Studies on Cultural Patterns Note: The following data illustrates the notion of cultural generalizations, which do not hold true in all situations. Because culture is dynamic and complex, there is variation in the degree to which individuals from a particular cultural background accept or resist broader cultural norms. In addition, while culture plays an important role in governing behaviour, universal needs and desires (such as the need for food or the desire to belong) and personality also play a role. Being cognizant of these influences will help prevent cultural stereotyping. Edward T. Hall, a scholar in the field of intercultural communication, compared countries in terms of the communication styles and loosely categorized them into high context and low context cultures (see Chapter 6: Cultural Considerations for an explanation of high and low context communication styles). The diagram below illustrates where Hall placed various countries on the scale of high context/indirect cultures and low context/indirect cultures. 1 HIGH CONTEXT Japanese Chinese Arab Greek Mexican Spanish Italian French French Canadian English English Canadian American Scandinavian German German Swiss LOW CONTEXT 1. University of the Pacific, “What’s Up with Culture,” http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/ (Accessed November 27, 2009). Appendix C In the late 1960s, Geert Hofstede, a renowned scholar in the field of intercultural communication, conducted a massive study on IBM employees around the world to quantitatively measure the cultural patterns that are commonly exhibited in the workplace. Since then, his study has been replicated numerous times with other populations such as pilots, civil servants and students. The data below accounts for the findings of the more recent studies. The higher the score a country or region receives, the more it exhibited the particular cultural pattern. 2 See Chapter 6: Cultural Considerations for an explanation of the concepts of power distance and individualism/collectivism. Power distance by country Arab World* Argentina Australia Austria Bangladesh* Belgium Brazil Bulgaria* Canada Chile China* Colombia Costa Rica Czech Republic* Denmark East Africa* Ecuador El Salvador Estonia* Finland France Germany Greece 80 49 36 11 80 65 69 70 39 63 80 67 35 57 18 64 78 66 40 33 68 35 60 Guatemala Hong Kong Hungary* India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Luxembourg* Malaysia Malta* Mexico Morocco* Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Panama Peru 95 68 46 77 78 58 28 13 50 45 54 40 104 56 81 70 38 22 31 55 95 64 Philippines Poland* Portugal Romania Russia* Singapore Slovakia* South Africa South Korea Spain Surinam* Sweden Switzerland Thailand Trinidad* Turkey United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam* West Africa 94 68 63 90 93 74 104 49 60 57 85 31 34 64 47 66 35 40 61 81 70 77 * = estimated values Arab World = Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates East Africa = Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia West Africa = Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone 2. Geert Hofstede, “Cultural Dimensions,” http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ (Accessed November 4, 2009). Appendix C Power distance by score Austria Israel Denmark New Zealand Ireland Norway Sweden Finland Switzerland Costa Rica Germany United Kingdom Australia Netherlands Canada Estonia* Luxembourg* United States Jamaica Hungary* Trinidad* Argentina South Africa 11 13 18 22 28 31 31 33 34 35 35 35 36 38 39 40 40 40 45 46 47 49 49 Italy Japan Pakistan Malta* Czech Republic* Spain Iran Greece South Korea Uruguay Chile Portugal East Africa* Peru Thailand Belgium El Salvador Turkey Colombia France Hong Kong Poland* Brazil Bulgaria* Morocco* Vietnam* Singapore India West Africa Ecuador Indonesia Arab World* Bangladesh* China* Mexico Venezuela Surinam* Romania Russia* Philippines Guatemala Panama Malaysia Slovakia* 50 54 55 56 57 57 58 60 60 61 63 63 64 64 64 65 66 66 67 68 68 68 69 70 70 70 74 77 77 78 78 80 80 80 81 81 85 90 93 94 95 95 104 104 * = estimated values Arab World = Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates East Africa = Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia West Africa = Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone Individualism by country Arab World* Argentina Australia Austria Bangladesh* Belgium Brazil Bulgaria* Canada Chile China* Colombia 38 46 90 55 20 75 38 30 80 23 20 13 Guatemala Hong Kong Hungary* India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Luxembourg* 6 25 80 48 14 41 70 54 76 39 46 60 Poland* Portugal Romania Russia* Singapore Slovakia* South Africa South Korea Spain Surinam* Sweden Switzerland 60 27 30 39 20 52 65 18 51 47 71 68 Appendix C Costa Rica Czech Republic* Denmark East Africa* Ecuador 15 58 74 27 8 Malaysia Malta* Mexico Morocco* Netherlands 26 59 30 46 80 El Salvador Estonia* Finland France Germany Greece 19 60 63 71 67 35 New Zealand Norway Pakistan Panama Peru Philippines 79 69 14 11 16 32 Taiwan Thailand Trinidad* Turkey United Kingdom United States Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam* West Africa 17 20 16 37 89 91 36 12 20 20 * = estimated values Arab World = Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates East Africa = Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia West Africa = Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone Individualism by score Guatemala 6 Ecuador 8 Panama 11 Venezuela 12 Colombia 13 Indonesia 14 Pakistan 14 Costa Rica 15 Peru 16 Trinidad* 16 Taiwan 17 South Korea 18 El Salvador 19 Bangladesh* 20 China* 20 Singapore 20 Thailand 20 Vietnam* 20 West Africa 20 Chile 23 Portugal Bulgaria* Mexico Romania Philippines Greece Uruguay Turkey Arab World* Brazil Jamaica Russia* Iran Argentina Japan Morocco* Surinam* India Spain Slovakia* 27 30 30 30 32 35 36 37 38 38 39 39 41 46 46 46 47 48 51 52 Hong Kong Malaysia Israel Austria 54 55 Appendix C 25 26 Malta* Estonia* Luxembourg* Poland* Finland South Africa Germany Switzerland Norway Ireland France Sweden Denmark Belgium Italy New Zealand Canada Hungary* Netherlands United Kingdom Australia United States 59 60 60 60 63 65 67 68 69 70 71 71 74 75 76 79 80 80 80 89 90 91 East Africa* * = estimated values 27 Czech Republic* 58 Arab World = Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates East Africa = Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia West Africa = Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone Appendix C