01 Editorial.qxd Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 ISSN: 1139-7241 / e-ISSN: 2340-2784 Abstract Situated in an intercultural communication setting, this study explores the impact of the writer’s and the receiver’s national cultures and the writer’s professional identity on the move structures of persuasive email requests. The paper particularly compared persuasive email requests written by Hong Kong Chinese and Japanese university students. For triangulation, the pre-writing group discussions and post-writing reflective essays produced by the same groups of students were also analyzed. By employing the genre analysis framework developed by Bhatia and Swales, we identified eight structural moves in email messages and observed similarities and differences in the use of these moves across the two corpora. The findings suggest that culture and identity construction interactively play important roles in affecting the students’ use of persuasive strategies. Keywords: persuasive writing, cultural impact, identity construction, Hong Kong, Japanese. Resumen E l im pa c to de l a c u l tur a y d e l a id e nt id ad e n s o l ic itu de s c o me rc ia l e s e n e n u n c on te xt o i nt e rc u l tur al : un e s tu di o c omp a ra tiv o b as a d o e n e l a ná l is i s d e l g é ne r o Este estudio se enmarca en un contexto de comunicación intercultural. Su objetivo es explorar el impacto de la cultura nacional del escritor y del receptor y, por otro lado, examinar la identidad profesional del escritor a través de los Culture and identity on intercultural business requests: A genre-based comparative study Bertha Du-Babcock and Haiying Feng City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong) and University of International Business and Economics (China) enbertha@cityu.edu.hk & fhy@uibe.edu.cn 171 Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIyIng FEng ‘movimientos retóricos’ de una solicitud comercial. En este trabajo se compararon las solicitudes comerciales persuasivas escritas por estudiantes de universidades de Hong Kong China y Japón. Para la triangulación de estos datos, se analizaron también las discusiones de grupo previas al proceso de redacción de este tipo de textos, asi como los ensayos de reflexión producidos por estos estudiantes tras la redacción de estos textos. Utilizando el marco del análisis de género propuesto por Bhatia y Swales, en el presente estudio se identificaron un total de ocho movimientos retóricos en los mensajes electrónicos de los dos corpus utilizados para este estudio. Los resultados sugieren que la cultura y la construcción de la identidad juegan un importante papel, en tanto que determinan el uso de estrategias de persuasión por parte de los estudiantes. Palabras clave: escritura persuasiva, impacto cultural, construcción de la identidad, Hong Kong, japonés. 1. Introduction In the era of globalization, English as a lingua franca is commonplace where English is used as the language of communication between business practitioners with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This phenomenon has posed challenges to students who are non-native English speakers and new to their chosen professions. In the context of writing business letters in intercultural settings, student writers have to demonstrate on the one hand awareness of communicative norms and writing conventions that are generally accepted in their profession so as to construct themselves as competent members of the discourse community (Swales, 1990; Bizzell, 1992). On the other hand, they have to take into account that these conventions might be different from those in their own culture. Research has provided empirical evidence for the impact of culture on individuals’ linguistic behaviors in intercultural communication settings (e.g., Du-Babcock, 1999, 2005 & 2006; Tanaka, 2006 & 2008; Scollon, Scollon & Jones, 2012; Du-Babcock, 2013; Du-Babcock & Tanaka, 2013). However, how a non-native English writer’s own culture, the receiver’s culture, and the writer’s perception of his/her own identity affect the structure process of writing a business letter has become a topic of increasing importance yet is still under research. To investigate this issue, we developed a simulated case scenario where student writers wrote a requestive email message to a potential business collaborator who is a British. In this study, we recruited two groups of non- 172 native English speaking university students from Hong Kong and Japan. While Hong Kong and Japanese are often categorized as collectivist cultures (Hofstede, 2001), two cultures exhibit distinctive communication behaviors (Du-Babcock & Tanaka, 2013). Consequently, the study examines persuasive strategies used by Hong Kong and Japanese students in order to determine whether there is a convergent or divergent pattern in writing the requestive message. We adopted a genre analysis approach (Swales, 1990; Bhatia, 1993) to investigate the move structures of requestive messages written by the two researched groups. We also explore the role of cultures and identities constructed by student writers (as students or as business practitioners). 2. Literature review The present study is situated in an intercultural setting, and explores the impact of culture (the writer’s vs the receiver’s) and identity (student vs professional) on constructing persuasive email messages. Studies on (1) requestive email messages, (2) culture and communication styles, and (3) the writer’s identity construction are reviewed. 2.1. Requestive email messages Email communication is a hybrid medium of communication, situating along a continuum between formal written letters and informal conversations (gimenez, 2000; Baron, 2003; Biesenbach-Lucas, 2007). An extensive research on email communication compares requestive messages written by native English speakers (nESs) and non-native English speakers (nnESs) including Taiwan Chinese (Chang & Hsu, 1998), Jordanians (Al-Ali & Sahawneh, 2008), Thai (Swangboonsatic, 2006), and mixed Asians (Biesenbach-Lucas, 2007). Results revealed that while nESs tend to use more indirect syntactical forms (e.g., interrogatives) and hints, nnESs tend to use direct forms (e.g., imperatives) (Chang & Hsu, 1998; Scollon, Scollon & Kirkpatrick, 2000; Al-Ali & Sahawneh, 2008). In terms of the order of structural moves, nESs employ a “request-reason” pattern while Asian nnESs prefer to a “reason-request” pattern (Chang & Hsu, 1998; Swangboonsatic, 2006). Past research has also suggested that both native and non-native writers take in consideration situational factors (e.g., weighting of the imposition, power distance) and vary the request strategies when writing a requestive message (Biesenbach-Lucas, 2007). CULTURE AnD IDEnTITy On InTERCULTURAL BUSInESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 173 Based on the literature reviewed, we put forth research question 1. RQ 1: How did Hong Kong and Japanese students construct their requestive messages? Did they converge to or diverge from the moves of composing requestive messages? 2.2. Culture and communication style British is regarded as an individualist culture; whereas, Hong Kong and Japan are often viewed as collectivist societies (Hofstede, 2001; House et al., 2004; gesteland, 2005). Individualistic societies emphasize individual differences and accept deviation from group norms while collectivist societies value group interest over individual desire and needs, and place emphasis on harmonious relationships (Redding, 1997; nishiyama, 2000; Hofstede, 2001; Debroux, 2003; Selmer & de Leon, 2003). Cultures also differ greatly in terms of communication style. British are reported to use low-context communication styles where directness and explicitness are preferred. Effective persuasive discourse can be characterized by the “Aristotle” dictum; that is, “state your case and prove it” (Matalene, 1985). There is a linear development of writer’s ideas (Park, Dillon & Mitchell, 1998). In contrast, Hong Kong and Japanese people tend to use high-context communication styles where indirect forms of writing are preferred. Making connection between the messages and the background context is left to the readers (Scollon et al., 2000). nevertheless, there have been critiques of these traditional views towards Eastern and Western writing styles (Akar & Louhiala-Salminen, 1999; Scollon et al., 2012) that could be signaling a change in communication norms. Although Hong Kong and Japan belong to collectivist cultures, they exhibit different communication behaviors. Hong Kong, being a “hybrid society” (Redding, 1997: 111), has more exposure to the Western culture. Hong Kong is more westernized than other Chinese societies such as Mainland China and Taiwan (goodman, 2013). In examining Chinese students’ use of rhetoric strategies for argumentation, Kirkpratrick (1995: 225) argues his subjects’ English writing was “influenced by Western rather than by traditional Chinese styles”. Moreover, Hong Kong people are described as materialistic and pragmatic (Lau, 1982) and therefore emphasize individual achievements and interests rather than those of their company (Levin & yeung, 1996). BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIyIng FEng Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200174 In contrast, Japanese business people value long-term relationship rather than temporary profits (nishiyama, 2000; Debroux, 2003). When presenting an argument, the Japanese place the central point towards the end but the supporting reasons were likely to be absent or unclear (Suzuki, 2010). Likewise, reasons and background are usually provided before the request is delivered (Kameda, 2014). Haneda and Shima (1982) further asserted that the common AIDA (attention, interest, desire, and action) approach in request letters is not applicable in Japanese context. Du-Babcock and Tanaka (2013) compared communication behaviors of Hong Kong and Japanese business professionals in decision-making meetings. They found that Japanese participants tended to avoid direct disagreement in order to maintain group harmony while Hong Kong participants tended to be assertive in expressing disagreements, especially in the intercultural meetings. Research in contrastive rhetoric has documented that writers transfer first- language communication patterns and strategies to second-language writing (Connor & Kaplan, 1987). Similarly, in professional and academic writing, while writers tend to demonstrate disciplinary-specific discourse features (Fløttum, Dahl & Kinn, 2006), the influence of communication norms of the writer’s native language is evident (Abdi, 2009). Thus, when writing across cultures, miscommunication can accrue if writers continue to use discourse patterns that are effective in their home cultures but may not be suitable in other cultures. Therefore, we put forth our second research question as follows. RQ 2: How did writer’s and receiver’s cultures influence the construction of the requestive messages written by Hong Kong and Japanese students? 2.3. Identity construction Identity is “formed and shaped through action” (Richards, 2006: 3) and actions are accomplished through communication. As such, identity construction is a complex process situated in actual interactions and wider sociocultural contexts (De Fina, Schiffirin & Bamberg, 2006). Communicators may actively construct their identities through their choice of communication devices (Feng & Du- Babcock, 2016). As Dunn (2011: 3644) argued, communicators’ use of communication strategies may not be “simply a matter of mechanical conformity to social norms; rather speakers use their knowledge of the indexical meanings of these forms to actively construct desired social roles and relationships”. CULTURE AnD IDEnTITy On InTERCULTURAL BUSInESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 175 Identity is formed when writers become members and situate themselves in discourse communities. Individual discourse communities can be identified through the conventionalized communication patterns shared by members of the community (Swales, 1990; Bizzell, 1992; Hyland, 2012). To claim membership and be accepted within a particular discourse community, members use the writing conventions that are frequently used in the community (Swales, 1990; Bizzell, 1992). nevertheless, some writers (e.g., Hyland, 2012) may choose not to follow the same writing convention. Consequently, identity formation can be a process of conforming to become a member of a discourse community, or possibly non-conformity to develop an individualized identity. We also adopted Piaget’s (1968) concepts of stage theory to connect the writing of persuasive messages with identity. As college students, individuals are likely to think and act as students who see themselves members of student discourse community while professionals think and act according to their accepted code of conducts in the professional discourse community. There is a transition from being students to professionals by exposing to professional education in classroom and work experience at workplace. In this transition students can continue to use “student talk” in student-to-student communication but professional genre in the classroom and at work. In sum, students are exposed to differing influences, and it is important to understand these influences in order to understand how students compose their persuasive messages. Thus, we put forth research question 3. RQ 3: How did identity influence the construction of requestive messages written by Hong Kong and Japanese students? 3. Research method The present study draws on three sets of data produced by 80 undergraduate students, 40 each from a Hong Kong university and a Japanese university. Participating students were sophomore or junior- year students, majoring in English for Professional Communication or business administration. On average, Hong Kong students achieved an IELTS score between 6 and 7 while Japanese students achieved between 5 and 6. Despite English language proficiency differences, both groups of students were able to write long essays in English. To mitigate the impact of the students’ language BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIyIng FEng Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200176 proficiencies, this study examined the data at a discourse level and focus on the writer’s use of persuasive strategies (see Data analysis). 3.1. Procedure At the time of data collection, students were required to take a business communication course to fulfil their program requirements. A writing task was designed and incorporated into business communication courses. The same task scenario and instructions (see Appendix A), with slight modifications to localize the names and monetary denominator, were used for consistency. Based on the scenario, students composed an email request in English. All participating students were informed of the study and their consent was sought before the commencement of the data collection process. To increase its authenticity, students assumed the role of the manager of the corporate communication department (Hong Kong students) or the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Japanese students) of a local company (the writer’s own company, hereafter called subject company or “SC”). The SC intended to expand its business by importing products of a British speaker manufacturer (target company, hereafter “TC”). However, TC already had an exclusive distributor (rival company, hereafter “RC”) in the respective local region (Hong Kong or Japan). In addition, the president of RC had a close personal relationship with CEO of TC. The task required students to write an email message to the Executive Director, International Sales Division of TC to request for business collaboration. The writer and the receiver met at a reception of the TC’s new product exhibition six months ago. This task was chosen for three reasons. Firstly, it was situated in an intercultural communication setting as the receiver was of a culture (British) different from the writer’s own (Chinese or Japanese). The norms and practices that were deeply rooted in writer’s native culture could greatly influence the choice of communication strategies unconsciously or consciously. Secondly, students had to draw on their business and communication knowledge in order to strategically formulate the request in a way that they believed to be able to convince the receiver to respond to the request. Thirdly, the task assigned students a professional role (as a manager). The students were required to demonstrate the knowledge of how to write a persuasive request in English in a business setting in order to construct their identity as a (competent) member of the business discourse community. CULTURE AnD IDEnTITy On InTERCULTURAL BUSInESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 177 The assigned task involved three in-class activities: pre-writing group discussion; persuasive message writing; and post-writing reflection (see Appendixes B and C for descriptions). In pre-writing group discussion, students formed groups of 4 to 6 persons to generate ideas on what and how to write. In order not to bias the results, the students were only given the lecture on how to write persuasive requests after they completed their individual written task. The reason for doing so is to truly reflect their own culture without being influenced by the lecture. Students also wrote individual reflections discussing reasons for writing the requests the way they were. The group discussions and post-writing reflections not only elicit justifications of their persuasive writing strategies, but more importantly, as Olinger (2011: 274) argued, they “provide a window into the embodied construction of identities”. 3.2. Research data This study draws on the three data sets (pre-writing group discussions, individual writing requests, and individual reflective essays) collected from the Hong Kong and Japanese students. The Hong Kong corpus consists of six pre-writing group discussions, 40 individual persuasive requests and 40 reflective essays while the Japanese corpus includes seven pre-writing group discussions, 40 persuasive requests and 40 reflective essays. Each pre-writing group discussion lasted about 40-50 minutes and was digitally recorded and later transcribed. We analyzed the 80 requestive messages by using the genre analysis framework developed by Bhatia (1993) and Swales (1990). While Swales’s (1990) genre analysis of the move structure aims for academic articles, Bhatia’s (1993, 2004) framework concentrated on a range of business promotional genres. According to Bhatia, promotional genres share a communicative goal and usually contain the following moves: (1) establishing credentials, (2) introducing the product/offer, (3) product details/offering incentives, (4) enclosing documents, (5) soliciting response, (6) using pressure tactics, and (7) ending politely. The messages examined in the present study can be classified as a promotional genre because the main communicative purpose is to promote SC to TC and persuade TC to respond to the request. By adapting Bhatia’s (1993, 2004) structural moves, we devised a move scheme (see Table 1) to code the 80 requestive messages. The messages were coded by two raters and BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIyIng FEng Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200178 the interrater reliability was .90. All instances of inconsistent coding were scrutinized and discussed until consensus was reached. Although the English proficiency levels of the student writers varied, this study analyzes the messages at the discourse level rather than at the lexical- grammatical level. We particularly focus on how the communication goal of the message is achieved through the construction of the steps and moves shown in Table 1. The analysis of the pre-writing group discussions and reflective essays allow the authors to link the three data sets to perform a triangulation and examine the intricacies and interplay of culture and identity construction. CULTURE AnD IDEnTITy On InTERCULTURAL BUSInESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 179 BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIYING FENG Ibérica 35 (2018): …-… Although the English proficiency levels of the student writers varied, this study analyzes the messages at the discourse level rather than at the lexical- grammatical level. We particularly focus on how the communication goal of the message is achieved through the construction of the steps and moves shown in Table 1. The analysis of the pre-writing group discussions and reflective essays allow the authors to link the three data sets to perform a triangulation and examine the intricacies and interplay of culture and identity construction. Table 1. Move scheme used to analyze the email messages in this study. Move Step Example Move 1. Establishing credentials Step 1a. Greeting Hello (JPN1) How are you? (HK13) Step 1b. Introducing the writer My name is [NAME]. I am the CEO of XYZ Corporation in Japan. (JPN1) Step 1c. Introducing SC We are a distributor specializing in high quality audio equipment in Japan. (JPN3) Step 1d. Referring to the previous meeting It was my pleasure to meet you at your company’s new product exhibition six months ago. (HK2) Move 2. Attracting reader’s attention Step 2a. Praising TC or TC’s products I was deeply impressed by the outstanding performance and quality of the audio products of your company. (HK2) Step 2b. Indicating an increasing demand for TC's products in the region Our marketing research showed that there is a sustainable demand in your company’s amplifiers and speakers in the local market (HK23) Step 2c. Expressing SC's interest in TC's products I am very interested in your products. (JPN10) Move 3. Making the request Step 3a. Introducing the request I want to make a new proposal for your company. (JPN1) Step 3b. Requesting to be a sole distributor I would like to become your new sole exclusive distributor in Japan. (JPN10) Step 3c. Requesting to be an additional distributor Therefore we would like to establish a business partnership with ABC and to become one of ABC's distributors in Hong Kong. (HK41) Step 3d. Requesting to import TC's products We are seeking the honor of working with your company to import ABC products to Hong Kong. (HK4) Step 3e. Requesting to do business with TC We would like to do business with your company.(JPN28) Move 4. Providing reasons for collaboration Step 4a. Highlighting SC's achievements Our business is expanding rapidly over the past 5 years, with our sales turnovers increased from HK$ 1.0 billion to HK$ 9.0billion. (HK2) Step 4b. Offering specific incentives to TC Not only can we promote your brand to Hong Kong people and expose the products to your target customers, we can also promise a double or triple CULTURE AND IDENTITY ON INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): …-… increase of your company’s sales turnover. (HK2) Step 4c. Offering non- specific incentives to TC With a large market share, we are able to provide more distribution channels for our [your] products, hence this will increase the sales turnover of your company (HK35) Move 5. Enclosing documents Step 5a. Attaching documents I have attached our company’s information as an attached document to this e-mail . (JPN34) Step 5b. Providing SC’s website address More information is on our website http://www.xyzcorp.xxx (JPN31) Table 1. Move scheme used to analyze the email messages in this study. 4. Results and interpretations In this section, we describe findings of the three research questions. 4.1. RQ1: How did Hong Kong and Japanese students construct their persuasive messages? Did these student writers converge to or diverge from the moves of composing requestive messages? To answer Research Question 1, we conducted a move analysis of 80 persuasive messages by using the coding scheme presented in Table 1. We then employed Chi-square (χ²) tests to compare the move frequencies in messages written by Hong Kong students (hereafter, HK corpus) and BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIyIng FEng Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200180 CULTURE AND IDENTITY ON INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): …-… Move 5. Enclosing documents Step 5b. Providing SC’s website address More information is on our website http://www.xyzcorp.xxx (JPN31) Move 6. Using pressure tactics Step 6a. Acknowledging the relationship between TC and RC We understand that you have a sole and exclusive distributor, Fortune Audio Co. (HK8) Step 6b. Describing RC in a positive tone [RC] is a respected company in the industry, yet there is currently a decline in their sales volume. (HK41) Step 6c. Describing RC in a negative tone [RC] is a respected company in the industry, yet there is currently a decline in their sales volume. (HK41) Step 6d. pointing out TC would lose competitive strength if not collaborating with SC As Mr. Wong [RC director] is aging, without the help of major salespersons, he might not be able to increase your company’s product sales as expected. (HK32) Step 6e. Other pressure tactics I strongly believe that that is a very good business opportunity that ABC should not miss (HK10) I sincerely hope your company to consider this once- in-a-lifetime opportunity we offer to your company. (HK26) Move 7. Soliciting a response Step 7a. Specifying a format I am planning to visit England on November and would like to talk about it further. Would you please arrange a 2-hour meeting? (HK25) Step 7b. Providing contact info If you are interested in our company and would like to know more about us, please feel free to give us a call on 29183932. (HK2) Step 7c. Specifying a reply-by date Please reply me the detail arrangement by 30th, October. (HK25) Step 7d. Soliciting a response with no specifications If you are interested in our company, we can make an appointment to talk about our company. (JPN34) Move 8. Ending politely Step 8a. Expressing desire for a reply/ for doing business with TC/ for meeting with the reader I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. (JPN 12) I look forward to the opportunity of doing business with you. (JPN 5) I look forward to meeting with you soon. (HK 1) Step 8b. Expressing gratitude Thank you for reading my email. (JPN 12) Thank you very much for your time (HK 40) Thank you for your consideration. (JPN 25) messages written by Japanese students (hereafter, Japanese corpus). The significant level was set at 0.05. We observed that each message can be constructed by up to eight moves, and each move can be accomplished in two to five steps. While some steps (e.g., greeting, self-introducing the writer, attaching documents) appear once in the message, other steps (e.g., praising the TC to gain interest, highlighting the SC’s achievements, offering non- specific incentives) appear multiple times. As shown in Table 2, we identified 606 units of steps in HK corpus and 517 units in Japanese corpus. In the following, the eight moves are discussed. 4.1.1. Move 1: Establishing credentials Move 1 often occurs in the beginning to establish the writer’s credentials. Table 2 shows a significant difference in constructing this move between the two groups. While in both corpora, Steps 1c (Introducing SC) and 1d (Referring to the previous meeting) are the most frequently used steps, Steps 1a (greeting) and 1b (Introducing the writer) are rarely found in the Hong Kong corpus (see Figure 1). The finding reveals that Hong Kong students are likely to consider Steps 1c and 1d are sufficient in establishing writer’s credentials while Japanese students regarded all four steps equally important to accomplish this purpose. The finding of Hong Kong students differs from Zhu (2000) which states that greetings and self-introduction are typical moves in Chinese business letters and serve to establish or maintain long-term relationships. Moreover, all of the greetings found in both corpora are expressed in either “hello” or “hi”, which is commonly used in spoken contexts and displays an informal and personalized register in email communication (gimenez, 2000), CULTURE AnD IDEnTITy On InTERCULTURAL BUSInESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 181 BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIYING FENG Ibérica 35 (2018): …-… 4. Results and interpretations In this section, we describe findings of the three research questions. 4.1. RQ1: How did Hong Kong and Japanese students construct their persuasive messages? Did these student writers converge to or diverge from the moves of composing requestive messages? To answer Research Question 1, we conducted a sentence-by-sentence analysis of 80 persuasive messages by using the move scheme presented in Table 1. We then employed Chi-square (!") tests to compare the move frequencies in messages written by Hong Kong students (hereafter, HK corpus) and messages written by Japanese students (hereafter, Japanese corpus). The significant level was set at 0.05. We observed that each message can be constructed by up to eight moves, and each move can be accomplished in two to five steps. While some steps (e.g., greeting, self-introducing the writer, attaching documents) appear once in the message, other steps (e.g., praising the TC to gain interest, highlighting the SC’s achievements, offering non-specific incentives) appear multiple times. As shown in Table 2, we identified 606 units of steps in HK corpus and 517 units in Japanese corpus. In the following, the eight moves are discussed. Move HK (n=40) JPN (n=40) Chi-Square score p-value Move 1. Establishing credentials 86 109 9.2527 0.026113* Move 2. Attracting attention 65 38 6.5555 0.037713* Move 3. Making the request 71 76 41.0261 0.00001* Move 4. Providing reasons for collaboration 228 151 7.7014 0.021265* Move 5. Enclosing documents 6 22 19.0909 0.000012* Move 6. Using pressure tactics 74 60 7.4473 0.114054 Move 7. Soliciting a response 37 16 6.7734 0.079482 Move 8. Ending politely 39 45 0.1436 0.704738 Total 606 517 * The significant level is at p < 0.05 Table 2. A comparison of move structures between Hong Kong and Japanese students. 4.1.1. Move 1: Establishing credentials Move 1 often occurs in the beginning to establish the writer’s credentials. Table 2 shows a significant difference in constructing this move between the two groups. While in both corpora, Steps 1c (Introducing SC) and 1d (Referring to the previous meeting) are the most frequently used steps, Steps 1a (Greeting) and 1b (Introducing the writer) are rarely found in the Hong Kong corpus (see Figure 1). The finding reveals that Hong Kong students are likely to consider Steps 1c suggesting these students viewed the email message as an informal communication channel. Results of Move 1 suggest that in establishing credentials Japanese students place more emphasis on interpersonal relationship and used more relational practices than those of Hong Kong students. This finding is consistent with general observation that Japanese people value interpersonal relationship (Debroux, 2003). 4.1.2. Move 2: Attracting receiver’s attention Move 2 functions to capture the receiver’s attention to continue reading the message. A significant difference was found in constructing Move 2 (see Table 2). Of the three steps, Hong Kong students were more likely than Japanese students in praising TC or TC’s products (Step 2a), or indicating the increasing demand of the TC’s products (Step 2b). BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIyIng FEng Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200182 CULTURE AND IDENTITY ON INTERCULTURAL BUSINESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): …-… and 1d are sufficient in establishing writer’s credentials while Japanese students regarded all four steps equally important to accomplish this purpose. The finding of Hong Kong students differs from Zhu (2000) which states that greetings and self-introduction are typical moves in Chinese business letters and serve to establish or maintain long-term relationships. Moreover, all of the greetings found in both corpora are expressed in either “hello” or “hi”, which is commonly used in spoken contexts and displays an informal and personalized register in email communication (Gimenez, 2000), suggesting these students viewed the email message as an informal communication channel. Results of Move 1 suggest that in establishing credentials Japanese students place more emphasis on interpersonal relationship and used more relational practices than those of Hong Kong students. This finding is consistent with general observation that Japanese people value interpersonal relationship (Debroux, 2003). Figure 1. A comparison of Move 1 at a Step Level. 4.1.2. Move 2: Attracting receiver’s attention Move 2 functions to capture the receiver’s attention to continue reading the message. A significant difference was found in constructing Move 2 (see Table 2). Of the three steps, Hong Kong students were more likely than Japanese students in praising TC or TC’s products (Step 2a), or indicating the increasing demand of the TC’s products (Step 2b). 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A 14. . .2 gnitcarttA:2evMo recei A c a at1 ove Mofson iparom S pte Level. noitenttaser’vrecei erutpacotsnoitcn2evMo ridtnacingisA.egassme ong H,psetseehrthetfO.2) CTroCTgnsiiarpnis tnedust stoducprs’CThetofnd amde Ibér cotnoitnettas’reviecerehte nitcurtsnocnidnusawecne eormerewsntudetsong Kong idniro,)a2petS(s tcudorps ’C 2b)p etS( . 35ca ibér 810(2 ): …-… 11 ehtgnidaereunitnoc elbaTees(2evoMg esenapaJnathlyelik gnsiaercniehtgnitaci 4.1.3. Move 3: Making the request The result reveals the significant difference between the two groups when making the request. Meanwhile, in comparing the frequencies of varying strategies in making requests, the analysis shows while Japanese students tended to request to be the sole distributor (χ² = 5.84, p<.05), Hong Kong students requested to be an additional distributor (χ²= 27.66, p<.05). A close examination of the messages reveals that a range of strategies (Steps 3b-3e) were employed in constructing the Move 3. Some students boldly asked for replacing the current sole distributor (Step 3b). Others took a lesser assertive approach by proposing to be an additional distributor (Step 3c), or used an implicit strategy by expressing their intention to import the TC’s products (Step 3d) or to do business with TC (Step 3e). Figure 3 shows that while Hong Kong students requested to be additional distributors (Step 3c), the majority of Japanese students requested to be sole distributors, followed by requesting to import TC’s products. The analysis also reveals that both Hong Kong and Japanese students reiterated their requests in different parts of the email message. For instance, 17 of Hong Kong students and 16 of Japanese students repeated the same requests to be sole distributors or additional distributors in their messages. It was also observed that these students used different strategies when making the requests. While ten Hong Kong students and nine Japanese students repeated the same requests in various parts of the messages, six Hong Kong and five Japanese students started with an implicit request to import TC’s products (Step 3d) or to do business or have collaboration with TC (Step 3e) and CULTURE AnD IDEnTITy On InTERCULTURAL BUSInESS REQUESTS Ibérica 35 (2018): 171-200 183 BERTHA DU-BABCOCK & HAIYING FENG Ibérica 35 (2018): …-… Figure 2. Results of Move 2 at a Step Level. 4.1.3. Move 3: Making the request The result reveals the significant difference between the two groups when making the request. Meanwhile, in comparing the frequencies of varying strategies in making requests, the analysis shows while Japanese students tended to request to be the sole distributor (!" = 5.84, p<.05), Hong Kong students requested to be an additional distributor (!"= 27.66, p<.05). A close examination of the messages reveals that a range of strategies (Steps 3b- 3e) were employed in constructing the Move 3. Some students boldly asked for replacing the current sole distributor (Step 3b). Others took a lesser assertive approach by proposing to be an additional distributor (Step 3c), or used an implicit strategy by expressing their intention to import the TC’s products (Step 3d) or to do business with TC (Step 3e). Figure 3 shows that while Hong Kong students requested to be additional distributors (Step 3c), the majority of Japanese students requested to be sole distributors, followed by requesting to import TC’s products. The analysis also reveals that both Hong Kong and Japanese students reiterated their requests in different parts of the email message. For instance, 17 of Hong Kong students and 16 of Japanese students repeated the same requests to be sole distributors or additional distributors in their messages. It was also observed that these students used different strategies when making the requests. While ten Hong Kong students and nine Japanese students repeated the same requests in various parts of the messages, six Hong Kong and five Japanese students started with an implicit request to import TC’s products (Step 3d) or to do business or have collaboration with TC (Step 3e) and followed by an explicit request to be a sole distributor (Step 3b) or an additional distributor (Step 3c). DUBERTHA - & CK BABCO ENGFNGYIHAI ENG e gurFi 2. leveLpeStata2evoMfostlusRe . 31.4. . rehtgnikMa:3evMo ingisehtslaevertlusereTh .tseuqerehtgnikma wnaMe s,steuqergnikamnis eigetarst isdleosethebtot seuqerto dlanoitiddanaebotdetseuqre mehtfonoitanimaxeesolcA ucrtonscn id oyeplmeerew)3e idelostnrreucehtgnicalpre tseuqe htneewtebecneridtnaci qeehtgnirapmocni,elihw apJaelihws woshs siylanaehts, tis H),50.