Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cultural Dimensions Theory

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 283 Accesses

Synonyms

Collectivistic cultures; Geert Hofstede; Individualism-collectivism; Individualistic cultures; Power distance; Uncertainty avoidance

Definition

Cultural dimensions summarize the extent to which cultural groups are found empirically to differ from one another in terms of psychological attributes such as values, beliefs, self- construals, personality, and behaviors.

Introduction

From historical times, persons have made free use of stereotyped characterizations of groups other than their own and of individuals drawn from such groups. The more recent development of survey methodology has made it possible to summarize the extent to which the qualities attributed to particular groups such as nations are in fact endorsed by the members of those groups. A pioneering study by Hofstede (1980) identified four dimensions along which 50 nations and three regions could be described. A key aspect of Hofstede’s initiative was to distinguish between the way in which responses to survey items...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bond, M. H. (2013). A general model for explaining situational influence on individual social behavior: Refining Lewin’s formula. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 16, 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, M. H., & Lun, V. M.-C. (2014). Citizen-making: The role of national goals for socializing children. Social Science Research, 44, 75–85.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, M. H., & Van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2011). Making scientific sense of cultural differences in psychological outcomes: Unpackaging the magnum mysterium. In D. Matsumoto & F. J. R. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 75–100). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bond, M. H., Leung, K., Au, K., Tong, K. K., & Chemonges-Nielsen, Z. (2004a). Combining social axioms with behaviors in predicting social behaviors. European Journal of Personality, 18, 177–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, M. H., Leung, K., Au, K., Tong, K. K., de Carrasquel, R., … & Lewis, J. R. (2004b). Culture-level dimensions of social axioms and their correlates across 41 cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 548–570.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Y. R., Brockner, J., & Katz, T. (1996). Towards an explanation of cultural differences in in-group favoritism: The role of individual versus collective primacy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 613–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Schwartz, S. H. (2011). Whence differences in value priorities? Individual, cultural or artefactual sources. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42, 1127–1144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gelfand, M. J., Raver, J. L., & 40 co-authors. (2011). Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science, 332, 1100–1104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gheorghiu, M., Vignoles, V., & Smith, P. B. (2009). Beyond the United States and Japan: Testing Yamagishi’s emancipation theory of trust across 31 nations. Social Psychology Quarterly, 72, 365–383.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (2006). What did GLOBE really measure? Researchers’ minds versus respondents’ minds. Journal of International Business Studies, 37, 882–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D. D., & Sanders, G. (1990). Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across 20 cases. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 286–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2011). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. New York: McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., Gupta, V., & GLOBE associates. (2004). Leadership, culture and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 nations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Javidan, M., House, R. J., Dorfman, P. W., Hanges, P. J., & Sully de Luque, M. (2006). Conceptualizing and measuring cultures and their consequences: A comparative review of GLOBE’s and Hofstede’s approaches. Journal of International Business Studies, 37, 897–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, B. L., & Shapiro, D. L. (2001). The impact of team members’ cultural values on cooperation, productivity and empowerment in self-managing work teams. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 32, 597–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1936). Principles of topological psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lun, V. M.-C., & Bond, M. H. (2016). Needs satisfaction and subjective well-being around the world: The moderating influence of gender, age and national goals for socializing children. Journal of Happiness Studies, 17(2), 587–608. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9614-z.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W. (2004). Toward an integrative science of the person. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 1–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muethel, M., & Bond, M. H. (2013). National context and individual employees’ trust of the out-group: The role of societal trust. Journal of International Business Studies, 44, 312–333. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2013.9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poortinga, Y. H., & Van Hemert, D. A. (2001). Personality and culture: Demarcating between the common and the unique. Journal of Personality, 69, 1033–1060.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (2009). Culture matters: National value cultures, sources and consequences. In R. Wyer, C. Y. Chiu, & Y. Y. Hong (Eds.), Understanding culture: Theory, research and applications (pp. 127–150). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H., Cieciuch, J., Vecchione, N., et al. (2012). Refining the theory of basic individual values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103, 663–688.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. B. (2006). When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled: The GLOBE and Hofstede projects. Journal of International Business Studies, 37, 915–921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. B., Fischer, R., Vignoles, V. L., & Bond, M. H. (2013). Understanding social psychology across cultures. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vignoles, V. L., Owe, E., Becker, M., Smith, P. B., Easterbrook, M. J., Brown, R., … & Bond, M. H. (2016). Beyond “West versus East”: Global variation in cultural models of selfhood. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(8), 966–1000.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Peter B. Smith

  2. Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Michael Harris Bond

Authors
  1. Peter B. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Harris Bond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter B. Smith .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

    Anna Czarna

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Smith, P.B., Bond, M.H. (2018). Cultural Dimensions Theory. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2093-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_2093-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation