Puthimet Kitjaruwankul

Individualism and Collectivism Cultural Dimension and High and Low Context Culture

Effects on Organization Success and Employee Satisfaction

in Thailand and the United States

Introduction

Thailand and the United States have different degrees to which each country has a

Hofstede’s individualist or collectivist culture and is a high or low context culture. These cultural

differences influence an organization's success and employee satisfaction in the workplace. This

essay aims to review how individualism and collectivism cultural dimensions and high and low

context culture affect the overall success of the organization and employee satisfaction in both

Thailand and the United States. In this review, Thailand tends to be more collectivist and high-

context which promotes organizational success and worker satisfaction but creates communication

barriers, while the United States tends to be more individualist and low-context which creates a

rivalry environment among employees lowering the overall success but promoting clear

communication.

Background

According to a well-known Geert Hofstede cultural dimension framework, individualism

refers to a culture where people prioritize their personal goals over collective ones. In contrast,

collectivism characterizes societies where group cohesion, harmony, and interdependence are

valued over individual interests. Thailand's society is a collectivist culture as the society values

loyalty to the group, and individuals are expected to take responsibility for one another

(Buriyameathagul, 2013). This is often associated with the high-context culture where people tend

to avoid confrontation and direct communication and rely more on common knowledge and body
 Puthimet Kitjaruwankul

language. On the other hand, Americans represent an individualist culture as they prioritize their

individuality and autonomy and are more likely to put their own needs ahead of those of a group

(Ava, 2018). It is associated with a low-context culture where people communicate directly which

promotes achievement-oriented value.

Supporting Paragraph

Some articles (Examples: (Spence, 1989). and (Amir, 2019).) pointed out that individualist

characteristics in the United States negatively affect the success of an organization, while there is

no research directly comparing it with Thailand. Spence (1989) wrote in American Individualism:

Challenges for the 21st Century that in that current era the United States was losing in terms of

technology, economics, and politics to Japan. Spence wrote that it was blamed on the Americans

being too self-centered and materialistic due to the achievement-oriented culture and they should

adopt the collectivist culture from Japan. Specifically, in the workplace, Amir (2019) wrote in his

journal that an individualist culture is shown in many US companies such as in an award given to

the employer of the month based on how much an individual contributed to the company, the

ranking against the worker of the same level, and the organization slogans like ‘self-motivated’

and ‘do it yourself’. He suggested that these individualist cultures hurt the cohesiveness of the

team, which is critical to the overall company's success, in which he referred to The International

Journal of Operations & Production Management article which found that in lean manufacturing

firms, the more collectivist culture could perform better than the more individualist culture

(Weingarten et al., 2015). However, these two cultures can happen together by, for example, rating

the performance as a team and tying the incentive bonus to the team performance, not as an

individual, and this is the direction that the US companies need to become more successful (Amir,

2019).
 Puthimet Kitjaruwankul

Collectivist culture not only promotes the overall success of an organization but also can

influence the sense of belonging and satisfaction in the workplace. Chaisilwattana (2017) pointed

out in her research that the collectivist culture in Thailand promotes employee satisfaction as it

creates collaboration and positive relationships with coworkers and allows them to adapt and fit

within the workplace. She also pointed out that because of the sense of being a part of a group,

people tend to avoid direct conversations that may create conflict, making Thailand a high-context

culture. This creates both positive and negative effects where there is less conflict but also creates

obstacles in communication and slows down the working process (Chaisilwattana, 2017). On the

other hand, individualist, and high-context societies like the US, however, claim that because there

is a structure and clear communication, working inside their own culture is more productive, but

having identical goals among coworkers also promotes rivalry and tensions within the workplace

(Stan & Jongboom, 2023).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Thailand tends to be more collectivist and high-context, while the US leans

toward individualism and low-context. The collectivist culture in Thailand promotes overall

performance and creates satisfaction as it promotes collaboration and a sense of belonging, while

the individualist culture in the United States promotes rivalry but allows for more direct and

effective communication. Therefore, balancing the two concepts is important to improve the

organization's performance and employee satisfaction.

 Puthimet Kitjaruwankul

Reference:

Amir, A., (2019, July 1). Is American Individualism Hurting Our Teams at Work?. [online]

Retrieved from https://medium.com/hackernoon/is-american-individualism-hurting-our-

teams-at-work-cdad9c591577

Ava, R., (2018, October 31). Personal Space and American Individualism. [online] Retrieved

from https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2018/10/personal-space-american-individualism/

Buriyameathagul, K. (2013). Characteristics of Culture in Thai Society and Virtual Communities.

Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts, 13 (2), 214-215.

Chaisilwattana, R., & Punnakitikashem, P. (2017, December). Thai culture and its effects on

organizational engagement in Thai privately held companies. UTCC International

Journal of Business and Economics, 9 (2), 117-136.

Spence, J. T., (1989). American Individualism: Challenges for the 21st Century.

Stan, I. M., Jongboom, I. (2023). The influence of cross-cultural adjustment on job performance,

Research in Hospitality Management, 13 (2), 105-112.

https://doi.org/10.1080/22243534.2023.2277509

Weingarten, F., Gimenez, C., Fynes, B., & Ferdows, K., (2015, March 2). Exploring the

importance of cultural collectivism on the efficacy of lean practices: Taking an

organisational and national perspective. International Journal of Operations &

Production Management, 35 (3), 370-391. Retrieved from

https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-09-2012-0357