Cross-cultural comparison of social network and its effect on relationship with strangers

此前的研究表明，与美国人和韩国人相比，日本人对陌生人的态度不那么积极，与他们互动的频率也更低。这项研究调查了这种与陌生人关系的文化差异是否可以用日本人和美国人/韩国人之间社会网络结构的差异来解释。在日本、美国和韩国进行的在线比较调查显示，1)日本人的总体信任度低于美国人和韩国人，与陌生人的互动较少；2)这些文化差异部分被网络规模和网络边界密度的差异所中介（即日本人的信任度较低、互动较少可以用他们的网络规模较小、边界密度较低来解释）。3)与美国人相比，日本人的边界密度较低，部分原因是他们不愿意与属于不同群体的朋友联系，因为他们担心自己在每个群体中的角色和关系会给朋友带来不同的面孔。

Previous research has shown that Japanese have less positive attitudes toward strangers and interact with them less frequently than Americans and Koreans. This study investigates whether such cultural differences in relationship with strangers can be explained by the differences in social network structure between Japanese and Americans/Koreans. Comparative online survey in Japan, the United States, and Korea revealed that 1) Japanese had lower general trust and fewer interactions with strangers than both of Americans and Koreans, 2) these cultural differences were partially mediated by the difference in network size and network boundary density (i.e. Japanese lower trust and fewer interaction can be explained by their smaller network and lower boundary density), 3) low boundary density among Japanese compared to Americans can be partially explained by their unwillingness to connect their friends who belong to different groups, because of their concerns about their different faces they show to their friends depending on their roles and relationships in each groups.