Hofstede eventually added another dimension to his original list:  Confucian work dynamism.  This dimension is more commonly known as long-term versus a short-term orientation.

Cultures like China have a long-term orientation. The values of this dimension include: persistence; thrift or saving money is an important life goal; having a sense of shame; leisure time is not seen as important, and the future is more important than the now.

Cultures like the USA have a rather low degree of long-term orientation. In contrast, short-term orientation values are rooted in the present; pending is based on current needs; emphasis is on quick results; leisure time is important.

The study by Chen, Ng and Rao wanted to see if one's cultural dimension would affect their purchasing behaviours.  The interesting thing about this study is that it used one set of participants - but made them either more aware of their Singaporean or their American identity.

The aim of the study was to investigate the role of Confucian Work Dynamism (Long-term orientation) on an individual's buying habits.

The sample was made up of 149 bi-cultural participants from a Singaporean university. The study was conducted online.  The participants were randomly assigned to conditions.

First, the participants were primed in order to make either their Singaporean or their American identity more salient - that is, to make them more aware of that part of their identity. This was done by first showing them a collage of 12 photos that were emblematic of the culture. The images included famous buildings, brand names, the flag and celebrities.  After looking at the collage they were then asked to write down as many of the items as they could remember.

After completing the priming task, the participants were given a shopping scenario to buy a novel online. They were told the standard delivery cost was 2.99 Singaporean dollars. They were then told that it would take five business days to receive the delivery, but that they could pay extra to get the book in one day. Participants were asked how much they were willing to pay to receive the book in one day.

Finally, the participants were asked to list the first three politicians that came to mind.

People whose Western cultural values were made more salient through priming placed a higher value on immediate consumption than the people whose Eastern cultural values were made salient.  It appears that Confucian Work Dynamism played a role in their online shopping behaviour.

In both cases, the participants listed politicians that were relevant to the culture that they had been primed for.  This indicates that the priming had remained throughout the study and should discount individual differences between the groups.

The final test on politicians allowed the researchers to determine that the priming had, in fact, been successful and most likely affected the participants' decisions.

The fact that the study took place in Singapore may be a confounding variable.  In the original study, the influence on the American primed group was less significant than the Singaporean primed group.

The study was naturalistic; that is, the scenario was done online and this is how most of the students would purchase a book.

However, since the study was done online, this means that it is difficult to control variables - such as potential help from others or other distracters in the environment.

The study in highly standardized and could be replicated in order to establish the reliability of the findings.