Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions aids us in analyzing the background, history, and
daily life of the people of Cambodia. The first dimension, power distance, displays the degree of
social inequality considered normal by the people of a country. Cambodians consider titles to be
relatively important, especially in business. They refer to superiors using their professional title,
and even have their own words to address them, “Lok” for males and “Lok Srey” for females
(“Culture Crossing Guide”). In addition, hierarchy is important to the people of Cambodia, and
the eldest person usually retains the position of power, meaning that disrespect or talking back to
authority is looked down upon. This suggests that Cambodia has a relatively large power
distance. The country has a total dependency ratio of 55.7 (“The World Factbook: Cambodia”).
This is an indication of Hofstede’s second cultural dimension, a collectivist society, rather than
an individualistic one. A ratio of over 50% stipulates that Cambodians tend to be more
imperative for them to maintain face and always keep up the appearance of dignity and cohesion
in front of friends, family, and/or colleagues (“Culture Crossing Guide”). In addition, they would
rather stay out of conflicts and avoid being pressured or negative confrontations. This suggests a
aspects of Cambodia’s culture. Gift-giving is common to their culture, especially during first-
time meetings or upon entering a Cambodian’s house for the first time. (“Culture Crossing
of Cambodia’s population. The other ethnic groups of the country are considered minorities, and
include 1.2% Cham, 0.1% Chinese, 0.1% Vietnamese, and 0.9% other ethnic groups. (“The
World Factbook: Cambodia”). The official religion of Cambodia is Buddhism, which 97.9% of
the religion-adhering population practice. Also, 1.1% of this population are Muslim, 0.5% are
Christian, and 0.6% practice other religions (“The World Factbook: Cambodia”). As for
language, the official language of Cambodia is Khmer, and about 96.3% of the population speak
this language. The remaining 3.7% speak other languages. In addition, their verbal
Rather than appearing offending, Cambodians would rather just tell you what you want to hear.
References