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Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions &
UAE
Theory Overview & Application
Over the past two decades a lot of interest has been placed on
culture in business and the workplace, a topic that is very relevant today.
Hofstede conducted one of the first studies in this field when he surveyed
116,000 employees at IBM in 1980. This was a landmark study that
illustrated the importance of culture and its relation to decision-making
and business ethics in a workplace. Though this study was done decades
ago, it is still relevant today and is used by many researchers and
organizations. This paper will provide an overview of Hofstede’s theory
and its application to the United Arab Emirates.
The culture of a nation has been proven to have an effect on business
activities ranging from capital structure to group performance (Leung,
2005). In simple terms, culture is a set of ideas, customs and social
behavior that is slowly acquired by a particular society. It includes the
learning values of a society, partaking of rituals, role models and symbols
(myths, legends, lingo etc). According to Dowling (2008) cultural
awareness can cause a business to succeed in international endeavors or
lead them to failure. Geert Hofstede was one of the first authors to
describe a variety of cultural dimensions and the issues that arise from
difference in culture.
Hofstede identified five main ‘problem-areas’ or dimensions that
denote the difference amidst cultures (1997). These consist of power
distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism,
masculinity/femininity and long-term orientation. In 2010, Hofstede
based on Michael Minkov’s analysis of 93 countries added a sixth
dimension, indulgence/restraint.
HOFSTEDE 1
Power distance defines how inequality is perceived and accepted by
the less privileged people in a society. A high power distance ranking in a
culture indicates that people are aware of the inequalities that exist and
they accept it (Hofstede, 1997). Usually in high power distance cultures,
children from a very young age are taught to respect their elders and this
behavior carries on to their adulthood and work ethic. Organizations in
these cultures usually have autocratic leadership styles, wide gaps in
hierarchy and centralized structures. In contrast, in low power distance
cultures people do not want inequality and prefer democratic processes.
Subordinates would rather that they are involved in decision-making
processes and hence desire a democratic leader.
The second dimension is individualism versus collectivism.
Individualism relates to societies in which individuals are loosely
connected with one another and importance is placed on autonomy and
taking care of only one’s self and their immediate family (Hofstede,
