Gender and Long Term Orientation

Hofstede’s Five Dimensions of Culture

Individualism versus Collectivism is social orientation which is a person’s beliefs about the relative importance of the individual and groups to which that person belongs. Individualism is the culture belief that the person comes first. It includes high degree of self-respect and independence. They often put their own career interests before the good of their organizations, and they tend to assess decisions in terms of how those decisions affect them as individuals. Collectivism is the belief that the group comes first. People are expected to put the good of the group ahead of their own personal welfare, interest or success. Power Respect versus Power Tolerance is power orientation which means the appropriateness of power/authority within organizations. Power Respect is people in a culture tend to accept the power and authority of their superiors simply on the basis of the superior’s positions in the hierarchy. Power Tolerance is people more willing to question a decision or mandate from someone at a higher level or perhaps even refuse to accept it. They are willing to follow a leader when that leader is perceived to be right or when it seems to be in their own self-interest to do so but not because of the leader’s intangible right to issue orders. Uncertainty Acceptance versus Uncertainty Avoidance is uncertainty orientation which means the feeling of people have regarding uncertain and ambiguous situations. Uncertainty Acceptance is people tend to feel stimulated by change and thrive on new opportunities. Ambiguity is seen as a context within which an individual can grow, develop, and carve out new opportunities. Uncertainty Avoidance is people dislike ambiguity and will avoid it whenever possible. These people tend to prefer a structured and routine, even bureaucratic way of doing things. Long Term Orientation versus Short Term Orientation is time orientation which members of a culture adopt either one of it on work, life, and other aspect of society. Long Term Orientation is people that values dedication, hard work, perseverance, and thrift which focusing on future orientation. Short Term Orientation tend to focus on the past and present, emphasizing respect for traditions and fulfillment of social obligations. Masculinity versus Femininity refers to the distribution of roles between the genders. The IBM studies revealed that (a) women’s values differ less among societies than men’s values; (b) men’s values from one country to another contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women's values on the other. The assertive pole has been called 'masculine' and the modest, caring pole 'feminine'. The women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men's values and women's values.