 1: Leading countries in women’s use of the Internet

Table 2: Internet users by sex (%)

Table 3: Confucian Dynamic Index

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Introduction

Background Information
The globalisation of national economies has fuelled the need for intercultural
communication. The reality of cultural diversity within corporations coupled with an
increasing globalisation makes organisations competing to become interculturally
competent. Yet, research has shown that despite of this understanding, too many
corporate and government (leaders) are operating on an old conception of the world
around them and of human nature ().

The internet and the development of digital media production and distribution have
opened new avenues for media consumers to become media producers and
disseminators and have provided means for vastly increased people-to-people
communication(). According to the previous research and Dutch website
tijdbesteding.nl (), people prefer to access internet to look for information, from
reading daily news to reading review before buying products. It is apparently not
only happening in one part of the world; people from all over the world are
experience the shift from consuming traditional media to digital media. Internet is
gaining on traditional media, as mentioned in one of the many websites discussing
similar matter (Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Outlet).

Nuffic is participating in this web 2.0 culture. With the goal to broaden the target
audience , Nuffic wants to be part in the digital communication, providing
information to its audience, especially for international students, Nuffic is available
in various social media such as multimedia sharing (Youtube and Flickr), weblogs,
and social networking sites (Facebook and Friendster). Having offices in 10 different
countries requires Nuffic to broaden the knowledge and access towards social
media.

Intercultural Communication
Intercultural communication occurs whenever a person from one culture sends a
message to be processed by a person from a different culture. In spite of the
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country of origin, background, or various Hofstede’s dimensions, social media is

bringing people together, to share information and to communicate, in a collective
community. Audiences are becoming even more demanding. When they look for
information, they want it right here and right now. Failing to find information on
certain site will make them going somewhere else. Then, when their need is served,
they will leave; and new people are coming again.

In the beginning of March 2009, Nuffic launched its new support office (Neso =
Netherlands Education Support Office) in Bangkok Thailand to strengthen the
relationship between both countries’ higher education. Understanding the trend of
social media, also in Thailand, Nuffic wants to be where the students are – be
relevant and be visible – thus when the students look for Nuffic, it’s there!

Problem Statement
The challenges are now to be aware of and understand the cultural differences
between Dutch and Thai cultures in order to be able to approach the students using
social media, which leads to the central question of this research: to what extent
does culture play a role in influencing Thai students to choose and use social media;
and what can Nuffic do to approach Thai students using social media?

Chapter Overview
This research will begin with introducing the cultural differences between Holland
and Thailand. In this chapter perception and stereotypes about Thailand will be
briefly discussed, which will be continued in the following chapter. The next chapter
is proposing that culture is dynamic and can be learned, which makes the culture
shift. Technology, resources, western culture influence, and other non cultural
barriers will be discussed. This chapter will still be hand in hand with the previous
chapter: approving or disapproving previous theories. This report will then be
concluded in the conclusion chapter, and finally, some advices to develop
intercultural competence will be available in the end of this chapter.

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Research Methodology

Goal
The goal of this research is to give recommendation for Nuffic to develop
intercultural awareness in order to be able to reach the Thai students through social
media.

Research Methods
In order to achieve the goal stated above, this research commenced with a desk
research, studying various topics, theories and supporting case studies and articles
related to the chosen topic. Intercultural communication and social media are the
main concerns for this particular research.

Besides theories studies in Culture and Communication class – Hofstede,

Trompenaars, Hall, Kluckhohn,– this research also applies Herbig’s theory. The
centre of Herbig’s theory is religion, gender equality and ethnocentrism(). Also,
Niels Mulder’s anthropology point of view will be applied here as well.

Primary research, although not the central point of this research, is carried out to
discover public opinion about social media and the use of it among Thai young, Net
generation. Four Thai young people were interviewed, both using face-to-face
interview, also through online discussion. The transcripts of the interview can be
found in the Appendices.

Theoretical Frameworks
This research is based on several Intercultural Communication theories mentioned
below and anthropology theory by Niels Mulder.

1. Hofstede

Hofstede’s dimensions are the centre of this research; however collectivism vs.
Individualism and power distance are two dimensions that are mostly discussed in
this chapter. Short-Long- term orientation is also mentioned in relation to Hall’s
low/high-context and monochronic-polychronic time.

2. Hall

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The obvious challenges between Thailand and Holland are related to time
management and communication style. Thais are high-context and Polychronic time
society, which is the total opposite of the Dutch. In the final chapter, there will be
some advices to comprehend these differences.

3. Trompenaars

Trompenaars’ theories are the supplementary theories that support the in depth
discussion in chapter 3 and 4: cycle-linear time (which is related to Trompenaar’s
Monochronic/Polychronic Time) and Individualism-communitarians.

4. Paul A Herbig

Paul A Herbig makes a correlation between innovation and cultural dimensions

(national cultures) and provides different approaches to technological change. Apart
from Hofstede’s theories, Herbig also applied other categories to analyse innovation
from the cultural perspective: ethnocentrism, gender equality, and religion.

5. Kluckhohn

Kluckhohn & Strodbeck’s value orientation makes this research even more
complete. Past/Present/Future orientation, Mastery/Harmony/Subjugation and
Being/Being-in-Becoming/Activity are three aspects that underlie this research.

Key of Concepts
The complete key of concepts will be inserted in the Glossary in the Appendices;
however there are essentials terms that have to be agreed upon before this
research is started.

1. Holland: Nuffic is using Holland instead of the Netherlands so that it is easier;

and it is indeed more familiar. Thus, in this research, Holland represents the
whole the Netherlands.
2. Nuffic: Although there is a slight difference between Nuffic head office and
Neso (Netherlands Education Support Office) in Thailand, Nuffic will be used
when talking about both Nuffic and Neso; unless there is a need to express it
using Neso.
3. Social Media: To avoid misunderstanding, social media in this research refers
to all tools or forms of it: weblogs, micro-blogs, social networking sites,
Wikipedia, multimedia sharing, etc.

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Developing Cultural Awareness:

Understanding the Land of Smile.
Holland and Thailand are separated 9,176 km away that they rarely share any
cultural similarities; even the climate is different. Thailand with its smiley, friendly
attitude, yet with strong influence from its history, which respects status separation;
and Holland with its strong Calvinistic background that treats everybody equally yet
prefer to remain individualistic. Nuffic, as a Dutch organisation, has to develop
intercultural intelligence to comprehend its Thai target group: their cultural
dimensions, values and behaviour. In this chapter, Thai and Dutch cultures will be
put side by side based on intercultural theories from Hofstede, Kluckhohn, Hall,
Herbig, and Triandis.

International Challenges
Thailand is an untouchable nation during extensive colonization in the nineteenth
century, which was formerly known to the Western society as Siam. Thai means
“free”, thus Thailand is the “Land of the Free” or the Land of Smiles, and because of
influence of Buddhism, it is also called Land of the Yellow Robes. Thailand is also
moving rapidly: the transition from being underdeveloped to a modern developed
state was accomplished only recently, and at great speed().

As a constitutional monarchy, Thailand possesses remarkable, long history that still

influences today’s everyday life (Cooper & Cooper, 2005, p. 28). From the name –
the Land of Smiles – there are certain personalities attached to this beautiful
country: smiling is the sign of friendliness and presenting the sense of family.
Thailand is indeed a collectivist, communitarian culture. Both the authors agree that
Asian cultures score relatively lower on individualism than the Protestant West like
Holland ().

Despite the Thais’ collectivism, social status is respected, which indicates a high
power distance society, which is influenced by the existence of monarchy. Respect
of hierarchy, obligation, and deferential manners are among the first things a child

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learns as it grows out of infancy. Subsequently, children will learn to keep their
emotions to themselves, but also discover that they can get their one way by the
show of respectful and obedient behaviour. Thailand is categorised in the “being-
oriented” culture, where what a person is matters more than what a person does
(Okabe, 1983, p. 24 cited in()). Kluckhohn observes that achievement and
development are not as important in a traditional vertical society such as Thailand
where an individual's birth, family background, age and status is more important.
As other Western cultures, Dutch culture is inclining towards individualism, yet it is
predisposed towards small power distance. This is influenced by the fact that
Holland is the only country in Western Europe that has long been under the minimal
influence of feudalism, its social class division is not evident and its egalitarian
values have prevailed since its foundation(). Dutch tend to dislike both status
difference and vertical relationship, often equate power distance with power abuse
and try to minimise all disparity in daily life. Social status stems from achievement,
not ascription in Holland.

These cultural dimensions are reflected in most Dutch corporate cultures. The
hierarchical pyramid in Dutch organisations, such as Nuffic is decidedly flat:
everybody is equal (Lewis, 2005, p. 246). Dutch people dislike superiority, thus, also
in the daily life; they want to be treated equally, which is strongly influenced by its
Calvinistic background (Calvinistic will be explained in the next session). All these
traits make Dutch organisation likely to apply a bottom-up management (Rosnay,
2009).
Thailand is also known for its loose culture1 (in comparison with Japan), as a result of
it is sandwiched between India and China (Triandis, 2004, p. 5). Triandis explains
that in loose culture, when people do not do what they are supposed to do, other
people may just smile and let go; this refers to Hofstede’s low uncertainty
avoidance. Hofstede slightly disagreed with Triandis by putting Thailand in the
higher position of 64 than the Asian average of 58 (Hofstede). Niels Mulder (1996,
p. 67) agreed with Hofstede: he studied Thailand as a society of rather conservative
people that appreciates the predictability and quietness – the security – of well-

1
While in tight culture, everything is controlled by rules, norm, or standard, and if it is interrupted,
there will be certain criticism or punishment. However in loose culture, in that situation are likely
to say: “it does not matter.” (Triandis, 2004, p.5 (Triandis) [online])

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ordered social life to which they willingly conform; as long as people honour its
rules, there is room for some tolerated individual deviation.

Hofstede gives Dutch a slightly lower scores than Thailand, which shows that both
Dutch and Thai have neither low nor high Uncertainty Avoidance (the Dutch scores
similar Uncertainty Avoidance rank (58) to Thailand (64)) (Hofstede, [online]).
Meekanon mentions Dutch culture is learning towards weak uncertainty avoidance
(), which makes Dutch people likely to tolerate different opinions in the society and
accept the concept of unity through diversity readily.

Communication
Asian is worldly known for its high-context together with polychronic-time culture,
which could be the global stereotype about Asian (maybe excluding Japanese).
Asian is known for its layback culture, which is possibly triggered by the warm Asian
climate, at least in the eye of European people. Asian is also famous with its
indirectness (high context); Thais are one of them.
Buddhism is the biggest influence to high context practice, because of its famous
teaching to not believe in verbal language, because “language is considered
deceptive and misleading with regard to the matter of understanding the truth
(Gudykunst and Kim, 2003, p. 217, cited in (Larry A. Samovar, 2007)).”Theravada
Buddhism is the most important form of Buddhism in Thailand (Lewis, 2005, p. 471).
High context culture, which carries many implicit messages expressed with non
verbal communication, is the opposite of Dutch low context society.
Because of the Dutch Calvinistic background, the Dutch is taught to be honest,
which leads them to be direct. In the article titled ‘How Calvinistic is modern Dutch
society?’ (), Han van der Horst identified Dutch as being “Calvinists at heart”. He
characterised them as “hard working, modest and distrustful of luxury, with a
certain despisal for decadence.”
Furthermore, Edward T. Hall also identified Thai society as polychronic – time (P-
Time) society, which complements its high-context practice. Thais see time as a
cycle (Trompenaars defined this behaviour as Circle Time), in which they like to
engage in many different activities during the same time block. “Flexibility in time
use and changes of activity are common and expected.”() This is the opposite of
Dutch, low-context, Monochronic time (M-Time) personality.

Relationship with Other People

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The context and time orientation above are indicating that Thai society is a long-
term orientation society. For the Thais, it takes time to build relationship with new
people, because this new relationship has to be based on trust. Therefore, it is
tough for a stranger (Dutch2, for instance) to enter this circle, because it takes a lot
of effort to understand what the Thais are discussing.

Nevertheless, in spite of the public stereotypes above, Thailand is uniquely different

to its neighbours. Its past orientation has made the Thais, even the younger
generation, respect its national heritage. Furthermore, Buddhism has shaped the
Thais to live in harmony with nature, which creates a society that values smooth
interaction and the avoidance of overt conflict. In everyday life, this is induced by
appropriate polite behaviour that is expressed befitting presentation(). The Thais
are reluctant to be different thus they remain indifferent and of restraining
themselves emotionally, especially when they have no power or influence ().

As it is mentioned in the earlier session, Thais like predictability and quietness in

life. Therefore, according to Woody, a Thai student studying at the Hague
University, Thais prefer to have face-to- face conversation, to send e-mail or to have
online chat (Interview transcript is available in Appendices). Quietness is achieved
through the smile. The name ‘the land of smile’ is showed in the way the society
often smiles, not only to show respect and excitement, but also to hide insecurity
and anxiety.

Thai Dutch
Collectivism Individualism
Respect status Dislike status
separation separation
High power Hierchacical Hierarchical
Low power distance
distance corporate structure: Corporate
uneven Structure: Flat

what a person is
Being-
matters more than
oriented
what a person does
Influenced by Influenced by
Buddhism Calvinistic Culture

2
The Dutch, which as the tendency to be in a high context culture, people are involving
personal lives, family, and personal background to business discussion, which is a total
opposite of low context culture discussion.

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= leaning towards
= low uncertainty (Lower) Loose
Loose culture low uncertainty
avoidance culture
avoidance
High Context Low Context
Polychronic
Monochronic Time
Time
Long term Short-term
orientation orientation

Innovation
Internet in Thailand is at 20.5% penetration with 13,4M users largely made up of
working adults and students in the key cities, although broadband penetration is
still rare (). In parallel, social media is gathering pace in Thailand particularly around
community and social networking functions. In contrast, mobile is well established
with mobile penetration at 72% having grown in six years from 8m to 53m by 2007.

Comparing to the neighbours, Thailand is a little behind,3 which proves what Niels
Mulder () stated about predictability and quietness (security). The Thais are hesitant
to change, firstly because they appreciate predictability. Second, it is because they
don’t want to be different or draw attention to themselves. Also, the way Thai
society embracing innovative, digital media like social media are influenced by
traditions and religions4. Strong Buddhism5 influence makes the Thais want to
control the spread of technology instead.

Woody, the Thai student, also mentioned that it, indeed, takes time for the Thais to
change and adjust to a new technology. He mentioned 3G, innovation in the use of
mobile phone that has been very popular in Asia, such as Indonesia and Singapore
since the year of 2007, is relatively new in Thailand; and not many people want to
embrace this new innovation. This fact is in contrast with what Maitland studied in
an article titled ‘Global Diffusion of Interactive Network’.

3
India is one of the fastest growing online markets in the region with a total of 60m and projected
to grow 71m users and 10.5m broadband users in 2011. China, as of July 2008, there were an
official 253m online users, with over 214m broadband users (OglivyOne).
4
Western values of ‘conquering the frontier’ and dominating nature are in stark contrast to
the Buddhist emphasis on spiritual development, respects all beings, living in moderation
and harmony with the environment without causing harm (Krisana Kitiyadisai).
5
“Modern technology should be created to enable the development of human potential and
quality of life and not to promote spiritual defilement such as greed, anger, selfishness, and
oppression (Krisana Kitiyadisai).”

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Maitland studied that in Thai culture where status symbols are accepted (high
power distance), communication technologies will have increased perceived relative
advantage and, thus, are more likely to be adopted(). Maitland also applied Herbig’s
theory, which suggests that nations with higher gender equality will be more
innovative simple because they are tapping the potential of a larger percentage of
their population (Herbig, 1994, cited in ()). Women in Thailand are also making
significant progress in knowledge society areas. With regard to Internet usage,
women overtook men as a majority of users n 2001, and their numbers have
continues to increase since then ().

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Table 1: Leading countries in women’s use of Internet

% female Internet
Country users (among all
Internet users)
Philippines 58,0
Mongolia 56,0
Thailand (2003) 52,6
United States 52,0
New Zealand 51,5
Canada 51,0
Australia (2005 -
50,7
2006)
Hong Kong 50,0
Source: Sophia Huyer (2008, cited in ()), “Gender and the Core ICT Indicators, “Presented to 2008
Global Event for Measuring information society, Geneva, 27-29 May.

Table 2: Internet users by sex (%)

Sex 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Female 34,9 49,2 51,2 51,7 52,6
Male 65,1 50,8 48,8 48,3 47,4
Source: NECTEC (2002, cited in ()), Internet User Profile Survey and National Statistical Office, Thailand
for 2002 and 2003.

Confucianism

Herbig listed Thailand as the 2nd in Confucian Dynamic scores (Herbig, 1994, p.109).
According to Herbig (1994, p.108) societies with high Confucian Dynamic scores
would tend to have greater sourcing innovative capacities6, especially for lower
order innovations. Thailand happened to be listed as the second highest country
with high Confucian Dynamic scores. This could possibly mean

6
The innate ability of a society to innovate, determined (as will be argued) by its cultural
attributes and its structural components().

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Table 3: Confucian Dynamic Index (Source: Herbig, 1994, p. 110)

Country Index Rank

Australia 31 11-12
Brazil 65 5
Canada 23 16
Germany 31 11-12
Great
Britain 25 15
Hong Kong 96 1
India 61 6
Japan 80 3
South
Korea 75 4
Netherlan
ds 44 9
New
Zealand 30 13
Philippines 19 17
Singapore 48 8
Sweden 33 10
Taiwan 87 2
Thailand 56 7
United
States 29 14

Ethnocentrism

Finally, Maitland stated that cultures low in ethnocentrism will begin diffusion of
interactive networks before ethnocentric cultures (Maitland, 1999), because they
will be more open to the ideas of other cultures. Herbig explains that individualism,
diversity, and tolerance are keys to innovation. Thus, homogenous7 societies like
Thailand would inhibit radical innovations or inventions (Herbig, 1994, p. 116).

The propositions listed above are only a small subset of a bigger picture of the
correlation between innovation and cultural influence. Some of the facts above can

7
The high Thai ethnic proportion was also expected to generate a high cultural homogeneity
score (Chan, 2003).

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be taken into consideration and be a starting point for every intercultural

communication; however there are shifts, changes, new influences and also
governmental control that make these theories less practical. Globalisation,
technology, and governmental decreeing cyber crime law are the stimulus in the
culture shift in Thailand.

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Culture Shift: From Past Oriented

to be Open-Minded
Most of the theories discussed above were written before, for instance, Obama used
social media to support his campaign, or before IPod and Laptop became the trend,
and of course before the globalisation matters like it does now. According to
Samovar(), culture is learned, thus it is dynamic. Although there, is of course a
tendency toward certain dimensions; yet culture in a country is changing, due to the
influence from many different aspects: technology, western influence, and other
non cultural barriers.

Technology
Students who have grown up with the Internet appear to use information technology
and online information effortlessly. They are called digital natives8 or generation Y,
or George Lorenzo called them Net Generation in his article(). Technology has
definitely changed the way people communicate and behave in a society, as it
changes the way young people live in Thailand. According to an article titled
“Gauging the Cyber Gap”, having grown up with net-related technologies and
embraced them has become distinctively more open, worldly and expressive than
that came before (Fry, 2007).

Internet and technology are influencing many young Thais in the way they think or
behave; it has made them more individualistic9, occupied in their own world;
however at the same time, they are also more collectivist, or more open, because of
the social media exposure. They have more friends from another part of the world.
They can speak and understand more languages, or at least improving their English
skill – although Thai, the national language, is the native, most-spoken language.

8
Digital natives are comfortably and confidently searching for information, meeting people
online, exchanging information. They are not only in touch with their friends but, evidently,
trusting the information – and individuals – they encounter online.
9
The convergence of phones, computers, cameras, television, and radio suggests that we
are header evermore quickly to an individualistic and increasingly nomadic world, where you
can carry your world around with you, anywhere().

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Unfortunately, according to a number public opinion polls, it seems the general

public also finds this generation, with their tight clothes and technology
dependencies, to be a lot less moral than ever before (Fry, 2007). In the same
article, Chulanee, a sociologist and anthropologist from Chulalongkorn University,
discovered that adults and those in the Net Generation view and use technology in
completely different ways. While older generations tend to view computers as
machines for work and use them for word procession and basic office applications,
the Net generation will use them for work, but also for convenience in everyday
communications and entertainment.

The four Thai students that were interviewed supported this statement with their
similar statements that social media is merely for entertainment. The number of
Thais using social media is increasing rapidly. Despite its past orientation, which
results in its reluctance (or delay) to change, Thailand is exposed to social media.
Social media is to some extent also used to express opinion and discussion.
Although the Thais will keep their emotions to themselves, which limit them from
using blogs or other form of social media to express themselves, the number of
bloggers is increasing from day to day. In the past bloggers were mostly for
teenagers, who wrote their journal, love experience or quarrel; however nowadays
the number of good quality blogs are increasing.

In contrast, the Dutch that is by nature more direct and expressive is hesitant to get
involved in various forms of social media, firstly, because they value privacy. They
do not want each other to know what they are up to: their current activities, the
food they eat, people they hang out with, etc. Secondly, also because of the Dutch,
well-known straightforwardness, they prefer to speak up and there is no need for
them to express themselves otherwise. During the process of writing this report, an
article announced that the Dutch now prefer weblogs more than e-mails().

Despite the popularity of social media in Thailand, the Thais have not yet perceived
it as a formal way of communication; neither is it reliable source of information.
Mobile phone is, on the other hand, more reliable for communication in Thailand;
and it is indeed more popular10. According to several interviews conducted with
some Thai young generation, they clearly stated that they prefer to use mobile

10
. Thailand’s mobile penetration has reached 82% in the early 2008 ()

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phone to contact their friends or family – using short text message (SMS) or making
phone calls. This proves the point that Niels Mulder stated earlier about certainty
and predictability; however, as Fry wrote in her article that Thai younger generation
is more open, Pie and Gift (interview script is available in Appendices), said that
they start to use IM (instant messaging) to chat with people that they are not close
with; just for the sake of chitchatting or having some small talks11.

Western Influence
Although it is not apparent, some western influence has triggered the Thais (young
generation) to be more open, creative and feel free express opinions. This reflects in
the way the Thais are interacting in social media. They dare to introduce
themselves to new people, to get involved in discussion, and to leave comments at
each other posts or pictures; this is what most Thais do online. However, no matter
how much Thai culture has been affected by Western values, the true Thai spirit still
remains among the Thais().

Non Cultural Barriers

A. Government

Negative perception coming from adults that judge Net generation to be a lot less
moral than ever before is not merely nonsense. Internet has been blamed for its role
in arousing pornography and terrorists. A 2006 Abac survey found that 60% of 1,464
15-24 year olds had seen porn on the internet, and 70% of those had downloaded it;
some of them were found in Youtube. Freedom Against Censorship Thailand said
that more than 10,000 sites are on the ICT’s blocking list (not only pornography
contents are blocked, but also those that show an insult to the Thailand Royal
family). In the year of 2008, some monks were caught flirting at social networking
sites, which have given even more negative impact to internet, especially social
media ().

The freedom in the digital world is indeed limited in Thailand. Cyber Crime law that
has been implemented in result to the increase of pornography resources and other
junks, is seen as threat to people’s freedom rather than protecting their right ().
Nuffic has to carefully bear this in mind, because of, first of all, the vast cultural
11
From the interview, Woody said that although social media is not yet a reliable source of
information nor formal way of communication, e-mail is increasingly recognised as a new, formal
way of communication.

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difference between Holland and Thailand. Also, what is right in Holland might be not
okay at all in Thailand. Thus, every content coming from Nuffic – whether it is
promotions or information – has to be considered, reconsidered, and once again
reconsidered.

B. Facilities

Finally, another bottleneck for fully embracing social media is lack of facility.
Broadband internet is not yet accessible everywhere; also devices like notebook or
PCs are not yet affordable for all Thailand citizens.

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Conclusion
Nuffic has recently opened its new support office (Neso) in Bangkok, Thailand. This
requires an intercultural competence to understand and approach the target group:
the Thai students. With the growth of digital media in Thailand, it is necessary to
observe the extent of intercultural communication influences the use of social
media in Thailand. The research is to give recommendation to develop intercultural
awareness in order to reach the Thai students using social media.

Thailand is a unique country sandwiched between India and China. The transition
from being underdeveloped to a modern developed state was accomplished only
recently, and at great speed. There are obvious challenges between these two
countries. Thailand has the tendency to be a collectivist society that emphasises the
sense of togetherness and family, which is the total opposite of Holland. Yet,
Thailand has differences and separation when it comes to social status.
Furthermore, the Thais are from high-context society. Considering these facts, the
Dutch has to put some efforts to understand and communicate with the Thais.
Moreover, Herbig also discussed about religion, gender equality and ethnocentrism,
and their correlation with the innovation in Thailand. An appealing result came out:
(1) there are more women, who are active on the internet, in comparison to men;
(2) Thailand scores high in Confucianism index, which shows that its structure and
cultural attribute support Thailand for new innovation.

Even though these intercultural communication theories are the basis of this
research, there are some culture shifts, which influence and shape the society.
Technology is the main discussion in this chapter, because it makes the Thais, who
are by nature collectivist, to be more individualist. Western culture also plays a role
to make the Thais more creative and open. Finally, in contrast, despite the stimulus
to embrace the new innovation – social media – government put some barriers by
declaring cyber crime law. This is also supported by older generation, who considers
internet and other new digital devices to be negative and evil.

According to the findings from desk research and interview, the main bottlenecks
are to address and facilitate the Thais’ high-context/long-term and polychronic time
behaviour. Furthermore, also because of the cyber crime law, there are some

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sensitive issues like pornography or things that are related to the Royal family that
have to be avoided. However, all these theories and stereotypes about Thailand
have to be reconsidered because of the new technology coming in Thailand,
western influence, and the famous Thai cyber crime law. Technology, for instance,
has made the Thais to become more individualistic, also more open-minded and
creative at the same time. The cyber crime law, indeed, limits the online growth,
yet, at the same time, the Thais are becoming more critical and sharp. Thai
students are, indeed, on social media, even though, they are not as overwhelmed
by it as Indonesian students (see previous research paper); however they are
embracing this new way of communication.

Thais are changing, as with all people everywhere. Although traditions remain what
they always were, however, theories, stereotypes and prejudices should not hinder
Nuffic to approach the Thais using social media, because they are so ready!

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Advice Paper: Becoming

Interculturally Competent
Being Intercultural Communication Competent is behaving appropriately and
effectively in a given context().

Knowledge
1. Nuffic has to get rid of the stereotype of Thais equal Asian, because every
Thai is unique and has a unique personality.
2. Nuffic needs to consider the strong influence of Buddhism and monarchy,
which makes Thais respect status separation and the tendency to be indirect
in their conversation.
3. The Thais are slow to learn and accept new things like technology or
innovation. Although social media and e-mail is well-known, most Thai still
prefers to have face-to-face conversation.
4. Thai Women are very educated, thus although there is status difference
(between old and young, for instance), but gender equality is absolute.
5. Due to culture shift, Thai young, Net generation is slightly more
individualistic; yet they still like to be part of a group. Also, they are more
open to new things.
6. Thai is still the national language, and is mostly used; however, because the
Thais are more open, they are keen to learn other languages, including
practising their English.

Attitude
1. Acknowledging all the challenges mentioned in this research, yet do not see
that as limitation. At the same time, embrace the opportunities lie among the
Thai students.
2. Consider the cyber crime law. The Thai government is fussy about issues
related to pornography or insult to the Royal family. Nuffic needs to discern
images or information that is or is not appropriate for this country.

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3. The Thais invest in long-term orientation relationship, which will become

apparent in their (online) discussion that will involve family, age, marital
status, background, etc. This may take some times; yet it is worth doing.
Once the Thais invite you are in their ‘zone’, the Thais will be glad to have
you.
4. Social media is growing – slowly but sure. Weblogs, social network sites, and
multimedia sharing like Youtube are now part of the Thais young generation.
It is worth investing in building relationship on social media.

Behaviour
1. Invest time to explore social media in Thailand. Nowadays the Thais are on
these following sites: HI5, Facebook, Multiply, MSN space, YouTube. However,
most discussions are happening on other sites, such as www.oknation.net,
www.sanook.com, and www.pantip.com.
2. The Thais will go to specific, credible sites to look for information. They
usually visit www.vichakain.com to search for education and scholarship.
3. Having a support office is a very good move, because the Thais still prefer
face-to-face (or direct) communication rather than e-mail, chatting, or
Facebook conversation.
4. Although the gap is not big, there are more women actively using Internet –
online media. Thus, Nuffic needs to anticipate this by, for instance, hiring
more female staffs that are willing to spend time with the (female) students,
chitchatting or just answering their endless e-mail.
5. Finally, a continuous observation to see how the group moves or changes (in
the real life or in social media) is extremely important, especially knowing
that Thai is more and more open, yet still needs time to adjust.

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