Identification of international clusters based on the Hofstede's cultural dimensions

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/198346592451

Considering that the culture of a country influences the organizational culture of this company and it is still a determining factor in the internationalization process becomes important to understand and measure the cultural characteristics of each country. The studies of Hofstede (1984) present a useful methodology for comparing cultures, this methodology takes into account the characteristics of a culture that allows to differentiate one from another country. Thus one can observe that certain countries share certain cultural traits and so it is possible grouping them according to predetermined criteria. The present work aims to utilize multivariate statistical procedures Cluster Analyses, K-Means Cluster Analysis and Discriminant Analysis to determine and validate groupings of countries based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions (Distance Index, Individualism, Masculinity and Uncertainty Avoidance Index). The results led to four clusters: Cluster 1 - countries with masculine culture and individualistic; Cluster 2 - collectivistic and uncertainty averse; Cluster 3 - feminine culture and low hierarchical distance and Cluster 4 - culture with high hierarchical distance and propensity to uncertainty.