The fourth Hofstede dimension goes by two different names. The current preferred name is “achievement orientation” (versus “quality of life”); in Hofstede’s original work it was called “masculinity” (versus “femininity”). While some stick to the old nomenclature, most interculturalists have found the connection to gender to be so loaded that people can’t think clearly: for [...]

How well do you tolerate ambiguity? Do you need a clear roadmap of what’s ahead, or do you prefer more flexibility? Or is “flexibility” tantamount to “chaos”? Each person has a unique set of tendencies around this. Even so, just as with the two Hofstede dimensions we’ve discussed in earlier posts, with “uncertainty avoidance” there [...]

One thing we need to watch carefully as we move through Hofstede’s research: cultural dimensions aretendencies and only tendencies. Hofstede himself is emphatic about this. Any individual in any culture could show up anywhere on any dimension. Think of the dimensions as statistical generalizations: road maps with enough detail to get you where you need [...]

Scientists like to measure things. Social scientists especially like to measure things that are hard to measure. In the late 1960s a Dutch scholar by the name of Geert Hofstede took on measuring cultural difference. He ended up having over 100,000 managers at IBM worldwide fill out surveys to test how cultures differ. The result [...]

Here are the Chinese versions of the research questions: Car scenario: 李家有三个人:爸爸,妈妈,和十七岁的男孩子李四。爸爸妈妈两个人每个星期都各工作四十个小时,领一样的工资。现在妈妈想买一辆新汽车,把旧汽车给李四开。但是爸爸认为现在的车还可以再开几年,买新车等于是浪费钱。你觉得爸爸,妈妈,和李四会说什么?最后他们会决定怎么做?你会支持哪一边? Surprise Arrest: 假如有一个公民,什么罪都没有犯,在逛街的时候被警察逮捕。警察不告诉他为什么被逮捕,就把他锁在监狱里,一直到三天以后才放他走。你觉得这个人会怎么想?他会如何反应?采取什么行动? Tax Hike: 如果政府没有得到人民的同意,就自行决定把所得税增加一倍,你觉得这样对不对?人民会有什么反应?采取什么样的行动?你觉得人民应该如何回应这样的状况?

More scenarios to think through today. First: Suppose a citizen is walking down the street one day when the police arrest him. They don’t tell him why; they simply arrest him and keep him locked up for three days before letting him go. He has done nothing illegal. What will this person think? What will [...]

Conversations between Colette and me these days — as I imagine is the case for lots of couples — often center around our family’s finances.  Got me thinking about some research I did a few years back. Consider, if you will, this scenario: The Smiths are a three-person family living in the United States:  Mom, [...]