What Is Culture?

- is a technical term used by anthropologists to refer to a system

for creating, sending, storing, and processing information
developed by human beings, which differentiates them from
other life forms (Hall 1990).

- is "to human collectivity what personality is to the individual"

(Hofstede 1984, p.21).

- it consists of ideals, values, and assumptions about life that are

widely shared among people and that guide specific behaviors.
(Brislin 1993)
 GEERT HOFSTEDE’S

DIMENSIONS OF CULTURAL VARIABILITY

• Individualism-Collectivism
• Power Distance
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Masculinity-Femininity
• Confucian Dynamism / Long
Term Orientation
Power Distance

• Power Distance Index (PDI) that is the extent to which the

less powerful members of organizations and institutions
(like the family) accept and expect that power is
distributed unequally.
• This represents inequality (more versus less), but defined
from below, not from above.
• It suggests that a society's level of inequality is endorsed by
the followers as much as by the leaders.
• 'all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than
others'
Power Distance Ind
ex PDI
"Hierarchy"

High Average Low

Hofstede Score World Average = 55 Hofstede Score
Malaysia 104 Korea, S. 60 U.S. 40
Mexico 81 Taiwan 58 Australia 36
China 80 Spain 57 Germany 35
Indonesia 78 Japan 54 U.K 35
India 77 Italy 50 Israel 11
Masculinity-Femininity

• refers to the distribution of roles between the genders which

is another fundamental issue for any society to which a
range of solutions are found.
• The IBM studies revealed that (a) women's values differ less
among societies than men's values; (b) men's values from
one country to another contain a dimension from very
assertive and competitive and maximally different from
women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and
similar to women's values on the other.
• The assertive pole has been called 'masculine' and the
modest, caring pole 'feminine'. The women in feminine
countries have the same modest, caring values as the men;
in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and
competitive, but not as much as the men
Masculinity (MAS)"Gen
der"
High Average Low
Hofstede Score World Average = 50 Hofstede Score
Slovakia 110 China 66 South Korea 39
Japan 95 Germany 66 Finland 26
Hungary 88 U.S. 62 Denmark 16
Austria 79 Australia 61 Norway 8
Sweden 5
Individualism-Collectivism

• Individualism (IDV) on the one side versus its opposite,

collectivism, that is the degree to which individuals are
integrated into groups.
• On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties
between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look
after him/herself and his/her immediate family.
• On the collectivist side, we find societies in which people
from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-
groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and
grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange
for unquestioning loyalty.
Individualism - IDV
"Identity"
High Average Low
Hofstede Score World Average = 43 Hofstede Score
U.S. 91 Spain 51 China 20
Australia 90 India 48 Singapore 20
U.K. 89 Japan 46 Thailand 20
Netherlands 80 Brazil 38 S. Korea 18
New Zealand 79 Taiwan 17
Indonesia 14
 Uncertainty Avoidance
• a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. It indicates to
what extent a culture programs its members to feel either
uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations.
Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, different from
usual.
• Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such
situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and
on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute Truth;
• People in uncertainty avoiding countries are also more emotional,
and motivated by inner nervous energy.
• The opposite type, uncertainty accepting cultures, are more tolerant
of opinions different from what they are used to; they try to have as
few rules as possible, and on the philosophical and religious level
they are relativist and allow many currents to flow side by side.
• People within these cultures are more phlegmatic and contemplative,
and not expected by their environment to express emotions.
Uncertainty Avoida
nce Index UAI
"Truth"
High Average Low
Hofstede Score World Average = 64 Hofstede Score
Greece 112 Germany 65 U.K. 35
Portugal 104 Thailand 64 Hong Kong 29
Japan 92 Indonesia 48 Sweden 29
S. Korea 85 U.S. 46 Denmark 23
Mexico 82 China 40 Singapore 8
India 40
Confucian Dynamism / Long Term Orientation

• this fifth dimension was found in a study among students in

23 countries around the world, using a questionnaire
designed by Chinese scholars
• It can be said to deal with Virtue regardless of Truth.
• Values associated with Long Term Orientation are thrift and
perseverance; values associated with Short Term
Orientation are respect for tradition, fulfilling social
obligations, and protecting one's 'face'.
• Both the positively and the negatively rated values of this
dimension are found in the teachings of Confucius, the most
influential Chinese philosopher who lived around 500 B.C.;
however, the dimension also applies to countries without a
Confucian heritage.
Long-Term Orientati
on - LTO "Virtue"

High Average Low

Hofstede Score World Average = 45 Hofstede Score

China 118 Thailand 56 Australia 31

Hong Kong 96 Singapore 48 U.S. 29
Taiwan 87 Netherlands 44 U.K. 25
Japan 80 Philippines 19
S. Korea 75 Ghana 16
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