Hofstede's Cultural Values Research Articles

Cultural values and attitudes toward immigrants and multiculturalism: The case of the Eurobarometer survey on racism and xenophobia

Abstract The current paper uses archival data to examine variations in Schwartz's and Hofstede's cultural value orientations and their relationship to attitudes toward immigration and multiculturalism reported in the Eurobarometer Survey [Attitudes towards minority groups in the European Union: a special analysis of the Eurobarometer 2000 opinion poll on behalf of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. Eurobarometer Opinion Poll. Retrieved September 1, 2003, from 〈 http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/index_en.htm 〉] on racism and xenophobia. The results demonstrated that mastery, masculinity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and collectivism were associated with weaker support for policies that promote social co-existence. Masculinity and mastery were also linked to more pessimistic attitudes towards multiculturalism, and increased harmony was correlated with less desire for cultural assimilation. The results largely converge with research undertaken at the individual-level of analysis, and the data suggest four clusters of cultural values related to immigration attitudes: humanitarianism-egalitarianism, conservation, collectivism, and instrumentality.

A quarter century of Culture's Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede's cultural values framework

Since Geert Hofstede's Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (Sage, 1980) was published, researchers have utilized Hofstede's cultural values framework in a wide variety of empirical studies. We review 180 studies published in 40 business and psychology journals and two international annual volumes between 1980 and June 2002 to consolidate what is empirically verifiable about Hofstede's cultural values framework. We discuss limitations in the Hofstede-inspired research and make recommendations for researchers who use Hofstede's framework in the future.

EU Enlargement: Economic-Cultural Perspective and Cross-Country Comparison

Globalization is constantly changing the appearance of the modern world. The most intense processes of integration are taking place in Europe in the framework of the European Union (EU) enlargement. Though the formal process is more or less concluded, the subtle and informal ones still have a long way to go. Social structures (institutions, organizations, norms, etc.) and actions depend on the cultural environment in the narrowest sense of the word: human perceptions and values. This poses the basic question whether the economic-cultural orientations of the new EU member states are compatible with imported social structures. We have done an empirical research using Hofstede's cultural dimensions and European Values Study database for 26 European countries (23 EU member states, 2 candidate countries, and Northern Ireland as a separate entity). We have also compared the differences and similarities by applying the Ward method (cluster analysis) on our 10 constructed variables.

The Effect of Cultural Background on Metaphor Interpretation

This article describes a study that investigated the ways in which Bangladeshi students interpreted metaphors used by their lecturers during a short course at a British university. The students were asked to interpret a number of metaphors presented in context. They were also asked to identify the value judgments that were being expressed through these metaphors in these particular contexts. Culture-specific assumptions about the target domains appeared to affect the students' recognition of the lecturers' attitudes to the issues they were discussing. To identify areas of disparity between the (working) cultures of the Bangladeshi students and their British lecturers, Hofstede's (1980) cultural values questionnaire was administered. The students were found to be more likely than their lecturers to favor uncertainty avoidance, and to favor high power distance at work. The kinds of (mis)interpretations that the students made of (the evaluative content of) the metaphors appeared in accordance with these cultural differences. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Questions of culture, age and gender in the epidemiology of suicide.

Cultural values were examined as predictors of suicide incidence rates compiled for men and women in six age groups for 33 nations for the years 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1985. Hofstede's cultural values of Power-Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Masculinity (i.e., social indifference) were negative correlates of reported suicide, and Individualism was a strong positive correlate. The proportion of variance in suicide reports generally related to these four cultural values was R2 = 0.25. Suicide by women and by middle-aged people was most related to cultural values, even though international variance in suicide is greater for men and for the elderly. Suicide incidence for girls and young women showed unique negative correlations with Individualism. For all age groups, Individualism predicted a greater preponderance of male suicides, and Power-Distance predicted more similar male and female suicide rates. Social alienation and Gilligan's feminist theory of moral judgment were hypothesized to explain some gender differences.

Global Public Relations: A Cross-Cultural Study of the Excellence Theory in South Korea

This study applies the global theory of generic principles and specific applications, based on the excellence study, to South Korea. Data were collected using the International Association of Business Communicators's excellence questionnaire and Hofstede's cultural values questionnaire. Results show that the excellence theory could be used to explain South Korean public relations practice. In addition, findings on influence of societal culture show that excellent public relations practice in South Korea may be enhanced by collectivism and dynamic elements of Confucianism.

Cultural Work Values for Supervisors and Managers: A Cross-Cultural Look at Child and Youth Care Agencies

Supervision and leadership in child and youth care are related to cultural dimensions from 6 different countries/cultures: US, Scotland, Germany West, Germany East, Poland, and the Slovak Republic. A theoretical review of Hofstede's (1980) cultural work values relates them to topics of leadership and work motivation. Research results show similarities and contrasts between the countries/cultures on demographics as well as various aspects of treatment provision. A discriminant analysis shows a strong East-West split with a significant factor weighted high on Individualism and Career Success and low on Power Distance. Specific aspects of the work environment show how work values relate to perceptions of the environment. Finally, a two country comparison (US and Poland) gives a specific analysis of the impact of culture. Implications concerning the impact of culture on child and youth care supervision and management are described.

THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENT ON DISCLOSURE PRACTICES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Prior studies on accounting and its environment that included culture as an explanatory variable have limitations because of their failure to operationalize it properly. The purpose of this study is to apply two of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions as alternative measures to represent national culture and to examine the impact of these two variables along with economic and equity market factors on accounting disclosure practices in different countries. A sample of thirty‐nine countries was chosen based on the availability of information on the explanatory variables. To empirically test the hypothesis, three regression models, with disclosure practices as the dependent variable and five economic and cultural factors as the explanatory variables, were developed. The Price Waterhouse survey (1979) and Gray, Campbell and Shaw's survey (1984) were used to construct three indexes to operationalize disclosure practices. The five explanatory variables are: (1) type of economy, (2) size of the equity market, (3) equity market activity, (4) uncertainty avoidance, and (5) individualism. The results showed that out of the five explanatory variables, only two, namely, uncertainty avoidance and size of the equity market, are significantly associated with disclosure practices. The results are consistent with prior theoretical and empirical studies.