Culture

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Cultures recent consequences

• Auckland University of Technology
• 11 April 2005
• Geert Hofstede
• The individual components of this presentation
  and the entire presentation may be used in
  not-for-profit educational settings with proper
  attribution.
• Citation Hofstede, Geert (2005) Cultures recent
  consequences PowerPoint file, http//crosscultura
  lcentre.homestead.com/Publications.html, 12 July
  2021

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Culture (in the anthropological sense)

• collective programming of the mind
  distinguishing the members of one group or
  category of people from another
• group/category can be nation, region,
  organization, profession, generation, gender

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Mental programmmes
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Values

• Values are strong emotions with a minus and a
  plus pole
• Like evil-good, abnormal-normal, dangerous-safe,
  dirty-clean, immoral-moral, indecent-decent,
  unnatural-natural, paradoxical-logical,
  ugly-beautiful, irrational-rational
• What is rational is a matter of values

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The learning of culture
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National versus organizational cultures

• National culture differences are rooted in
  values learned before age 10
• They pass from generation to generation
• For organizations, they are given facts
• Organizational cultures are rooted in practices
  learned on the job
• Given enough management effort, they can be
  changed
• International organizations are held together by
  shared practices, not by shared values

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Research into national culturesInhabitants of
the world, William Darton, 1790
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Research into national culturesCultures
Consequences, Geert Hofstede, 1980 5 dimensions

1. Inequality more or less? Power Distance large
   vs. small
2. The unfamiliar fight or tolerate? Uncertainty
   Avoidance strong vs. weak
3. Relation with in-group loose or tight?
   Individualism vs. Collectivism
4. Emotional gender roles different or same?
   Masculinity vs. Femininity
5. Need gratification later or now? Long vs.
   Short term orientation

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National culture dimensions now scores showing
relative positions of gt 70 countries

• Initially based on employees of IBM subsidiaries
  in 40 countries around 1970
• Until 2002, 6 major replications (elites,
  employees of other corporations, airline pilots,
  consumers, civil servants)
• Results very stable even if cultures shift,
  countries shift together so relative scores
  remain valid

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Dimension 1 Power Distance

• Extent to which the less powerful members of
  institutions and organizations expect and accept
  that power is distributed unequally
• Transferred to children by parents and other
  elders

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Dimension 2 Uncertainty Avoidance

• Extent to which members of a culture feel
  threatened by ambiguous and unknown situations
• Not to be confused with risk avoidance risk is
  to uncertainty as fear is to anxiety. Uncertainty
  and anxiety are diffuse feelings anything may
  happen

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SMALL PD, WEAK UA
LARGE PD, WEAK UA
CHINA, HK, SINGAPORE INDIA, BANGLADESH
INDONESIA, MALAYSIA
NORDIC CTRS ANGLO CTRS, USA NETHERLANDS
GERMAN SPK CTRS HUNGARY ISRAEL
TAIWAN, THAILD, PAKIST LATIN CTRS, E-EUROPE
JAPAN, KOREA
SMALL PD, STRONG UA
LARGE PD, STRONG UA
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Dimension 3 Individualism vs. Collectivism

• Individualism A society in which the ties
  between individuals are loose everyone is
  expected to look after self and immediate family
• Collectivism A society in which individuals from
  birth onwards are part of strong in-groups which
  last a lifetime

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Dimension 4 Masculinity vs. Femininity

• Masculinity A society in which emotional gender
  roles are distinct men are supposed to be
  assertive, tough and focused on material success,
  women on the quality of life
• Femininity A society in which emotional gender
  roles overlap both men and women are supposed to
  be modest, tender, and focused on the quality of
  life

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COLLECTIVIST,FEMININE
COLLECTIVIST,MASCULINE
THAILAND, KOREA, VIETN INDON, MALAYS, SINGAP
COSTA RICA, CHILE PORTUGAL, RUSSIA
HK, CHINA, JAPAN, PHILS INDIA,
BANGLADESH MEXICO, VENEZUELA GREECE,
ARAB WORLD
SPAIN FRANCE NETHERLANDS NORDIC COUNTRIES
CZECHIA, HUNGARY
POLAND, ITALY GERMAN SPK CTRIES ANGLO
COUNTRIES, USA
INDIVIDUALIST, FEMININE
INDIVIDUALIST,MASCULINE
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Validations of country scores against over 400
measures from other sources

• Examples
• Power distance Respect for elders corruption
  polarization and violence in national politics
• Uncertainty avoidance Religiosity xenophobia
  identity card obligation faster driving
• Individualism GNP per capita faster walking
  weak family ties frequency of using the word I
• Masculinity Assertiveness performance versus
  solidarity fewer women elected homophobia

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Dimension 5 Long Term vs. Short Term Orientation

• Long Term Orientation is directed at the future
  and seeks future rewards through perseverance and
  thrift
• Short Term Orientation is directed at the past
  and present through respect for tradition,
  fulfilling social obligations and seeking
  immediate rewards

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• LONG TERM ORIENTATION
• CHINA, HK, TAIWAN
• JAPAN, VIETNAM
• KOREA
• BRAZIL, INDIA
• THAILAND, SINGAPORE
• NETHERLANDS, NORDIC COUNTRIES
• BANGLADESH
• BELGIUM, FRANCE, GERMANY
• AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND
• USA, BRITAIN, CANADA
• SPAIN, PHILIPPINES
• AFRICAN COUNTRIES
• PAKISTAN
• SHORT TERM ORIENTATION

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Correlates of LTO

• Short term
• Good and evil are absolute
• Concern with Truth
• Analytical thinking
• Weaker at mathematics
• Old age seen as a bad time but starting late
• Higher rates of imprisonment
• Spending rates
• Focus on bottom line
• Past and present economic stagnation

• Long term
• Good and evil are relative
• Concern with Virtue
• Synthetic thinking
• Better at mathematics
• Old age seen as a good time and starting early
• Lower rates of imprisonment
• Savings rates
• Aim at market position
• Past and present economic growth

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Are there national management and leadership
cultures ?

• In national cultures, all spheres of life and
  society are interrelated family, school, job,
  religious practice, economic behavior, health,
  crime, punishment, art, science, literature,
  management, leadership
• There is no separate national management or
  leadership culture management and leadership
  can only be understood as part of the larger
  culture

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Other examples of research results (last 10 years)

1. Consumer behavior
2. Entrepreneurship
3. Business goals
4. Human rights
5. Perceived corruption

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1. Consumer behavior

• 15 EU countries, 1970 2000
• When national incomes become more similar,
  consumer behavior converges as long as a product
  is scarce
• After scarcity is over, consumer behavior
  diverges, following cultural values, especially
  Uncertainty Avoidance and Masculinity/Femininity
  which are unrelated to income
• Research de Mooij, 2004

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Examples of consumer behavior divergence cars in
15 European countries

• Cars per 1000 inhabitants
• correlation with GNP/capita
• 1969 r .93
• 1994 r .42 ns
• Percent households with 2 cars
• correlation with GNP/cap with MAS
  index
• 1970 r .58 r .43 ns
• 1997 r -.28 r .62
• Prefers new over second hand
• correlation with GNP/cap with UncAv
  index
• 1970 r .47 r .79
• 1997 r -.32 r .80
• Source De Mooij, 2000

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Example of consumer behavior new communication
technology in Europe

• Adoption of PCs, internet and mobile phones no
  influence of national wealth, but slower where
  Uncertainty Avoidance was stronger
• Research de Mooij, 2004

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Example of consumer behavior use of internet in
Europe

• Lasting differences in what internet is used
  for
• Feminine cultures use internet more for education
  and leisure (chatting)
• Small Power Distance cultures use internet more
  for business
• Weak Uncertainty Avoidance cultures use internet
  more for mail
• Research de Mooij, 2004

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2. Entrepreneurship

• European database on self-employed in 23
  countries (excl. agriculture), 1974-1994
• Varied from Greece18.6 to Finland 5.7
• Correlated positively with Uncertainty Avoidance
• Especially with UA component dissatisfaction
  with life and with democracy
• For 12 EU countries, economic factors explained
  32 of variance. Adding cultural factors 64
• Self-employment arises out of dissatisfaction
• Wennekers, Noorderhaven, Thurik Hofstede, 2002

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3. Business goals

• Goals of successful business persons in your
  country
• As perceived by evening MBA students with
  full-time day jobs
• 21 groups, 16 universities, 15 countries, period
  1995-99
• List of 15 possible goals
• Clustering of universities and countries based on
  their answers
• Country scores correlated with PDI, UAI, IDV,
  LTO, GNP/capita
• Research Hofstede et al, 2002

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Business goalsexamples of country differences 1

• relatively most important ascribed goals
• in USA in UK and NZ
• Growth of the business This years profits
• This yearprofits Staying within the law
• Personal wealth Responsib. tds employees
• Power Continuity of the business
• Staying within the law Patriotism, national
  pride
• Respecting ethical norms Respecting ethical norms

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Business goalsexamples of country differences 2

• relatively most important ascribed goals
• Hong Kong, Hawaii (As) in China
• Profits 10 years from now Respecting ethical
  norms
• Creating something new Patriotism, national pride
• Game and gambling spirit Honor, face, reputation
• Growth of the business Power
• Honour, face, reputation Responsib. tds society
• Personal wealth Profits 10 years from now

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4. Culture and Human Rights

• HR Index 1992 based on 1948 Universal Declaration
• Regression on wealth (GNP/cap)plus culture
  indices
• Across 52 countries only wealth explains
  differences (50)If we want more respect for
  Human Rights we should combat poverty

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Human Rights Index

• 27 poor countries still only poverty explains
  differences (38)
• 25 wealthy countries individualism explains
  differences (53)
• Universal declaration of human rights is
  based on individualist values

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5. Perceived corruption

• An annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI),
  including almost all countries in the world, is
  composed by Transparency International of Berlin
  and published on Internet. It is based on data
  from business, media and diplomats
• Globally, the CPI is primarily a matter of
  national poverty, not of culture (poor countries
  are perceived as more corrupt)

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Perceived corruption

• When the analysis is limited to wealthy
  countries, corruption perception differences no
  longer depend on wealth, but on culture.
• In 1984, Michael Hoppe collected scores for the
  first 4 culture dimensions from Western political
  and intellectual elites, including prominent
  politicians, based on their own values.
• 76 of the CPI differences among 18 Western
  countries in 2002 could be predicted from their
  elites self-scored Power Distance in 1984.
• Sources Hoppe,Salzburg Seminar own research

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Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely (Lord Acton , 1890)
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General conclusion from culture studies

• There is no such thing as a universal economic
  or psychological rationality
• NATIONALITY
• constrains
• RATIONALITY

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Student-level book, 2005 Academic book, 2001