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1 Mongolia A Cultural Portrait Using
1 Mongolia A Cultural Portrait Using
MongoliaACulturalPortraitusingtheHofstede5DModel
2014. Charles Rarick, Gregory Winter, Casimir Barczyk, Mark Pruett, Inge Nickerson & Arifin Angriawan. This is a
research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Mongolia: A Cultural Portrait using the Hofstede
5-D Model
Charles Rarick , Gregory Winter , Casimir Barczyk , Mark Pruett , Inge Nickerson & Arifin Angriawan
Abstract- This paper explores the cultural values of Mongolia, This paper provides a look into the culture of Mongolia
a country rich in resources and recently classified as a Global using the Hofstede framework.
Growth Generator (3G) country. The analysis provides better The most popular and often cited research
insight into Mongolian culture, a culture for which research concerning cultural issues is that of Geert Hofstede and
2014
data are sparse. The assessment was based on the Hofstede
his associates. Dr. Hofstede, who was employed by IBM
5-D model of cultural values. The results of this study indicate
Europe as a trainer and industrial psychologist during
Year
that Mongolian culture is low in power distance, high in
individualism, very high in masculinity, and high in uncertainty the late 1960s and early 1970s, administered a survey to
avoidance. It can be characterized as being short-term in its employees in the companys subsidiaries. From these 1
orientation towards time. This paper adds to the cross-cultural data, Hofstede concluded that cultures differed on a
literature by examining a country that has not been previously number of dimensions. He proposed that management
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XIV Issue IX Version I
studied. Implications of Mongolian cultural values for theories were not universal, but rather, were bound by
management practice are discussed. culture. Management behavior deemed appropriate in
I. Introduction one culture may be deemed inappropriate in another
culture (Hofstede, 1980a; Hofstede, 1980b; Hofstede,
M
ongolia, a country landlocked between Russia 1983; Hofstede, 1993; Hofstede, 1994; Hofstede, 1997;
to the north and China to the south, has had an Hofstede, 2001). Hofstedes work has been widely cited
interesting and colorful history. It is perhaps in various academic studies and disciplines (Kirkman,
best known for the 12th Century warrior and ruler, Lowe & Gibson, 2006) and often forms the basis for
Genghis Khan, who united the Mongols into one of the cross-cultural analysis in business and other university
most powerful and feared armies in history (Craughwell, level courses. Hofstede originally surveyed 72 countries
2010). The Mongolian Empire was vast and wealthy until and was able to profile 40 different cultures. Later
its eventual collapse in the 14th Century. Mongolia is research provided for the classification of 10
once again on the rise due to its geographic location morecountries and three regions (www.geert-
and natural resource holdings. Mongolia is home to hofstede.com, 2014).
some of the worlds largest reserves of gold, coal, Hofstede identified four dimensions of culture:
cooper, and iron ore, and possesses significant 1) power distance, 2) individualism, 3) masculinity, and
holdings of other mineral wealth. It has attracted 4) uncertainty avoidance. Power distance is the degree
massive foreign investment in recent years (Dexter, to which members of a society expect power to be
2012). The vast resource deposits and the inflow of unequally shared. Cultures high in power distance
foreign investors have produced a number of changes expect those with power to be treated differently than
in the countrys investment laws in recent years (Liotta, those without power. Status differentiation is prominent
2013) and the country continues to attract investment and acceptable. In low power distance cultures power
and protect its resources. Very little is known about this differentials are not expected, nor desirable.
rapidly emerging country with huge business potential. Individualism is a measure of the importance of the
As foreigners flock to Mongolia in search of business individual over the group in terms of societal focus.
opportunities, it might be worthwhile to have a better Individualistic cultures place an importance on peoples
understanding of its people and their cultural values. rights and responsibilities and expect societal members
to care for themselves. This is contrasted with
Author : College of Business Purdue University Calumet 2200 169th collectivism in which the societal focus is on group
Street Hammond. e-mails: crarick@purduecal.edu, membership. An identity is determined by group
barczyk@purduecal.edu membership and the group protects itself. Masculinity is
Author : Department of Business & Economics American University of
Afghanistan Darulaman Road Kabul, Afghanistan.
the extent to which people value competition,
e-mails: gwinter@auaf.edu.af assertiveness, and the acquisition of material goods.
Author : George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business & This is contrasted with femininity, which values nurturing,
Economics University of South Carolina Upstate. relationships, and a concern for others. Uncertainty
e-mails: mpruett@uscupstate.edu
Author : Professor of Management Andreas School of Business Barry
avoidance is essentially a measure of a cultures
University Miami Shores. e-mails: inickerson@barry.edu collective tolerance for ambiguity. In high uncertainty
Author : Purdue University Calumet. avoidance cultures people establish rules and
regulations to reduce the uncertainty of the future. They limitations, and while Hofstedes approach may be
feel more comfortable in having some assurance of blunt to use the words of Jackson (2011), it
what will happen in the future, whereas in low nevertheless provides useful insight into understanding
uncertainty cultures change and ambiguity are not important cultural values.
considered a threat. This paper provides a look into the culture of
Later research (Hofstede & Bond, 1988), added Mongolia a country not included in Hofstedes data
a fifth dimension, originally termed Confucianism set. While much is known about the Mongolian Empire
Dynamism and now referred to as long-term orientation. and the pursuits of Genghis Khan, the literature is void
That dimension reflects the extent to which a society on the culture of present day Mongolia, a country with a
encourages and rewards future-oriented behavior such rapidly growing economy of increasing interest to
as planning, delaying gratification, and investing in the international business.
future. The original term, Confucian Dynamism, grew out
II. Method
2014
false. While high long-term orientation orientations can conducted by surveying a sample of 50 students at a
be found in Confucian cultures, they can also be found university in Mongolia. The sampling process was
2 in other parts of the world. Further research into cultural designed to produce equal participation between males
values uncovered another dimension referred to as and females. The respondents were mixed in terms of
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XIV Issue IX Version I
indulgence/restraint (Minkov & Hofstede, 2011; Minkov, their residing in urban and rural areas of Mongolia. The
2013). This dimension measures the degree to which a median age of the respondents was 20-29 years old.
society permits or suppresses the expression of human The survey respondents were mostly young adults who
desires. Indulgence/restraint was not included as a volunteered to participate in the research study.
variable in this study due to restrictions on Cultural values were measured in the study
instrumentation. As such, the study focused on only the using Hofstedes Values Survey Module 1994 (VSM 94).
more established five dimensions of the Hofstede This instrument was used in prior studies that measured
model. cultural values in Afghanistan and Kurdistan (Rarick,
Hofstedes work not only attracted great Winter, Falk, Nickerson, & Barczyk, 2013; Rarick, Winter,
popularity in cross-cultural research, it also attracted a Barczyk, and Merkt, 2014). The VSM 94 items measured
contingent of scholars who viewed his ideas with Mongolian culture using the 5-D model of Geert
skepticism. Critics have expressed concerns about the Hofstede, which includes power distance (PDI),
generalizability of his findings, the level of analysis, the masculinity (MAS), individualism (IND), uncertainty
assumption of political boundaries of countries as avoidance (UAI), and long-term orientation (LTO). Value
cultural entities, and the validity of the survey instrument scores were determined using the index found in the
itself (Blodgett, Bakir, & Rose, 2008; Mc Sweeney, 2002; VSM 94 Manual. The scores for the value dimensions
Smith, 2002). Others have challenged the assumption of obtained in this study were compared to the scores
the homogeneity of each culture studied (Sivakumar & obtained by Hofstede (www.geert-hofstede.com, 2014).
Nakata, 2001). Venaik and Brewer (2013) are critical of Comparisons were made with select countries including
both Hofstede and the GLOBE investigations and China, Russia, India, South Korea, and the USA. Scores
caution against both for marketing management for the value dimension from all of the mentioned
research and practice. The fifth dimension, long-term countries came from Hofstedes published results. All
orientation (LTO), has been challenged on the grounds comparison countries, except Russia, had scores for
of conceptual validity (Fang, 2003). Venaik, Zhu, and LTO.
Brewer (2013) argue that the Hofstede and GLOBE
instruments measure different aspects of time- III. Results
orientation. Hofstedes questions measure past versus
The survey results indicate that Mongolian
future orientation, whereas GLOBE measures the
culture is low in power distance, high in individualism,
present and future. This difference in measurement calls
very high in masculinity, high in uncertainty avoidance,
into question how the cultural orientation toward time
and short-term in terms of its orientation towards time.
should be conceptualized. Grenness (2012) points out
Figure 1 shows the scores for Mongolia on all five
the problem of the ecological fallacy in Hofstedes work
cultural dimensions using the United States for
in which the predominant traits of a culture are
comparison.
generalized to individuals within that cultural group, and
not accounting for individual differences. While there is
some validity to the many concerns raised by
Hofstedes critics, his research represents the oldest
and most comprehensive analysis of cultural values. No
theory of cultural classification is without its critics and
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Mongolia: A Cultural Portrait using the Hofstede 5-D Model
PDI
120
100
80 light USA
60
LTO 40 IND
20
0
2014
dark Mongolia
Year
UAI MAS
3
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XIV Issue IX Version I
Figure 1 : Plot of the five cultural value dimensions for Mongolia and the USA
IV. Power Distance close to its southern neighbor, China, but quite different
from its northern Russian neighbor. Its PDI score is
The data indicate that Mongolians are low in much lower than that of India, Korea, and even the
power distance with a PDI score of 18. This low score United States. Low PDI scores suggest that greater
suggests a preference for equality among societal power sharing in the workplace has the potential for
members. Figure 2 shows the PDI scores for Mongolia positive organizational outcomes.
along with those for other select countries. The data
reveal that with respect to power distance, Mongolia is
PDI
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Mongolia China Russia India Korea USA
Figure 2 : Scores for power distance in Mongolia and other select countries
MAS
120
100
80
2014
60
Year
40
42
20
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XIV Issue IX Version I
0
Mongolia China Russia India Korea USA
IND
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Mongolia China Russia India Korea USA
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Mongolia: A Cultural Portrait using the Hofstede 5-D Model
UAI
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
2014
30
20
Year
10
0
5
Mongolia China Russia India Korea USA
Global Journal of Management and Business Research ( A ) Volume XIV Issue IX Version I
Figure 5 : Scores for uncertainty avoidance in Mongolia and other select countries
that of India and Korea. It is more long term oriented
VIII. Long-Term Orientation than the United States. Cultures with a low LTO focus on
The data indicate that Mongolia is a short-term the present and expect quick results. Planning is more
time oriented culture with an LTO score of 41. Scores for typically done on a short-term basis and the immediate
LTO in Russia are not available, but they are for concern is with the here and now. What the organization
Mongolias southern neighbor, China, which has a much will look like in fifty years is not considered relevant or
longer orientation to time. As can be seen in Figure 6, important in these cultures. The managerial focus is
Mongolias time orientation is similar, but shorter than generally on present conditions and problems.
LTO
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Mongolia China Russia India Korea USA
Figure 6 : Scores for long-term orientation in Mongolia and other select countries
educated and more isolated members of the culture can
IX. Discussion
occur. This is also true of this study. However, these
This investigation was an initial attempt to results provide a first attempt to gain a general cultural
determine the cultural values of Mongolia. Limitations of assessment of the culture of Mongolia. Hofstede (2013)
this study are similar to most other cross-cultural recommends using matched samples for country
comparative studies. As with many investigations into comparison, which means matching the sample with the
cultural values, significant underreporting of less demographics of the participants in his original study.
Using matched samples with the original data set would This suggests that change is perceived as undesirable,
be ideal for comparison, but very difficult to accomplish. while policies and rules that facilitate stability are
Also, without some degree of generalizability of the considered valuable. Finally, Mongolian and U.S.
original data set, the work of Geert Hofstede would have cultures have low long term orientations, which suggest
very limited application. We believe that the VSM used that their people look at living and engagement in
by Hofstede and others can only act as a blunt transactions from a short term perspective.
instrument in assessing national culture. Despite this There are several implications of the Mongolian
limitation, useful insights and understandings of culture findings relative to the U.S. In Mongolian culture one
that would otherwise not be available can be studied. might expect to find more power sharing with individuals
Based upon our assessment, Mongolian culture can be that might be considered to be more assertive and
characterized as being low in power distance, high in competitive. However, compared to Americans,
individualism, very high in masculinity, high in Mongolians would likely be less receptive to change and
2014
uncertainty avoidance, and short term in its time guidance. They prefer established policies and rules to
orientation. These cultural dimensions have implications insure stability.
Year
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Mongolia: A Cultural Portrait using the Hofstede 5-D Model
The stakeholder approach to social 5. Dartey-Baah, K. (2013). The cultural approach to the
responsibility is becoming increasingly popular. This management of the international human resource:
approach holds that the survival of a firm cannot be An analysis of Hofstedes cultural dimensions.
achieved by simply maximizing the value of the firm. It International Journal of Business Administration,
must satisfy and exceed the expectations of various 4(2), 39-45.
stakeholders such as employees, customers and 6. Dexter, R. (2012). Bypassed by Mongolias boom.
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Ultimately, cultural differences manifest Cross Cultural Management, 3(3), 347-368.
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These differences impact on organizational 10. Hofstede, G. (1980b). Motivation, leadership, and
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2014 Global Journals Inc. (US)
Mongolia: A Cultural Portrait using the Hofstede 5-D Model
2014
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