Power Distance Index Research Articles

Perceived blood transfusion safety: a cross-European comparison.

During the past decades, blood transfusions have become an ever safer clinical procedure in developed countries. Extensive donor screening together with improved infectious disease testing has led to a minimization of risks for transfusion recipients. Still, the general public perceives the process of blood transfusion as risky. This study tested variation in perceived transfusion safety across countries and explained it with individual and country factors. We examined whether individual demographic and macro-level factors (i.e. Human Development Index and Power Distance Index) explain variation within and across European countries. We applied multilevel models to 2009 Eurobarometer data collected in 26 countries (N = 20 874). Results were largely in line with expectations derived from risk perception and power and status difference theories. Generally, women, older adults, the lower educated and those earning lower incomes perceived heightened risk. Most of the variation across Europe was explained by the Human Development Index. Risk perception regarding blood transfusions was lower in countries with higher Human Development Indices, that is countries with higher average education, life expectancy and Gross Domestic Product. This study provides new insights of how risk perception regarding blood transfusions is shaped within and across Europe. Both individual demographic factors and country characteristics play a role.

Associations of learning style with cultural values and demographics in nursing students in Iran and Malaysia.

Purpose:The goal of the current study was to identify associations between the learning style of nursing students and their cultural values and demographic characteristics.Methods:A non-probability purposive sampling method was used to gather data from two populations. All 156 participants were female, Muslim, and full-time degree students. Data were collected from April to June 2010 using two reliable and validated questionnaires: the Learning Style Scales and the Values Survey Module 2008 (VSM 08). A simple linear regression was run for each predictor before conducting multiple linear regression analysis. The forward selection method was used for variable selection. P-values ≤0.05 and ≤0.1 were considered to indicate significance and marginal significance, respectively. Moreover, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was performed to determine the invariance of the Farsi and English versions of the VSM 08.Results:The perceptive learning style was found to have a significant negative relationship with the power distance and monumentalism indices of the VSM 08. Moreover, a significant negative association was observed between the solitary learning style and the power distance index. However, no significant association was found between the analytic, competitive, and imaginative learning styles and cultural values (P>0.05). Likewise, no significant associations were observed between learning style, including the perceptive, solitary, analytic, competitive, and imaginative learning styles, and year of study or age (P>0.05).Conclusion:Students who reported low values on the power distance and monumentalism indices are more likely to prefer perceptive and solitary learning styles. Within each group of students in our study sample from the same school the year of study and age did not show any significant associations with learning style.

Pengaruh Kualitas Pelayanan dan Budaya Organisasi terhadap Ketepatan Investigasi Incident Management di Pusintek Kementerian Keuangan RI

The purpose of this research is to verify and estimate the correlation of Quality Service, that consist of Tangible, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, and Organizational Culture, that consist of Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism Index, Masculinity Index, Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) againstIncident Management’s Accuracy of Inconvenience Investigation, to identify dominant indicator of Quality Service variable and to identify dominant indicator of Organizational Culture Variable. This research use a quantitative descriptive approaching with the questioner as a primary data and literature comparation as asecondary data, and is a non-experimentally research. The model is developed, in this research is consist of two hypotheses that are examined by The Structural Equation Model (SEM) method using Lisrel 8.80 as an analysis tool. The sample that is used in this research is to the tune of 287 respondents from the Ministry of Finance with random sampling technique. The result of this research, based on fit model, obtain that all of the tvalue indicator of exogen variable are greater than ttable (N=287; α=0.05) as much as 1.97. In conclusion, this research isclearly state that H0 is reected and H1 is accepted, which means there is a significant correlation between Quality Service and Organizational Culture against Investigation Accuracy simultaneously. (TF).

Impact of the Institutional Macro Context on the Voluntary Disclosure of CSR Information

This study examines the influence of the institutional environment on the voluntary corporate social responsibility information disclosed. We use an index based on Global Reporting Initiative guidelines and categorize countries according to their socio-economic conditions and cultural, legal and corporate systems. The sample is composed of 1598 international companies from twenty countries for the years 2004–2010. By controlling for companies' activities, size, profitability and growth opportunities, we observe that normative and regulative institutional structures have an important impact on corporate transparency. Concretely, firms located in coercive societies, characterized by higher long-term orientation, higher cultural values of collectivist, feminist and uncertainty avoidance and a lower power distance index, are more sensitive to publishing corporate social responsibility reports. Moreover, our analysis suggests the characteristics of the country's system, such as its civil law legal environment, strong law enforcement and ownership concentration, are key elements in the disclosure of relevant and comparable information for stakeholders' decision-making processes.

Cultural Roots Of Corruption - The Case Of Western Balkans

Corruption is the biggest obstacle to equality of market opportunities and it is generated by great power of the state administration, lack of transparency, lack of control authority mechanisms and uncontrolled power of individuals within the state authorities. Such conditions for corruption are created by the authoritarian systems, including various forms of individual, military or ideological tyranny. This is a significant economic, political and ethical issue. In order to be better understood and effectively eradicated, it is necessary to understand how different cultures accept corruption and the relationship between corruption and specific dimensions of culture. In this paper attention is focused on the relationship of specific aspects of culture and corruption, relying on existing experimental studies. The purpose of this paper is to check the belief expressed in the literature on the example of the Western Balkans that high power distance culture is the key cultural element which creates the conditions for the emergence and acceptance of corruption in a society. The dimensions of culture identified by Geerd Hofstede are used in the analysis and power distance is identified as the most important dimension for generating corruption in society. Using comparative analysis of power distance index and corruption index possible connections between them can be identified. This leads us to the conclusion that power distance as one of the key cultural dimensions influence the level of corruption in society. As basic research limitations the following have been identified: the complexity of the phenomenon of culture of which power distance is only one element, and the fact that corruption is a complex social phenomenon, on which, apart from culture, other important factors have influence. This implies that in the activities intended for eradiction of corruption it is practically necessary to thake into account the need to change culture, which is a slow and difficulty process, but not impossible one. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n22p467

Cultural Roots Of Corruption - The Case Of Western Balkans

Corruption is the biggest obstacle to equality of market opportunities and it is generated by great power of the state administration, lack of transparency, lack of control authority mechanisms and uncontrolled power of individuals within the state authorities. Such conditions for corruption are created by the authoritarian systems, including various forms of individual, military or ideological tyranny. This is a significant economic, political and ethical issue. In order to be better understood and effectively eradicated, it is necessary to understand how different cultures accept corruption and the relationship between corruption and specific dimensions of culture. In this paper attention is focused on the relationship of specific aspects of culture and corruption, relying on existing experimental studies. The purpose of this paper is to check the belief expressed in the literature on the example of the Western Balkans that high power distance culture is the key cultural element which creates the conditions for the emergence and acceptance of corruption in a society. The dimensions of culture identified by Geerd Hofstede are used in the analysis and power distance is identified as the most important dimension for generating corruption in society. Using comparative analysis of power distance index and corruption index possible connections between them can be identified. This leads us to the conclusion that power distance as one of the key cultural dimensions influence the level of corruption in society. As basic research limitations the following have been identified: the complexity of the phenomenon of culture of which power distance is only one element, and the fact that corruption is a complex social phenomenon, on which, apart from culture, other important factors have influence. This implies that in the activities intended for eradiction of corruption it is practically necessary to thake into account the need to change culture, which is a slow and difficulty process, but not impossible one. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n22p467

Employee job satisfaction in engineering firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among cultural values, using the dimension of power distance (PD), and employee job satisfaction in engineering firms in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. Design/methodology/approach – A well-known leading survey design, the Value Survey Module 94 developed by Hofstede (1980), is used in measuring PD as a quantitative methodology in the form of a questionnaire survey in UAE and Saudi Arabia. Findings – Power distance index (PDI) show variation not only at country level, but also at firm level. Consultative is found to be the most preferred manager type by the employees. Employees perceiving their managers to be consultative are the least afraid of disagreement with their managers. “Work”, “co-workers” and “operating procedures” find to be the major job satisfaction facets while “opportunities for promotion” and “reward” are the least attracted to job satisfaction. Age is found positively correlated with “pay”, “work”, “opportunities for promotion” and “benefits”. “Work” and educational qualification of the employees are negatively correlated but no significant correlations appear to exist with other job satisfaction facets. No significant correlation existed between education level and PDI is found. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first studies on PD and job satisfaction in UAE and Saudi Arabia. This can provide significant insight of how the Middle East countries, UAE and Saudi Arabia, react with globalization in the recent years. Recommendations for improving the existing job satisfaction in the Middle East countries are also explored.

Antecedents and Outcomes of Voice and Silence Behaviours of Employees of Tertiary Educational Institutions in Nigeria

In collectivist cultures with a high degree of the Power Distance Index (PDI), an expression of voice by employees in the form of opinions and suggestions on work related issues are a task as difficult as doing away with the turban of a Tuareng man. Silence is prevalent as employees feel culturally bonded not to take up issues with what is now popularly referred to as “Oga at the top” in the Nigerian context. This study investigates through the use of interview, why middle cadre administrative employees in Nigerian tertiary educational institutions feel reluctant to voice opinions and suggestions on work related issues to the person(s) above them in organisation hierarchy. This study uses cultural dimensions to explore the antecedents and outcomes of voice and silence behaviours of middle cadre administrative employees in Nigerian tertiary educational institutions. 26 employees selected across tertiary institutions from the North-West geopolitical zone of Nigeria were interviewed. The finding reveals that the cultural values of absolute loyalty and respect for the superior is the chief reason followed by fear of negative label, being marked rebellious or antagonist as well as inability to rise to top positions. Employees believe this will continue for a reasonably long time, because culture more than any other thing influence employee voice on work related issues.

Mismatch of Cultural Dimensions in an Urban Medical Educational Environment

Objective. To identify cultural dimensions and their potential mismatches between attending physicians and their residents and medical students. Methods. We surveyed faculty and students, both undergraduates and postgraduate resident physicians, at the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, using Hofstede’s VSM-08 questionnaire, and calculated cultural dimensions, including the Power-Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI), and Long-term Outlook (LTO). Correlations between faculty and student demographic data and cultural dimensions were calculated (SPSS). Results. There were 237 student and resident respondents and 96 faculty respondents. Comparing all faculty and student respondents, significant differences were found in four of five cultural dimensions, with faculty scoring higher in MAS, and lower in PDI, IDV, UAI, and LTO. Conclusions. These differences may be important in the design and implementation of a medical educational curriculum, and, particularly, in the measurement and evaluation of educational outcomes.

Do cultural dimensions predict prevalence of fatal work injuries in Europe?

Work injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Yet, countries differ dramatically on the prevalence of fatal work injuries (FWIs). Are these differences only a function of national economies and infrastructure or also related to entrenched cultural differences? This study tested whether the cultural dimensions of Hofstede, assessed in the 1970s, predict recent FWI in 22 European countries. We hypothesized that Power-Distance Index (PDI) and Masculinity would be positively correlated with FWI, while Individualism and Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) would be inversely correlated with FWI. We obtained the Hofstede cultural dimensions from Hofstede’s online data, and obtained data on prevalence of FWI as well as national income and alcohol consumption. Results revealed that PDI was indeed positively and significantly correlated with FWI (r=0.611, p<.05) while Individualism was inversely significantly related to FWI (r=−0.604, p<.05), independent of national income and alcohol consumption. Uncertainty Avoidance and Masculinity turned out not to be significantly correlated with FWI. These results show that cultural differences between countries can independently predict future risk of FWI on an international scale. The results also have implications towards organizational management and prevention management concerning FWI. Our study indicates that self-leadership can be a powerful approach to improve occupational safety.

The influences of national cultural constructs on marketing studies

This comparative study examines empirically, the influences of the national cultural constructs individualism-collectivism (IC) and power distance index (PDI) on marketing studies by examining the students’ learning experience and the ways in which these factors impact the students’ learning performance in the context of the marketing management studies. The study utilized a qualitative research method, - namely, in-depth interviews with a group of students and faculty members in China and Canada. By investigating along the three dimensions: interaction with professors, peer relationship and evaluation on students’ performance in the marketing program, the findings of this study report that differences exist in the learning performance between the two countries in the marketing studies. These results will be the basis for making recommendations to both Chinese and Canadian educators and policy makers/administrators who are involved with the international marketing joint program. It also provides guidance to assist Asian, - particularly Chinese - students to advance their marketing knowledge via the cultural learning. The limitation and implication of the study, together with possible directions for future research, are also presented. Key words: Hofstede, cultural factors, learning performance, marketing science, joint program, class interaction, fellow students’ relationship, course assessments.

SU-B-BRA-01: Patient Safety Education

First do no harm. Prominent newspapers and other reports over the last several years have reminded us of this maxim. To make the patientˈs journey through radiation therapy safer requires all disciplines to develop an awareness of what can go wrong and why, develop practical skills in common error management techniques and consider what additional patient safety measures can realistically be implemented. This yearˈs Education Council Symposium addresses the role of the medical physicist in patient safety education, with lectures on three distinct topics: Establishing a culture of safety through education: The medical physicist plays a vital role in being informed about and disseminating key safety information in the use of radiation in medicine. The education and technical knowledge of the medical physicist positions him/her to understand, evaluate and address safety concerns and risks from a procedure standpoint. This point of view is used to establish mechanisms to provide specific periodic, and general ongoing education to clinical staff to prevent patient harm. The same knowledge base also allows the medical physicist to explain the risks and safety measures of the complex procedures to patients undergoing treatment and to lay persons outside of the clinic. Inclusion of patient safety into didactics and clinical training of medical physicists: In Calgary, Canada, a patient safety training course was designed to address all these issues for a multidisciplinary audience, but focusing on medical physicists who contributed to some of the most catastrophic incidents reported. Error management is a very practical activity. In recognition ofthat observation almost half of the 14 hour course is devoted to skill development through mentored practical exercises. The course starts with a review of the IAEA slide set describing 5 recent well known incidents in radiation therapy. This slide set forms the basis for several exercises. This is followed by a discussion of human factors and the power distance index — topics quite unfamiliar to the medical physicist. Subsequent sessions provide overviews of recent activities in patient safety encompassing incident learning and recommended preventative measures. Two-hour sessions are devoted to each of the key analysis techniques: root cause analysis, failure modes and effects analysis and fault tree analysis. The messages in the didactic part of each session are reinforced and skills developed during structured exercises. The course has been generally well received by the participants and may serve as a useful model for graduate and residency medical physics education. Training individuals to use voluntary reporting systems: Development of event reporting systems has been a significant point of recent discussions and national and international activities. Such systems should ideally be implemented along with organizational training efforts and should be a part of a broader process improvement program. Event reporting systems are just tools which work best within an organization with healthy safety and reporting cultures. Without healthy safety and reporting cultures even the best designed event reporting systems ultimately result in poor outcomes and may even become a source of organizational frustrations and problems. When event reporting systems are placed in such a healthy environment, where safety culture is supported and valued from the highest levels of management down through all employees, these systems can be great learning and organizational diagnostics tools. Development of such an environment requires understanding and acceptance of event reporting principles and culture by everyone in an organization. Learning Objectives: 1. The role of the medical physicist in establishing a culture of safety through education 2. Review a template training course for patient safety within didactics and clinical training 3. Preparing individuals to utilize voluntary reporting systems

Perceptions of a Glass Ceiling: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Mexican and American Employees

This study asks employees in the United States and Mexico if they believe there is workplace discrimination based on gender, age, or ethnicity. As members of international organizations, the United States and Mexico have agreed to strive for the elimination of employment discrimination. Hypotheses based on Hofstedes Power Distance Index (PDI) predicted cultural differences in the two countries would result in a higher perception of workplace discrimination from employees in the United States than those in Mexico. The results support the hypotheses; directions are offered for future research.

Influence of national culture on the adoption of integrated medical curricula

Integrated curricula have been implemented in medical schools all over the world. However, among countries different relative numbers of schools with integrated curricula are found. This study aims to explore the possible correlation between the percentage of medical schools with integrated curricula in a country and that country’s cultural characteristics. Curricula were defined as not integrated if in the first 2 years of the program at least two out of the three monodisciplinary courses Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry were identified. Culture was defined using Hofstede’s dimensions Power distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity/Femininity, and Individualism/Collectivism. Consequently, this study had to be restricted to the 63 countries included in Hofstede’s studies which harbored 1,195 medical schools. From each country we randomly sampled a maximum of 15 schools yielding 484 schools to be investigated. In total 91% (446) of the curricula were found. Correlation of percent integrated curricula and each dimension of culture was determined by calculating Spearman’s Rho. A high score on the Power distance index and a high score on the Uncertainty avoidance index correlated with a low percent integrated curricula; a high score on the Individualism index correlated with a high percent integrated curricula. The percentage integrated curricula in a country did not correlate with its score on the Masculinity index. National culture is associated with the propensity of medical schools to adopt integrated medical curricula. Consequently, medical schools considering introduction of integrated and problem-based medical curricula should take into account dimensions of national culture which may hinder the innovation process.

Coevolution of Mitigated Speech caused by Power Distance Index

Coevolution of Mitigated Speech caused by Power Distance Index

Education and competitive economy: how do cultural dimensions fit in?

Globalization has changed the way people behave in different aspects of life. One of the significant differences is that people are now competing with everyone around the world, not just people within or near their own regions. A good way of remaining competitive is to provide quality education that can help students meet the needs of the competitive economy. However, not all nations are responding in the same way. Using a quantitative approach, this explorative study seeks to discover if, and how, cultural dimensions fit into the process of meeting the demands of the competitive economy by means of education across regions. Forty-three regions with different ratings on the Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), and the Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) are included in this study. The results show that UAI, PDI and IDV are significant factors relating to this issue.

Polish-Turkish Relations: A Social-Political Analysis

Polish-Turkish Relations: A Social-Political Analysis

Are cultural dimensions relevant for explaining cross-national differences in antibiotic use in Europe?

BackgroundAntibiotics are widely-used medicines for which a more prudent use has been advocated to minimize development of resistance. There are considerable cross-national differences that can only partially be explained by epidemiological difference and variations in health care structure. The aim of this study was to explore whether cross-national differences in use of antibiotics (prescribed and non-prescribed) are associated with differences between national cultures as described in Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long-Term Orientation).MethodsCountry-level data of prescribed antibiotic use and self-medication with antibiotics were correlated to country-specific scores of cultural dimensions obtained from Hofstede. Data on use of antibiotics were provided by three European studies, based on different methods and/or countries: Self-medication with Antibiotics and Resistance in Europe (SAR), based on a survey in 2003 on reported use of antibiotics in 19 countries, the European Surveillance on Antimicrobial Consumption, based on distribution and reimbursement of antibiotics in ambulatory care (1997–2002), and the 2002 interview-based Eurobarometer study, asking whether respondents had taken antibiotics in the previous 12 months. These studies provided data on antibiotics use for 27 European countries in total, for which scores of cultural dimensions were also available. The SAR-study differentiated between prescribed antibiotics and self-medication with antibiotics.ResultsSignificant positive correlations were found for Power Distance Index with use of prescribed antibiotics in the three studies (rho between 0.59 and 0.62) and with self-medication (rho = 0.54) in the SAR study. Positive significant correlations were found for the Uncertainty Avoidance Index with the use of antibiotics as reported in two studies (rho between 0.57 and 0.59; for the SAR study the correlations were insignificant). Masculinity was not significantly correlated, except in one study after controlling for GDP (r = 0.81). For Individualism and Long-Term Orientation no significant correlations were found.ConclusionPower Distance is a cultural aspect associated with antibiotic use, suggesting that the culture-specific way people deal with authority is an important factor in explaining cross-national differences in antibiotic use. There are indications that Uncertainty Avoidance also plays a role but further research is needed to better understand the complex effect of cultural dimensions.

National Culture Impacts Internalization Benefits in Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions

We examine how cultural distance between bidder and target countries impacts internalization benefits in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. We expect to find internalization benefits when differences in national culture are great. This is plausible if contracting (e.g. licensing and franchising) is less expensive in culturally similar climates. If this is true, an increasing difference between two countries' cultures is likely to make contracting more costly and the purchase of a foreign company more attractive. The benefits from internalization, therefore, should increase with cultural distance. Cultural differences have previously been proxied by religion (La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer and Vishny (1999)), language (Stulz and Williamson (2003)), and law (Licht, Goldschmidt and Schwartz (2005)). The most recent literature, however, has recognized the value of Hofstede's cultural dimensions (Benou, Gleason, and Madura (2007), and Licht et al. (2005)). In his seminal work, Hofstede found four distinct cultural dimensions: Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), and Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI). These cultural dimensions allow us to measure the similarity between national cultures. Our results suggest that shareholders are initially concerned about the acquisition in culturally distant countries, which outweighs any potential benefits from internalization. However, in the long-run we observe a significant reversal of these findings. In the second and third year following the announcement, greater cultural distance has a positive impact on the operating performance of bidder's with high intangibles, suggesting that significant internalization benefits from technological know-how are realized when cultural distance is great. Long-run calendar-time returns further support this finding. Our results add to the existing literature by highlighting the importance of cultural distance when examining internalization benefits.

Influence of national culture on the adoption of integrated and problem-based curricula in Europe

There is an evident misbalance in the frequency of medical schools with problem-based learning (PBL) curricula in northern versus southern Europe. This study explores the hypothesis that national culture influences the flexibility of (medical) schools in terms of their propensity to adopt integrated and PBL curricula. National culture was defined by a country's scores on indexes for 4 dimensions of culture as described by Hofstede, defined as: power distance; individualism/collectivism; masculinity/femininity, and uncertainty avoidance. Non-integrated medical curricula were defined as those that included courses in 2 of the 3 basic sciences (anatomy, biochemistry and physiology) in the first 2 years; otherwise, by exclusion, curricula were assumed to be integrated. The medical curricula of 134 of the 263 schools in the 17 European countries included in Hofstede's study were examined. Correlations were calculated between the percentage of integrated medical curricula in a country and that country's scores on indexes for each of the 4 dimensions of culture. Significant negative correlations were found between the percentage of integrated curricula and scores on the power distance index (correlation coefficient [CC]: - 0.692; P = 0.002) and the uncertainty avoidance index (CC: - 0.704; P = 0.002). No significant correlations were found between the percentage of integrated curricula and scores on the indexes for individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity. A (medical) school which is considering adopting an integrated or PBL curriculum and which is based in a country with a high score on Hofstede's power distance index and/or uncertainty avoidance index must a priori design strategies to reduce or overcome the obstructive effects of these dimensions of culture on the school's organisation.