Hofstede S Cultural Dimensions

Growth of research addressing the relationship between culture and consumption is exponential. Thus, culture’s influence on consumption and marketing had drawn increasing attention in recent years. Hofstede’s framework is the most widely used national cultural framework in psychology, sociology, marketing and management studies. His dimensions were all constructed in such a way that they addressed basic problems that all societies have to deal with. Thus, these dimensions of national culture were constructed at the national level namely:
PDI: Power Distance Index
IDV: Individualism versus collectivism
MAS: Masculinity versus Femininity
UAI: Uncertainty Avoidance Index
In 1991, a fifth dimension has been added – LTO – Long Term versus Short Term Orientation, which was initially known as Confucian Dynamism. In 2007, Minkov added a sixth dimension – IND: Indulgence versus Restraint, which was adopted by Hofstede et al. (2010).
These dimensions were underpinned by variables that correlated across nations, not across individuals or organizations. For organizational cultures, entirely different dimensions were found as well.

PDI reflects the consequences of power inequality and authority relations in society. It influences hierarchy and dependence relationships in the family and organisational contexts. Thus, in high power distance cultures such as Malaysia, individuals respect their superiors and avoid criticizing them – senior management is dominant. In low power distance countries, Austria, Israel, it is very acceptable to challenge superiors and bottom employees are valued.

IDV describes the relationship individuals have in each culture. In individualistic societies such as USA and Australia, people look after themselves and their immediate family only; whereas in collectivistic cultures such as Ecuador and Panama, people belong to groups that look after them in exchange for loyalty. Jackson (2001) found that members of the highly individualistic societies tend