Geert Hofstede
Encyclopedia
Geert Hofstede, born as Gerard Hendrik Hofstede (2 October 1928 in Haarlem
, Netherlands) is an influential Dutch social psychologist and anthropologist. He is a well-known pioneer in his research of cross-cultural
groups and organizations. He has played a major role in developing a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national cultures and organizational culture
s. His most notable work has been in developing the cultural dimensions theory
. His studies demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groups that influence behavior of societies and organizations, and that these are persistent over time. He is also an author of several books including Culture's Consequences and Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, co-authored with his son Gert Jan Hofstede.
Upon his retirement in 1993, Geert has visited numerous universities worldwide to educate students on his findings based on his data, and to continue his research in this field. He currently is Professor Emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, and serves as an extramural fellow of the Center of Economic Research at Tilburg University in Tilburg, Netherlands.
and Apeldoorn
, and received his high school diploma (Gymnasium Beta) in 1945. When World War II ended, Geert Hofstede was seventeen and had always lived in the Netherlands with rather difficult circumstances. So he decided that it was time for him to explore the wide world. He entered Technical College in 1945, and had one year of internships, including a voyage to Indonesia
in 1947 as an assistant ship’s engineer. It was his first time out of his country, immersed in a foreign culture, and was an early influence in his career to study cross-cultures. He was also influenced by a trip he made to England after meeting an English girl, where he experienced cultural shock. He was struck by the cultural differences he noticed between England and Holland, two very close European countries. These early experiences helped to translate into a lifelong career in cross-cultural research.
This was an important period in Geert’s life, where he actually worked in industry. By experiencing management, he had a chance to see the organization from the bottom up working as a mechanic. This training and background as an engineer shaped his research and his approach to social situations. He claims that his description of social situations appeals to a number of people because “I still have the mind of an engineer to the extent that I try to be specific...and be clear about what I am saying.” This was important in his development of quantifying cultures on different dimensions.
International, working as a management trainer and manager of personnel research. He founded and managed the Personnel Research Department. This was his transition from the field of engineering and into psychology. In this role, he played an active role in the introduction and application of employee opinion surveys in over 70 national subsidiaries of IBM around the world. He traveled across Europe and the Middle East to interview people and conduct surveys regarding people’s behavior in large organizations and how they collaborated. He collected large amounts of data, but due to the pressures of his daily job, was unable to conduct a significant amount of research. When he took a two-year sabbatical from IBM in 1971, he delved deeper into the data he had collected from his job, and discovered that there were significant differences between cultures in other organizations, but got the same ranking of answers by country. At the time, the results of the IBM’s surveys, with over 100,000 questionnaires, were one of the largest cross-national databases that existed.
He became a visiting lecturer at IMEDE (now the International Institute for Management Development
) in Lausanne, Switzerland. At IMEDE, he administered a selection of IBM questionnaire items to his course participants, who were international managers from over 30 countries and from a variety of different private and public organizations unrelated to IBM. Geert found that the same results that he discovered in the IBM surveys had reproduced themselves significantly in the sample of his students. This was the first hard piece of evidence that the differences among countries was not specific to IBM, but instead, was due to a generalized set of shared socialization skills that were specific to people having grown up in the same country, and not necessarily, the same organization.
Geert re-joined IBM and informed them of the enormous database that IBM had at their disposal, and wanted to create a research project to continue this new way of examining the data. After a lack of opportunity to conduct his research at IBM, he found two part-time jobs, including one at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Brussels as a Professor of Management, while simultaneously teaching part-time at INSEAD
business school in Fontainebleau, France. Between 1973 and 1979, he worked on the data, and analyzed it in a variety of ways. He used existing literature in psychology, sociology, political science, and anthropology to relate his findings in a larger scope of study. In 1980, he published his book Culture’s Consequences, where the results of his analysis were presented.
Geert’s model, when introduced in 1980, came at a time when cultural differences between societies had become increasingly relevant for both economic and political reasons. Although using scientific data to back his claims, practitioners embraced the model, especially after the publication of his 1991 book, “Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.”
However, some critics have argued that his conceptualization of culture is not static and as essential as he mentions. The most cited criticism of his work is by Professor Brendan McSweeney (Royal Holloway, University of London and Stockholm University) who argues that Hofstede's methodology is fundamentally flawed Hofstede replied to this critique (see details in the list of Hofstede's publications below). McSweeney responded to this reply. Another key critique which largely focuses on level of analysis is by Professor Barry Gerhart (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Professor Meiyu Fang (National Central University, Taiwan) who point out that amongst other problems with Hofstede's research (and the way it is widely interpreted) is that his results actually only show that around 2 to 4 percent of variance in individual values is explained by national differences – in other words 96 percent, and perhaps more, is not explained. And that there is nothing in Hofstede's work that pertains to individual-level behaviours or actions. In a recent article in the Academy of Management
’s flagship journal, The Academy of Management Review, Galit Ailon deconstructs Hofstede’s book Culture’s Consequences by mirroring it against its own assumptions and logic. Ailon finds several inconsistencies at the level of both theory and methodology, and cautions against an uncritical reading of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
In 1980, Geert co-founded and became the first Director for the IRIC, the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation, located at Tilburg University since 1998. Much of Geert’s research on the basic dimensions of nations came through the IRIC. In 2001, Geert published an entirely re-written second edition of "Culture’s Consequences". In 2010, a third edition of "Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind" was published with Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov listed as co-authors. In this book, there were two new dimensions that were added, and the number of countries covered to between 76 and 93. This book also introduced the topic of organizational cultures as a separate and different phenomenon.
Geert’s books have appeared in 23 languages. World Wide Web’s citation indexes between 1981 and 2011 listed more than 9,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals citing one or more of Geert’s publications. This makes him the currently most cited European social scientist. He holds honorary doctorates from seven universities in Western and Eastern Europe.
In 2004, the Hanze University Groningen, the Netherlands
established the Geert Hofstede Lecture, a bi-annual conference in the area of intercultural communication.
In 2006, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
inaugurated a Geert Hofstede Chair in cultural diversity
And in October 2010, Maastrich University School of Business and Economics launched the Geert Hofstede Fund, aiming at encouraging activities around multicultural interactions and research about the impact of cultural differences.
In 2008 six European universities united to create the Master in International Communication (MIC), Hanze University Groningen have named themselves the Geert Hofstede Consortium
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
, Netherlands) is an influential Dutch social psychologist and anthropologist. He is a well-known pioneer in his research of cross-cultural
Cross-cultural
cross-cultural may refer to*cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis*cross-cultural communication, a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate...
groups and organizations. He has played a major role in developing a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national cultures and organizational culture
Organizational culture
Organizational culture is defined as “A pattern of shared basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration" that have worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to...
s. His most notable work has been in developing the cultural dimensions theory
Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory
Geert Hofstede proposed a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national cultures best known as the cultural dimensions theory...
. His studies demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groups that influence behavior of societies and organizations, and that these are persistent over time. He is also an author of several books including Culture's Consequences and Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, co-authored with his son Gert Jan Hofstede.
Upon his retirement in 1993, Geert has visited numerous universities worldwide to educate students on his findings based on his data, and to continue his research in this field. He currently is Professor Emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, and serves as an extramural fellow of the Center of Economic Research at Tilburg University in Tilburg, Netherlands.
Childhood and early influences
Geert was born to Gerrit and Evertine G. (Veenhoven) Hofstede. He went to schools in The HagueThe Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
and Apeldoorn
Apeldoorn
Apeldoorn is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland, about 60 miles south east of Amsterdam, in the centre of the Netherlands. It is a regional centre and has 155,000 . The municipality of Apeldoorn, including villages like Beekbergen, Loenen and Hoenderloo, has over 155,000...
, and received his high school diploma (Gymnasium Beta) in 1945. When World War II ended, Geert Hofstede was seventeen and had always lived in the Netherlands with rather difficult circumstances. So he decided that it was time for him to explore the wide world. He entered Technical College in 1945, and had one year of internships, including a voyage to Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
in 1947 as an assistant ship’s engineer. It was his first time out of his country, immersed in a foreign culture, and was an early influence in his career to study cross-cultures. He was also influenced by a trip he made to England after meeting an English girl, where he experienced cultural shock. He was struck by the cultural differences he noticed between England and Holland, two very close European countries. These early experiences helped to translate into a lifelong career in cross-cultural research.
College years and professional life
In 1953, Geert graduated from Delft Technical University with a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation, he joined the Dutch military, working as a technical officer in the Dutch army and served for two years. Leaving the military, Geert worked as a factory hand in Amsterdam. Between 1955 and 1965, he held professional and managerial jobs in three different Dutch industrial companies.This was an important period in Geert’s life, where he actually worked in industry. By experiencing management, he had a chance to see the organization from the bottom up working as a mechanic. This training and background as an engineer shaped his research and his approach to social situations. He claims that his description of social situations appeals to a number of people because “I still have the mind of an engineer to the extent that I try to be specific...and be clear about what I am saying.” This was important in his development of quantifying cultures on different dimensions.
Research experiences
After working in the industry for ten years, Geert entered part-time doctoral study at Groningen University in The Netherlands, and received his PhD in social psychology cum laude in 1967. His thesis was titled “The Game of Budget Control.” During this time, he joined IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
International, working as a management trainer and manager of personnel research. He founded and managed the Personnel Research Department. This was his transition from the field of engineering and into psychology. In this role, he played an active role in the introduction and application of employee opinion surveys in over 70 national subsidiaries of IBM around the world. He traveled across Europe and the Middle East to interview people and conduct surveys regarding people’s behavior in large organizations and how they collaborated. He collected large amounts of data, but due to the pressures of his daily job, was unable to conduct a significant amount of research. When he took a two-year sabbatical from IBM in 1971, he delved deeper into the data he had collected from his job, and discovered that there were significant differences between cultures in other organizations, but got the same ranking of answers by country. At the time, the results of the IBM’s surveys, with over 100,000 questionnaires, were one of the largest cross-national databases that existed.
He became a visiting lecturer at IMEDE (now the International Institute for Management Development
International Institute for Management Development
IMD - International Institute for Management Development is a non profit business school located in Lausanne, Switzerland.- History & Mission :...
) in Lausanne, Switzerland. At IMEDE, he administered a selection of IBM questionnaire items to his course participants, who were international managers from over 30 countries and from a variety of different private and public organizations unrelated to IBM. Geert found that the same results that he discovered in the IBM surveys had reproduced themselves significantly in the sample of his students. This was the first hard piece of evidence that the differences among countries was not specific to IBM, but instead, was due to a generalized set of shared socialization skills that were specific to people having grown up in the same country, and not necessarily, the same organization.
Geert re-joined IBM and informed them of the enormous database that IBM had at their disposal, and wanted to create a research project to continue this new way of examining the data. After a lack of opportunity to conduct his research at IBM, he found two part-time jobs, including one at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Brussels as a Professor of Management, while simultaneously teaching part-time at INSEAD
INSEAD
INSEAD is an international graduate business school and research institution. It has campuses in Europe , Asia , and the Middle East , as well as a research center in Israel...
business school in Fontainebleau, France. Between 1973 and 1979, he worked on the data, and analyzed it in a variety of ways. He used existing literature in psychology, sociology, political science, and anthropology to relate his findings in a larger scope of study. In 1980, he published his book Culture’s Consequences, where the results of his analysis were presented.
Development of research model
Geert's analysis defined four initial dimensions of national culture that were positioned against analysis of 40 initial countries. As a trained psychologist, he began his analysis of the survey data at the individual respondent level. At the end of two years, he realized he needed an “ecological” analysis, in which respondents were contextualized by their countries. By aggregating individuals as societal units, he could examine national cultures rather than individual personalities.Geert’s model, when introduced in 1980, came at a time when cultural differences between societies had become increasingly relevant for both economic and political reasons. Although using scientific data to back his claims, practitioners embraced the model, especially after the publication of his 1991 book, “Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.”
However, some critics have argued that his conceptualization of culture is not static and as essential as he mentions. The most cited criticism of his work is by Professor Brendan McSweeney (Royal Holloway, University of London and Stockholm University) who argues that Hofstede's methodology is fundamentally flawed Hofstede replied to this critique (see details in the list of Hofstede's publications below). McSweeney responded to this reply. Another key critique which largely focuses on level of analysis is by Professor Barry Gerhart (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Professor Meiyu Fang (National Central University, Taiwan) who point out that amongst other problems with Hofstede's research (and the way it is widely interpreted) is that his results actually only show that around 2 to 4 percent of variance in individual values is explained by national differences – in other words 96 percent, and perhaps more, is not explained. And that there is nothing in Hofstede's work that pertains to individual-level behaviours or actions. In a recent article in the Academy of Management
Academy of Management
The Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and organizations. The Academy of Management was established in 1936...
’s flagship journal, The Academy of Management Review, Galit Ailon deconstructs Hofstede’s book Culture’s Consequences by mirroring it against its own assumptions and logic. Ailon finds several inconsistencies at the level of both theory and methodology, and cautions against an uncritical reading of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
In 1980, Geert co-founded and became the first Director for the IRIC, the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation, located at Tilburg University since 1998. Much of Geert’s research on the basic dimensions of nations came through the IRIC. In 2001, Geert published an entirely re-written second edition of "Culture’s Consequences". In 2010, a third edition of "Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind" was published with Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov listed as co-authors. In this book, there were two new dimensions that were added, and the number of countries covered to between 76 and 93. This book also introduced the topic of organizational cultures as a separate and different phenomenon.
Geert’s books have appeared in 23 languages. World Wide Web’s citation indexes between 1981 and 2011 listed more than 9,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals citing one or more of Geert’s publications. This makes him the currently most cited European social scientist. He holds honorary doctorates from seven universities in Western and Eastern Europe.
Personal life
In 1955, Geert married Maaike A. van den Hoek. Together, they have four sons: Gert-Jan Hofstede, who is a population biologist and social scientist in information management; Rokus Hofstede, who works as a translator; Bart Hofstede, who is a Cultural Counselor of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Berlin, and Gideon Hofstede, who works as an international marketeer. He also has ten grandchildren. Gert-Jan has worked extensively with his father and co-authored several works in the realm of culture study.Awards and honors
Geert Hofstede has received much recognition for his work in cross-cultural analysis. The Hanze University Groningen in the Netherlands established the Geert Hofstede Lecture, a bi-annual conference on topics of intercultural communication in 2004. In 2006, a Geert Hofstede Chair for Cultural Diversity was established at Maastricht University, and in 2010, the School of Business and Economics launched a fund named after Geert to encourage activities around multicultural interactions and research. In 2009 Reputation Institute, which "recognizes individuals who have greatly contributed to the field of reputation through both scholarship and practice", nominated Hofstede as the Best Scholar of the year.- Honorary member, Hungarian Academy of SciencesHungarian Academy of SciencesThe Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
, Section of Economics and Law, 2010 - International Honorary Member, AIESECAIESECAIESEC is a global youth organisation that develops leadership capabilities through their internal leadership programmes and engaging students and graduates in international student exchange and internship programmes for profit and non-profit organisations. Its international office is in...
- Honorary Member, SIETAR Europe (Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research)
- Fellow, Academy of ManagementAcademy of ManagementThe Academy of Management is a professional association for scholars dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and organizations. The Academy of Management was established in 1936...
, United States - 2006 Honorary Fellow, International Association for Cross-Cultural PsychologyInternational psychologyThe dream of a unified human community seems now within our reach yet still beyond our grasp. Global communication has transformed us and grown our awareness of human diversity. Local, regional and national identities have expanded to include species-wide co-identification as fellow human beings...
- 1998 Eminent Scholar, Academy of International BusinessAcademy of International BusinessAcademy of International Business is the leading association of international business scholars and specialists. Established in 1959, it has over 3000 members in about 72 countries. Membership is open to organizations as well as individuals...
, United States - 2011 Awarded Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw)
- Honorary doctorates:
- Nyenrode Business University, the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
- New Bulgarian UniversityNew Bulgarian UniversityNew Bulgarian University is a private university based in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. NBU is the first private university in Bulgaria, and among the top rated by Bulgarian businesses universities in the country...
, Sofia, BulgariaSofiaSofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated... - Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
- University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- University of LiègeUniversity of LiègeThe University of Liège , in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium, is a major public university in the French Community of Belgium. Its official language is French.-History:...
, Belgium - ISM University of Management and EconomicsISM University of Management and EconomicsISM University of Management and Economics is an institution of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate education in business, management and economics...
, , Vilnius LithuaniaVilniusVilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County... - University of PécsUniversity of PécsThe University of Pécs is the Hungarian university with the largest number of students and faculties.-History:...
, Hungary (2009)
- Nyenrode Business University, the Netherlands
- Honorary professorships:
- Hong Kong University 1992–2000
- University of International Business and EconomicsUniversity of International Business and EconomicsThe University of International Business and Economics , is a university in Beijing, China. Currently, UIBE has over 11,000 students from China and over 2,500 international students from more than 100 countries....
(UIBE), Beijing, ChinaBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... - Renmin University of ChinaRenmin University of ChinaRenmin University of China; RUC, also known as People's University of China , colloquially Renda , is a major research university in Haidian District, Beijing, China. Its campus neighbors those of Peking University and Tsinghua University....
, Beijing, ChinaBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
In 2004, the Hanze University Groningen, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
established the Geert Hofstede Lecture, a bi-annual conference in the area of intercultural communication.
In 2006, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
inaugurated a Geert Hofstede Chair in cultural diversity
And in October 2010, Maastrich University School of Business and Economics launched the Geert Hofstede Fund, aiming at encouraging activities around multicultural interactions and research about the impact of cultural differences.
In 2008 six European universities united to create the Master in International Communication (MIC), Hanze University Groningen have named themselves the Geert Hofstede Consortium
See also
- Hofstede's cultural dimensions theoryHofstede's cultural dimensions theoryGeert Hofstede proposed a systematic framework for assessing and differentiating national cultures best known as the cultural dimensions theory...
- Cross-cultural communicationCross-cultural communicationCross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavour to communicate across cultures.- Origins :The Cold War, the United States economy...
- Cross-cultural leadershipCross-cultural leadershipCross-cultural psychology attempts to understand how individuals of different cultures interact with each other . Along these lines, cross-cultural leadership has developed as a way to understand leaders who work in the newly globalized market...
- Cultural norms
- Culture shockCulture shockCulture shock is the anxiety, feelings of frustration, alienation and anger that may occur when a person is emplaced in a new culture.One of the most common causes of culture shock involves individuals in a foreign country. Culture shock can be described as consisting of one or more distinct phases...
- Edward T. HallEdward T. HallEdward Twitchell Hall, Jr. was an American anthropologist and cross-cultural researcher. He is remembered for developing the concept of Proxemics, a description of how people behave and react in different types of culturally-defined personal space...
- Emotions and cultureEmotions and cultureEmotions are universal phenomena; however, they are affected by culture. While some emotions are universal and are experienced in similar ways as a reaction to similar events across all cultures, other emotions show considerable cultural differences in their antecedent events, the way they are...
- Fons TrompenaarsFons TrompenaarsFons Trompenaars is a Dutch author and consultant in the field of cross-cultural communication. His books include: Riding the Waves of Culture, Seven Cultures of Capitalism, Building Cross-Cultural Competence, 21 Leaders for the 21st Century and Innovating in a Global Crisis...
- Intercultural communicationIntercultural communicationIntercultural communication is a form of global communication. It is used to describe the wide range of communication problems that naturally appear within an organization made up of individuals from different religious, social, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. Intercultural communication is...
- National character studiesNational Character StudiesNational character studies refers to a set of anthropological studies conducted during and directly after World War II that arose from the Culture and Personality School within psychological anthropology....
- National identityNational identityNational identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status....
External links
- Geert Hofstede's academic website
- Geert Hofstede Consortium
- Hofstede Model for organisational culture measurement
- Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire
- Hofstede dimensions
- Hofstede's cultural dimensions (with world maps of dimensional values)
- Intercultural Business Communication tool
- The impact of Dr. Hofstede's work on business practices