Culture′s Consequences: Management in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Analyses the Saudi Arabian culture in terms of Hofstede′s four dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. Bases the analysis on a survey of Saudi Arabian MBA students and their co‐workers. Saudi Arabia is a “typical” Moslem country, except for the fact that it scores very high on “power distance”. Discusses the Saudi culture′s consequences in terms of effective management behaviour, intuition, and organizational structures and questions the applicability of American management theories in the Saudi context.