HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS THEORY

Power Distance

Power Distance is the extent to which people in a country accept that power is distributed
unequally in society and organizations. In countries where power distance is weak, such as
Denmark and Sweden, employees don’t like their organization or their boss to have power over them
or tell them what to do. They want to have a say in decisions that affect them.

Individualism

Individualism is the degree to which societies believe that individuals should be self-sufficient. In
individualistic societies, employees put loyalty to themselves first and loyalty to their
company and workgroup second. The Netherlands, France, and Germany are the strongest in
individualism, whereas Indonesia, West Africa, and China are the weakest.

Masculinity and Femininity

Masculinity and Femininity capture the difference between highly assertive and highly nurturing
cultures. Masculine cultures emphasize assertiveness, competition, material success, and
achievement, whereas feminine cultures emphasize the importance of relationships,
modesty, caring for the weak, and quality of life. Japan, Germany, and the United States have
the most masculine orientations, whereas the Netherlands has the most feminine orientation.

Uncertainty Avoidance

The cultural difference of uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which people in a country
are uncomfortable with unstructured ambiguous, unpredictable situations. In countries with
strong uncertainty avoidance, like Greece and Portugal, people tend to be aggressive and emotional
and seek security rather than uncertainty. France, West Africa, and Russia are strongest in
uncertainty avoidance, whereas Hong Kong is the weakest.

Short-term\Long-term Orientation

Short-term\Long-term Orientation addresses whether cultures are oriented to the present and
seek immediate gratification or to the future and defer gratification. Not surprisingly, countries with
short-term orientations are consumer-driven, whereas countries with long-term
orientations are savings-driven. China and Hong Kong have very strong long-term orientations,
whereas Russia, West Africa, Indonesia, the United States, and Germany have very strong-term
orientations.

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