cultural-distance-between-Hofstede-and-GLOBE--dime

InternationalBusinessandManagementVol.2,No.1.2011,pp.01-07[PRINT]ISSN1923-8428[ONLINE](theGlobalLeadershipandOrganizationalBehaviorEffectiveness)ModelandHofstedeModel.Researchintheculturaldistancebetweenthetwocountrieshasalwaysbeenahottopicininternationalbusinessfield.ThispaperfirstgivesabriefintroductionofGLOBEModelandHofstedeModel,andcomparestheculturaldistancebetweenChinaandUSfromthe9dimensionsinGLOBEModelandthe5dimensionsinHofstedeModel,andthencomparesthedifferentresultsyielded.Finallyawayforwardinthefutureresearchissuggested,andsomeissuesforfurtherresearchintothisfundamentalareaofinternationalbusinessarecanvassed.Keywords:Culturaldistance;GLOBEModel;HofstedeModel;China;US1.INTRODUCTIONCulture-focusedresearchisbecomingmorewidespreadnowandunderstandingculturewillbeviewedasincreasinglyimportant(MooijM.andHofstedeG.,2010).Theconceptofnationalculturehasbeenacoretopicofinternationalbusinessresearchformanyyears,basedinlargepartontheseminalmodeldevelopedbyGeertHofstede.Arecentresearchproject,theGLOBEstudy,presentsanadditional,expandedmodelofculturalmeasures(VenaikS.andBrewer,P.A.,2008).Hofstede’s(1980,1984)cross-culturalvalueanalysisandstudywasthefirstglobalstudythatconsidereddifferencesinorganizationalculturebasedongeographicallocationandsocietalbeliefsandvalues.GreatlyinfluencedbyHofstede’s(1980,1984)research,HouseR.J.andHangesP.J.,JavidanM.,DorfmanP.W.,GuptaV.(2004)initiateda10-yearcomprehensiveGLOBEstudyof62societies(LiY.,DuncanP.andGreenM.,2010).TheinternationalbusinessandtradebetweenChinaandUShasbeendevelopingrapidly.Thebusinessnegotiationbetweenthetwocountrieshasbecomemoreandmorefrequent,thusithasturnedtobeincreasinglynecessarytoanalyzethesedifferencessothatmisunderstandingandconflictsbeavoidedduringtheprocessofbilateralrelationshipandbusinessnegotiation.ThispaperfirstgivesabriefintroductionofGLOBEModelandHofstedeModel,andthenanalyzestheculturaldistancebetweenChinaandUSfrom9dimensionsin1PH.DCandidate,BusinessSchoolatCentralUniversityofFinanceandEconomics(CUFE),Beijing,100081China;AssociateProfessor,DalianOceanUniversity,Dalian,116023China;andVisitingScholar,UniversityofCaliforniaIrvine,CA92617,USA.Email:[e-mail]2Professor,PhDCandidateSupervisorofBusinessSchoolatCentralUniversityofFinanceandEconomics(CUFE),Beijing,100081China.*Received1December2010;accepted15December2010SHIXiu-mei/InternationalBusinessandManagementVol.2No.1,20112GLOBEModelandthe5dimensionsinHofstedeModel,andcomparesthedifferentresultsyielded.Finallyawayforwardinthefutureresearchissuggested,andsomeissuesforfurtherresearchintothisfundamentalareaofinternationalbusinessarecanvassed.2.CULTURALDISTANCEBETWEENCHINAANDUSINGLOBEMODEL2.1BriefIntroductionofGLOBEModelGLOBEisalong-termprogrammaticresearcheffortdesignedtoexplorethefascinatingandcomplexeffectsofcultureonleadership,organizationaleffectiveness,economiccompetitivenessofsocieties,andthehumanconditionofmembersofthesocietiesstudied(Houseetal.,2004)andanongoingambitiousstudyofcultureandleadershipacrossglobalcultures(FredrieW.RohmJr.,2010).TheGLOBEstudywasconductedinthemid1990s.ThemajorpurposeoftheProjectGLOBEistoincreaseavailableknowledgethatisrelevanttocross-culturalinteractions.TheGLOBEresearchersmeasuredcultureatdifferentlevelswithbothpracticesandvaluesexistatthelevelsofindustry(financialservices,foodprocessing,telecommunications),organization(severalineachindustry),andsociety(62cultures).Theresultsarepresentedintheformofquantitativedatabasedonresponsesofabout17,000managersfrom951organizationsfunctioningin62societiesthroughouttheworld.Thequestionnairereportsofmanagerswerecomplementedbyinterviewfindings,focusgroupdiscussions,andformalcontentanalysesofprintedmedia.GLOBEstudydevelopsnineculturaldimensions.ThenineculturaldimensionstheyidentifiedasindependentvariablesareUncertaintyAvoidance,PowerDistance,InstitutionalCollectivism,In-GroupCollectivism,GenderEgalitarianism,Assertiveness,FutureOrientation,PerformanceOrientation,andHumaneOrientation(SeeTable1).Theculturalvaluedimensionsaresubdividedintovaluesandpractices.Valuedatacomesfromanswerstosurveyquestionsthatask“whatshouldbe.”Practicedatacomesfromanswerstosurveyquestionsthatask“whatis(orare)”,thus18scalestomeasurethepracticesandvalueswithrespecttothecoreGLOBEdimensionsofculture(House,etal,2004).TheGLOBEauthorsrecognizedthattheidealizedcultural(values)andwhatactuallyhappens(practices)donotalwayscorrespond,however,(i)valuesandpracticesbothservetodifferentiatebetweensocietiesandorganizations;(ii)thevaluesandpracticeseachaccountforuniquevariance;(iii)thevaluesandpracticesscalesinteract;and(iv)thedimensionofvaluesandpracticescanbemeaningfullyappliedatbothlevels(societalandorganizational).Table1:NineDimensionsoftheCultureMeasurementinGLOBEModelPowerDistanceDegreetowhichaculture’speopleare(shouldbe)separatedbypower,authori