Cultural and Skill-Based Influences on Driver Behaviours: A Comparison of Two Countries

Abstract

Background: Driver behaviours, as the major contributing factor to crashes, are influenced by various factors including human, vehicle and environment-related factors (Haddon, 1972; WHO, 2023). From the perspective of human factors and psychology, examining the interaction between psychological factors, social context and driver behaviours may provide significant contributions to enhance road safety. Individualism and collectivism, as two fundamental cultural dimensions, are known to shape decision-making and attitudes toward risk-taking in various domains, including driving (Nordfjærn & Şimşekoğlu, 2014). While these factors have been studied separately concerning driving behaviour, little is known about how driving skills influence these relationships and how these relationships differ across different cultural settings. Türkiye scored higher on collectivism and Belgium scored higher on individualism represent different cultural backgrounds (Hofstede, 2023). Understanding how cultural factors, individualism and collectivism, and driving skills interact to shape driver behaviours in both countries may help to develop tailored interventions for road safety. Methods: The study sample comprised 527 drivers from Türkiye (M = 33.36; SD = 9.61) and 326 drivers from Belgium (M = 29.35; 12.29). Data were obtained through self-report measures in Turkish and Dutch, including the Demographic Information Form, Individualism and Collectivism Scale (Singelis, et al., 1995), Driving Skills Inventory (Lajunen & Summala, 1995), and Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (Reason et al., 1990; Martinussen et al., 2013), with items from the Positive Driver Behaviour Scale (Özkan & Lajunen, 2005). Participants were recruited via online platforms and university emails using snowball and convenience sampling methods. After conducting descriptive statistics and bivariate correlation analyses, moderated moderation analyses were carried out to examine the interactive effects of cultural factors (independent variables), driving skills (moderators), and country (moderator) on driver behaviours (dependent variable) using the PROCESS macro for SPSS v29 (Hayes, 2022). Results: Correlation analyses showed that males reported more violations and higher perceptual-motor skills, and individualism was associated positively with violations while collectivism was associated positively with safety skills for both Turkish and Flemish drivers. In Türkiye, individualism was also associated with higher perceptual-motor skills, while it was associated positively with violations and negatively with safety skills in Belgium. A total of 12 moderated moderation analyses were conducted to examine how individualism and collectivism affect driver behaviour, with driving skills as moderators, across both countries. The results were significant only for violations, not for errors nor for positive behaviours. Collectivism and violations were negatively correlated for Flemish drivers with higher levels of perceptual-motor skills. In contrast, this relationship was not significant for Turkish drivers. Another significant result is that the positive association between individualism and driving violations was decreased for Turkish drivers with higher perceptual-motor skills. Higher perceptual-motor skills may act as a buffer for the risk associated with individualistic tendencies. In contrast, the effect of individualism on violations increased with higher perceptual-motor skills in Flemish drivers, which suggests that higher perceived skills of individualistic drivers may result in more assertive and potentially riskier behaviours. Discussion: The findings revealed cultural and skill-based factors on driver behaviours, specifically violations, in Türkiye and Belgium. In both countries, males reported more violations and higher perceptual-motor skills. This supports previous research indicating male drivers more frequently exhibit risky driving behaviours (Jimenes-Mejias, 2014). In line with previous research (Nordfjærn & Şimşekoğlu, 2014), individualism is positively associated with violations, while collectivism is positively associated with safety skills. It can be suggested that a collectivistic orientation, characterized by a social focus such as considering the welfare of others and being interrelated with others, may enhance the sense of responsibility and contribute to safe driving choices (Fatehi et al., 2020; Hofstede, 1991). In contrast, an individualistic orientation, characterized by a personal focus, may lead some drivers to place more importance on independence and personal freedom rather than considering the welfare of others or obeying the rules, potentially leading to risky behaviours while driving (Nordfjærn & Şimşekoğlu, 2014; Singelis et al., 1995). The moderation analyses showed that there are significant findings for violations but not for other driving behaviours. Cultural and individual factors may have a stronger influence on risky and rule-breaking behaviours while errors and positive behaviours may be affected more by other factors such as attention level, fatigue or environmental factors. Collectivism was associated negatively with violations at higher levels of perceptual-motor skills in Belgium. Better driving abilities might enable these drivers to follow the rules and conform to the social norms, strictly. However, this relationship was not significant in Türkiye. In countries, where collectivistic values are deeply embedded in social life, such as Türkiye, perceptual motor skills might not have the same effect because adherence to social norms may already be strong across all skill levels. Turkish drivers with higher individualistic orientation and higher perceptual-motor skills reported fewer violations. That is, individualistic orientation may lead to better control over their driving behaviours for Turkish drivers with better driving skills. In contrast, the effect of individualism on driving violations increased with higher perceptual-motor skills in Flemish drivers. Drivers with individualistic tendencies in Belgium may tend to show assertiveness through better driving skills due to increased confidence, which may lead them to show risky driving behaviours. Interventions designed to decrease driving violations should consider both cultural differences and perceived skill levels. For instance, in Belgium, promoting perceptual-motor skills training may enhance the protective effects of collectivistic orientation. On the other hand, enhancing perceptual-motor skills may prevent the negative consequences of the risks associated with individualistic orientation for Turkish drivers. Further studies may explore additional factors, such as urban-rural differences or attitudes towards risk-taking, in cross-cultural studies to provide a more comprehensive understanding of driver behaviour across diverse settings. Conclusion: This is the first study examining the relationship between individualism-collectivism and driver behaviours cross-culturally by considering the effect of driving skills, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. The results indicate the influence of individualism and collectivism on driving violations varies based on the level of perceptual-motor skills and the direction and the strength of this relationship varies based on the cultural context.