Sylvie De CockDebaty, JessicaJessicaDebaty2025-05-142025-05-142025-05-142022https://hdl.handle.net/2078.2/27483Commonly experienced by travellers and international students, culture shock refers to a sense of disorientation caused by one’s immersion into an unknown culture. Nowadays, the phenomenon is even more likely to appear in a professional context as the world becomes increasingly globalised and that international partnerships are required to develop a wide network of connections. In line with this observation, this dissertation focuses on the issue of culture shock for Western businesspeople and investigates its potential links with specific cultural concepts belonging to three East Asian countries: China, Japan, and South Korea. Through the use of scientific articles and books, as well as practical data (collected from three online surveys and the interview of a Belgian businessman), the thesis ultimately aims to provide new information related to the experience and frequency of culture shock in the East Asian business workplace. Furthermore, it seeks solutions and advice on how to prevent future Western businesspeople from experiencing culture shock in China, Japan, or South Korea.culture shockintercultural communicationEast Asian culturesinternational businessChinaJapanSouth Koreatext::thesis::master thesisthesis:34966