Power distance and verbal index in Kazakh business discourse

Abstract

Kazakh business discourse is a relatively new area for research, and hence many of the cultural preferences are yet to be explored. This paper focuses on measuring Hofstede’s power distance index for Kazakh culture. A novel technique is proposed, where verbal index is calculated from analysis of publically available texts delivered by representatives of different cultures. In particular, we analyzed public speeches delivered by leaders of New Zealand, UK, Germany, Australia, USA, Greece, China, India, and Kazakhstan. From these texts we derived a verbal index, which closely correlated to Hofstede’s power distance data. As a result we were able to obtain a power distance index of 58 for Kazakhstan, which was previously unavailable in literature. Furthermore, this method can be used as a cheaper alternative to conducting surveys in estimating Hofstede’s power distance indexes for different cultures.