Hofstede’s Model of National Cultural Differences and their Consequences: A Triumph of Faith - a Failure of Analysis

@article{McSweeney2002HofstedesMO,
  title={Hofstede’s Model of National Cultural Differences and their Consequences: A Triumph of Faith - a Failure of Analysis},
  author={Brendan McSweeney},
  journal={Human Relations},
  year={2002},
  volume={55},
  pages={118 - 89}
}
  • B. McSweeney
  • Published 1 January 2002
  • Sociology
  • Human Relations
Geert Hofstede’s legendary national culture research is critiqued. Crucial assumptions which underlie his claim to have uncovered the secrets of entire national cultures are described and challenged. The plausibility of systematically causal national cultures is questioned. 
View on SAGE
2,381 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
124
Background Citations
967
Methods Citations
170
Results Citations
57

2,381 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Forward from a Critique of Hofstede’s Model of National Culture
McSweeney’s critique (2002) rejects Hofstede’s model and finds national culture implausible as a systematically causal factor of behaviour. His critique is examined for its useful warnings to those…
A research note: the unfinished business of culture
A Critique of Hofstede’s Fifth National Culture Dimension
Using indigenous knowledge of Chinese culture and philosophy, this article critiques Geert Hofstede’s fifth national culture dimension, i.e. ‘Confucian dynamism’, also referred to as ‘long-term…
The Essentials of Scholarship: A Reply to Geert Hofstede
L'A. repond a Geert Hofstede a propos de sa conception des cultures nationales et des valeurs qu'elles seraient censees vehiculer. Sur un plan methodologique, il montre la faiblesse de ses modeles de…
Geert Hofstede et al's set of national cultural dimensions - popularity and criticisms
This article outlines different stages in development of the national culture model, created by Geert Hofstede and his affiliates. This paper reveals and synthesizes the contemporary review of the…
The Hofstede factor: the consequences of Culture’s Consequences
For many scholars and practitioners in the field of cross-cultural management, Hofstede’s work has provided a foundation for theory and practice. In this chapter, we briefly describe its main…
The many dimensions of culture
The article discusses aspects of culture and the contributions of Geert H. Hofstede to this field of study. The author notes that Hofestede's work emphasized the distinction between cultural and…
Talking about cultural differences in an age of globalization and hybridization: Between Obelix and Stephen Colbert
  • Craig Ott
  • Sociology
    Missiology: An International Review
  • 2021
The concept of culture has long been central to mission theory and practice. However, current understandings of culture can easily fall into one of two extremes: on the one hand, essentialist views…
A quarter century of Culture's Consequences: a review of empirical research incorporating Hofstede's cultural values framework
Since Geert Hofstede's Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (Sage, 1980) was published, researchers have utilized Hofstede's cultural values framework in a wide…
The absence of women's voices in Hofstede's Cultural Consequences: A postcolonial reading
Embedded in the Western scientific rationality Hofstede’s methodological approach is constructed on a quantitative method characterized by a carefully selected sample of well educated white ‘men’…
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 113 REFERENCES
The Cultural Relativity of Organizational Practices and Theories
This paper summarizes the author's recently published findings about differences in people's work-related values among 50 countries. In view of these differences, ethnocentric management theories…
Cross-Cultural Differences in the Self
  • D. Hollan
  • Education
    Journal of Anthropological Research
  • 1992
The sharp contrasts often drawn between "Western" and "non-Western" selves have very likely been exaggerated because researchers often contrast simplified and idealized cultural conceptions of the…
Making Something of Ourselves On Culture and Politics in the United States
In this provocative book on the relation of culture to politics, Richard Merelman argues that the United States has evolved an anthropologically novel form of culture, one that he defines as 'loosely…
Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values
In his bestselling book Culture's Consequences, Geert Hofstede proposed four dimensions on which the differences among national cultures can be understood: Individualism, Power Distance, Uncertainty…
Black-White Ethnic Differences In Identification With The Work Ethic: Some Implications For Organizational Integration
Literature discussing the social role training and occupational readiness of American blacks for their propensity to identify with the four themes of the work ethic is reviewed. The findings are…
Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life
The article presents a review of the book “Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life,” by Terrence E. Deal and Allan A. Kennedy.
Crafting Selves: Power, Gender, and Discourses of Identity in a Japanese Workplace
"The ethnography of Japan is currently being reshaped by a new generation of Japanologists, and the present work certainly deserves a place in this body of literature. . . . The combination of…
The Problem of National Character: A Methodological Analysis
(1950). The Problem of National Character: A Methodological Analysis. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 307-316.
Culture and Agency: The Place of Culture in Social Theory
People are inescapably shaped by the culture in which they live, while culture itself is made and remade by people. Human beings in their daily lives feel a genuine freedom of thought and belief, yet…
Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate
The Second Edition provides an overview of current research, theory and practice in this expanding field. The editorial team and the authors come from diverse professional and geographical…
...
...