Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Research Articles

The moderating role of cultural factors in the adoption of mobile banking in Brazil

Purpose This study aims to evaluate the impact of country culture, represented by Hofstede cultural dimensions, in the adoption of Brazilian mobile banking services. Design/methodology/approach Based on the replication of a theoretical model previously tested in Mozambique (Africa) that combines the extended version of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) with the five Hofstede cultural dimensions, this study tested that model in another emerging country, Brazil, using partial least squares (PLS) as a modeling method. Findings Replication showed that the cultural dimensions do not present strong significance in the moderation of the use of mobile banking. In fact, out of the five dimensions tested, three were not significant and two showed weak significance (p < 0.10): collectivism and short-term orientation. Those results, contrasting with that one presented by Baptista and Oliveira (2015), made sense under Ajzen’s theory (1991) – the TPB, leading to the conclusion that the moderation of cultural dimensions on behavior use is not applicable. Originality/value The authors concluded that the tested model may not be adherent, finding a theoretical gap to be explored in future studies: the moderation of the behavioral intention by cultural variables proposed by Hofstede. That finding supported the proposition of a new theoretical model, which considers the moderation of cultural dimensions in another place: behavioral intention to use mobile banking instead of the behavior use, as proposed by Baptista and Oliveira (2015). So, based on the research results and based on some authors cited in this study (Choi et al., 2014; Chou, 2013; Srite and Karahanna, 2006), it is proposed to insert Hofstede cultural variables as moderators of independent variables on the behavioral intention.

Accounting enforcement in a national context: an international study

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the national characteristics of culture, religion and political factionalization are associated with the strength of accounting enforcement. The study uses data on percentages of religious adherents in a sample nation, the Hofstede cultural dimensions and political factionalization. National legal code (e.g., Common Law or Civic Code) and market liquidity are controlled for. Factor analysis is used to generate factor scores from the data. The dependent variable, accounting enforcement, is drawn from Brown et al. (J Bus Finance Account 41(1/2):1–52, 2014). The findings demonstrate that this set of national characteristics is strongly associated with national accounting regulatory enforcement. The implications of this research are that national characteristics should be taken into account in considering the impact of accounting standards on accounting comparability across nations. The limitation of this study is that, like much international research, the sample size is limited, here to 42 nations. The authors collectively have many years of research examining/studying domestic and international regulation, its determinants and consequences. This study importantly extends previous research on the determinants and consequences of regulation in the auditing and accounting arenas. This study provides an important contribution to the literature by helping establish that national characteristics do affect accounting enforcement efforts cross-nationally. This helps researchers and regulators better understand whether international standards can provide the link in comparability across nations that proponents are seeking. It does so by focusing on the variation in enforcement across nations rather than on the standards themselves.

Rule of Law with Asian Characteristics: cultural insights from the Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong

This article uses the Occupy Central social movement in Hong Kong as a natural experiment to consider whether Asian culture influences the understanding and exercise of fundamental rights. In an earlier article, the author explored the relationship between Chinese culture and the rule of law as measured by the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. This article relies on the earlier work but expands the analysis to consider Asian culture while at the same time focusing specifically on the fundamental rights aspect of the rule of law index. This article shows a strong correlation between lower scores for Asian countries on Individualism, as measured by the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture, and scores on fundamental rights, protection for freedom expression, and protection for freedom of association, as measured by the World Justice Project Index. This correlation is reflected by the Occupy Central movement. Although the movement was an exercise in fundamental rights, its purpose was to promote the rights of the community and the protests were carried out in a manner to reduce the impact on community rights When the movement ended, the negative consequences for the community were a significant reason, and the leaders of the movement were ultimately prosecuted for inciting a public nuisance.

Cultural values and technology adoption: A model comparison with university teachers from China and Spain

In this study, we investigated how certain cultural values influenced Chinese and Spanish university teachers' intentions to use technology. 426 Chinese university teachers and 404 Spanish university teachers participated in the study. The participants completed self-designed questionnaires based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions (individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and indulgence-constraint) as well as subjective norms and behavioural intention. We found consistent and significant relationships between subjective norms and behavioural intention in both the Spanish and Chinese samples. In addition, we found that the teachers' perceived cultural preferences influenced their subjective norms and intentions to use technology in both the Chinese and Spanish samples. However, the relationships between these variables were different in the Spanish and Chinese samples. In addition, we compared three models which were all theoretically reasonable to determine the model that best fitted the data. This study contributes to our understanding of how culture influences teachers' intentions to use technology in the contexts of Spain and China.

Factors influencing employees' intention to apply ergonomics at workplaces: a cultural perspective

We examine the determinants of employees' intention to apply ergonomics at workplace and the moderating effects of Hofstede's cultural dimensions on the proposed research model. A research model, based on the decomposed theory of planned behaviour (DTPB), the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model (UTAUT), and Hofstede's cultural dimensions, is developed. A sample of 150 employees from the state of Qatar was used to test the proposed research model. The antecedent variables considered are attitude, social influence, perceived behavioural control, self-efficacy, facilitation conditions, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, compatibility and management support. The results show that attitude, perceived behavioural control, and social influence have significant positive effects on employees' behavioural intention to apply ergonomics at the workplace. Compatibility and performance expectancy have significant positive indirect effects on behavioural intention through attitude. Additionally, facilitation conditions and self-efficacy have significant positive indirect effects on behavioural intention through perceived behavioural control. Hofstede's cultural dimensions significantly moderate the hypothesised relationships.

Rule of Law with Asian Characteristics: Cultural Insights from the Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong

This article, which was accepted for publication in the Indonesian Journal of International Law, uses the Occupy Central social movement in Hong Kong as a natural experiment to consider whether Asian culture influences the understanding and exercise of fundamental rights. In an earlier article, the author explored the relationship between Chinese culture and the rule of law as measured by the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. This article relies on the earlier work, but expands the analysis to consider Asian culture while at the same time focusing specifically on the fundamental rights aspect of the rule of law index. This article shows a strong correlation between lower scores for Asian countries on Individualism, as measured by the Hofstede Dimensions of Culture, and scores on fundamental rights, protection for freedom expression, and protection for freedom of association, as measured by the World Justice Project Index. This correlation is reflected by the Occupy Central movement. Although the movement was an exercise in fundamental rights, its purpose was to promote the rights of the community and the protests were carried out in a manner to reduce the impact on community rights. When the movement ended, the negative consequences for the community were a significant reason, and the leaders of the movement were ultimately prosecuted for inciting a public nuisance.

The impact of trust, security, and privacy on individual's use of the internet for online shopping and social media: a multi-cultural study

This paper examines through the lens of expectancy-valence theory the impact of trust, privacy, and security on the decision to use the internet for online shopping and social media. It also investigates the moderating impact of Hofstede's cultural dimensions on the hypothesised relationships. The comparative analysis of 302 surveys from users in the USA and Qatar revealed that trust in internet technology and trust in vendors are the strongest two factors in making decisions to use the internet for online shopping and social media. The results indicated that the cultural dimensions moderated the hypothesised relationships. Surprisingly, Qataris respondents, compared to US respondents, were more influenced by privacy concerns when making decisions to use the internet for online shopping or social media. Implications for researchers and practitioners are reported.

The impact of trust, security, and privacy on individual’s use of the internet for online shopping and social media: a multi-cultural study

This paper examines through the lens of expectancy-valence theory the impact of trust, privacy, and security on the decision to use the internet for online shopping and social media. It also investigates the moderating impact of Hofstede's cultural dimensions on the hypothesised relationships. The comparative analysis of 302 surveys from users in the USA and Qatar revealed that trust in internet technology and trust in vendors are the strongest two factors in making decisions to use the internet for online shopping and social media. The results indicated that the cultural dimensions moderated the hypothesised relationships. Surprisingly, Qataris respondents, compared to US respondents, were more influenced by privacy concerns when making decisions to use the internet for online shopping or social media. Implications for researchers and practitioners are reported.

The Influence of Culture on Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Namibian Millennials

This article investigated the influence of cultural values on Namibian Millennials' consumer decision-making styles. Data was obtained by administering the consumer style inventory (CSI) and Hofstede Cultural Dimensions instruments to a random sample of 505 respondents from the three (3) major Universities in Namibia. Responses from the survey instruments were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to assess the underlying structure of the components and for assessing the reliability and validity through Cronbach's Alpha coefficients. To explore the relationships between consumer decision-making styles and the independent variables of the study, Pearson correlation, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), and the analysis of variance (ANOVA), were used. The study found a significant relationship between Namibia Millennials decision-making styles and their cultural values. The findings are deemed important for marketers, entrepreneurs and government in the formulation and the use of effective strategies when addressing the needs of this group.

АНАЛИЗ ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛЬНЫХ ОСНОВ РАЗВИТИЯ КООПЕРАТИВНОГО ПРЕДПРИНИМАТЕЛЬСТВА В СОВРЕМЕННОЙ РОССИИ

The article investigates the main reasons for the low level of cooperative entrepreneurship in Russia. A historical review of the state of the cooperative movement of pre-revolutionary Russia is also given. The analysis is based on studies conducted by the International cooperative Alliance, such as the world cooperative monitoring and calculations of the Cooperative economic index. The interrelation between the level of development of the state, democratic, cultural, social, economic institutions and the level of development of cooperatives in the country is considered. It is also noted that Russia until 1917 and before the absolutization of state property, was a world leader in the number of cooperatives and their impact on the development of various economic sectors. The article presents an attempt to explain the small number of cooperative enterprises in the country through the indicators of Hofstede cultural dimensions used to assess differences between Nations and cultures in the organization and conduct of economic activities. Also, in order to assess the institutional environment for the development of cooperative entrepreneurship in the country the author studied: the indicator of the ease of opening and doing business in the country (Doing Business); the indicator of the quality of public administration (Governance Indicators); the indicator of socio-economic stratification (Gini Coefficient); the Democracy Index (Democracy Index). The basic institutional reasons for the low development of cooperative entrepreneurship in the country are identified.

Relationships between Hofstede's cultural dimensions and tourist satisfaction: A cross-country cross-sample examination

Culture has been assumed to influence tourist behavior but due to the difficulty of measuring culture values directly at the individual level, the relationship between national culture and visitor satisfaction remains yet to be empirically attested. This study used two national level inbound tourist samples, i.e., Tourism Research Australia's 2017 International Visitor Survey holiday/pleasure travellers’ sample and the Hong Kong Tourist Satisfaction Index Project 2016 sample, to test the relationships between Hofstede's six cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long Term Orientation/Short Term Normative Orientation, and Indulgence/Restraint) and visitor satisfaction. Bivariate correlation with bootstrapping tests show consistent correlations between four of the six cultural dimensions and visitor satisfaction across the two samples. While Individualism and Indulgence are found to be positively related to visitor satisfaction, Power Distance and Long Term Orientation are negatively related to visitor satisfaction. The findings are validated with a further test involving the concept of cultural distance. This study contributes to the literature by providing solid evidence on the relation between culture and visitor satisfaction. Calls for future research are discussed.

Cultura, sustentabilidade e a imagem de destinos turísticos: um estudo comparativo nas sub-regiões do Brasil

O emprego da ‘sustentabilidade’ enquanto fator de diferenciação mercadológica tem sido recorrente entre os destinos turísticos. Entretanto, a imagem destas localidades não está alheia à influência de fatores externos, como a cultura. Em países com dimensões territoriais amplas, como o Brasil, este fenômeno tende a ser ainda mais evidente. Isto porque, em termos culturais, não existe somente um, mas cinco diferentes ‘Brasis’ (Ribeiro, 1995). Assim, esta pesquisa se propõe a analisar como a imagem da sustentabilidade de destinos turísticos pode ser influenciada pelas características culturais das sub-regiões de origem dos consumidores brasileiros. O caráter inovador do estudo decorre da adoção de uma abordagem idiográfica das dimensões culturais de Hofstede (1980). Foram realizados cinco grupos focais com indivíduos de nacionalidade brasileira, nas diferentes regiões culturais do país, cujos dados foram analisados por meio da técnica da análise de conteúdo. Os resultados demonstraram que, das cinco sub-regiões analisadas, o ‘Brasil Sulinas’ apresentou maior discrepância quanto à imagem da sustentabilidade de destinos turísticos. Fato este atribuído a uma maior propensão a valores correspondentes a índices elevados de masculinidade e baixa aversão a incertezas. Já os consumidores das demais sub-regiões tenderam a demonstrar padrões de pensamento semelhantes entre si, mas contrários ao ‘Brasil Sulinas’.

Cross-cultural application of a practice-oriented acquiescence measure

PurposeExtant research shows that acquiescence response style (ARS) is culture-bound and may bias the results of comparative cross-cultural studies. Conventional measures of ARS are difficult to apply in practice. To overcome this limitation, the purpose of this paper is to propose an alternative, practice-oriented measure, namely, pARS. The authors apply Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (Hofstede et al., 2010) to test whether pARS is culture-bound. The cross-cultural study provides a high level of cross-cultural generalisability due to the extensive number of surveyed countries (n=30) and subjects (n=236.089). The authors run multi-level analysis to identify within- and between-country-level predictors.Design/methodology/approachOn the individual level, the authors use data of a large-scale cross-cultural study, including 236.089 consumers from 30 countries worldwide. The authors apply several methods to test for the culture-boundness of pARS. First, they apply correlation analysis to replicate existing cross-cultural results and to ensure nomological validity. Second, applying ordinary least square regression, the authors simultaneously test the six Hofstede cultural dimensions (Hofstede et al., 2010) and investigate interactions between the dimensions. Finally, they use multi-level analysis to confirm the stability of culture-bound results, controlling for individual- and country-level variability.FindingsThe paper introduces an alternative measure for acquiescence (pARS), which is particularly suitable for shorter questionnaires. A large-scale consumer study with 236.089 respondents in 30 countries supports the culture-bound validity of pARS. The authors confirm construct validity and the nomological network of pARS. Contrasting existing studies, multi-level analysis demonstrates that a high level of power distance majorly leads to ARS. Therefore, cross-cultural researchers need to control for ARS in countries high in power distance, especially when paired with high uncertainty avoidance.Originality/valueA large-scale consumer study with 236.089 respondents from 30 countries shows that respondents from various countries differ significantly in their level of acquiescence. The study confirms that power distance is the most relevant cultural dimension to explain these differences. Although ARS may bias the results of comparative cross-cultural studies, it is rarely controlled by market research studies outside the academic realm. The present work proposes and establishes the validity of a practice-oriented measure of acquiescence, namely, pARS. pARS is particularly suitable for shorter questionnaires. In contrast to prior approaches, applying pARS does not require adding non-substantive items to the questionnaire.

The Effect of Culture on Trust in Automation

Trust in automation has become a topic of intensive study since the late 1990s and is of increasing importance with the advent of intelligent interacting systems. While the earliest trust experiments involved human interventions to correct failures/errors in automated control systems, a majority of subsequent studies have investigated information acquisition and analysis decision aiding tasks such as target detection for which automation reliability is more easily manipulated. Despite the high level of international dependence on automation in industry, almost all current studies have employed Western samples primarily from the U.S. The present study addresses these gaps by running a large sample experiment in three (U.S., Taiwan, and Turkey) diverse cultures using a “trust sensitive task” consisting of both automated control and target detection subtasks. This article presents results for the target detection subtask for which reliability and task load were manipulated. The current experiments allow us to determine whether reported effects are universal or specific to Western culture, vary in baseline or magnitude, or differ across cultures. Results generally confirm consistent effects of manipulations across the three cultures as well as cultural differences in initial trust and variation in effects of manipulations consistent with 10 cultural hypotheses based on Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Leung and Cohen's theory of Cultural Syndromes. These results provide critical implications and insights for correct trust calibration and to enhance human trust in intelligent automation systems across cultures. Additionally, our results would be useful in designing intelligent systems for users of different cultures. Our article presents the following contributions: First, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first set of studies that deal with cultural factors across all the cultural syndromes identified in the literature by comparing trust in the Honor, Face, Dignity cultures. Second, this is the first set of studies that uses a validated cross-cultural trust measure for measuring trust in automation. Third, our experiments are the first to study the dynamics of trust across cultures.

The customer experience ecosystem in two cultural contexts

This study focuses on the development of a customer experience ecosystem during a journey which is embedded in meso- and macro-layers. Using the critical incident technique, the author collected in-depth interview data from bank customers in Switzerland and Iran to empirically study this ecosystem, including customer–company interaction in the micro-layer and social context of the meso-layer. Moreover, in a macro-layer analysis, the Hofstede cultural dimension was employed to show the role of cultural context in this ecosystem. The findings indicate that customer experience in the pre-encounter stage is mostly shaped by customer past experience and social context rather than company touchpoint. The importance of these factors is different in the two cultural contexts. Although customer experience in the encounter stage is mainly the result of customer and company interactions, other people have a role in this stage and cultural differences between the two countries largely explain these differences. Moreover, in the post-encounter stage, customers in different cultural contexts use various factors to evaluate their experiences and the effects on their emotional and behavioral responses. The findings provide key managerial implications for national and international companies with respect to the role of multiple layers in customer experience management.

Viking leadership: How Norwegian transformational leadership style effects creativity and change through organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)

This article examines the distinct “Viking” leadership style of top leaders in the Norwegian industry that has evolved from a harsh and violent history. Earlier studies have reported that Norwegian leaders at the middle manager level rate high in transformational leadership traits due to a strong feminine culture and a low power distance society, yet Norwegians are also highly individualistic which differs significantly from other national cultures with feminine traits and collective societies. This unique cultural combination is becoming a cross-cultural issue as the Norwegian society is becoming more heterogeneous, particularly in work settings. Understanding how this leadership style differs from other cultures, even in Scandinavia, is important to help leaders better understand the effects of their leadership style on performance. In this study, we explored four of the original Hofstede national cultural dimensions, specifically, power distance, femininity–masculinity, individualism–collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance and examined how these are reflected at the top leadership level within the Norwegian industry using a national leadership study of Norwegian top leaders ( N = 917). We also examined how these self-reported leadership styles affected perceived organizational results in the form of innovation and change through organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Our findings suggest that Norwegian top leaders do exhibit transformational leadership traits, and that these traits have a positive influence on OCB, which further had a positive relationship to organizational performance in the form of innovation and change results. We also found that power distance and a collectivistic orientation predicted OCB, while only power distance predicted innovation and change among the Hofstede cultural dimensions. Of the four Hofstede dimensions, only one moderating effect was found for predicting OCB, the link between transformational leadership and power distance, suggesting that leaders with low power distance and high transformational leadership orientation are most connected with OCB.

The influence of cultural distance on the volatility of the international stock market

Along with the development of cultural dimensions and cultural distance, the influence of cultural variables on the stock market is attracting more and more attention. In this study, we propose an improved gravity model to examine the relationship between culture and the volatility of the international stock market. Firstly, based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, a model of the impact of cultural dimensions on the volatility of the national stock market is presented. Secondly, cultural distance is incorporated into the extended gravity model. Then, models of the impact of cultural distance on fluctuations in the international stock market and on foreign securities investment are proposed. Finally, the results of case studies using samples of national stock market indices indicate that different cultural dimensions have different influences on the volatility of national stock markets. The smaller the cultural distance between countries, the more similar the level of volatility in those countries' stock markets. Greater cultural similarity promotes increased securities investment between countries.

Indulgence and Long Term Orientation Influence Prosocial Behavior at National Level.

The relationships between several Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and prosocial behavior at national level have been investigated by some studies. Yet the roles of indulgence versus restraint (IVR) and long-term versus short-term orientation (LTO), two newly established cultural dimensions, have received insufficient interest. This study aimed to investigate whether the World Giving Index (WGI), a national level measure of prosocial behavior (including donating, volunteering, and helping a stranger) provided by Gallup, was affected by IVR and LTO. The results suggested a positive link between IVR and WGI, and a negative link between LTO and helping a stranger. Culture values can in a great extend account for why prosocial behavior varies across countries. Further analysis revealed interactions among IVR, LTO, and individualism versus collectivism (IND). Simple slope analyses found that: (1) a higher level of IND could enhance the positive influence of IVR on prosocial behavior; (2) a lower level of IND could weaken the negative impact of LTO on prosocial behavior; (3) a higher level of IVR could weaken the negative effect of LTO on prosocial behavior.

The impact of national culture on corporate adoption of environmental management practices and their effectiveness

National culture matters in business as it affects managerial attitudes, values, behaviors, and efficacy in organizations. It contributes to our understanding of environmental management issues as well. Previous studies investigating the link between national culture and environmental performance had mixed findings as they overlooked the intervening mechanism between the two—firm environmental management practice (EMP) adoption. This paper considers the missing link, lays out a complete theoretical framework, and empirically tests the effects of national culture on firm EMP adoption and EMP effectiveness. The analysis uses data collected during the 5th round of the Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG) survey, Hofstede cultural dimensions, and World Bank Database. Hierarchical linear models (HLMs) using the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) approach are employed to examine the cross-level relationships in the framework. The study finds out that certain cultural traits are significantly related to corporate EMP adoption and how effectively EMPs are implemented after adoption. The study provides meanings insights into the role of national culture in the context of environmental management.

Digital Natives’ Behaviours and Preferences: Pre-Service Teachers Studying Accounting

Digital natives are a new cultural generation born of aggressive digital technology penetration. The rapid development of technology is influencing their learning habits and behaviours, and consequently this generation has a unique way of thinking and learning. The purpose of this research is to analyse the behaviours and preferences of digital natives through understanding their preferences in the use of technology and their cultural values, as a basic strategy for selecting learning methods. This research uses a survey method to explore the use of technology and the cultural values of digital natives on accounting courses. The cultural values referred to in this paper are Hofstede's cultural dimensions, namely power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. The research results reveal two main findings: 1) the level of use of technology for non-academic purposes tended to be high, and the preference of the students was to use smartphones rather than fixed PCs or laptops. This suggests that lecturers must actively use technology in the classroom, thus ensuring that pre-service accountancy teaching students are themselves ready to use technology in their teaching practice; 2) analysis results of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions indicate that the students prefer learning in technological environments, informal learning structures, unlimited space and time, that they expect quick feedback, prefer teamworking, and prefer active learning rather than reading and listening. These results can be used as the basis for designing quality learning methods.