Cross-Cultural Analysis : The Science and Art of Comparing the World's Modern Societies and Their Cultures

by Michael Minkov

• ISBN13: 9781412992299
• ISBN10: 141299229X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-06
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

Cross-Cultural Analysis is the sequel to CultureÆs Consequences, the classic work published by one of the most influential management thinkers in todayÆs times, Geert Hofstede. HofstedeÆs original work introduced a new research paradigm in cross-cultural analysis: studying cultural differences through nation-level dimensions (imaginary variables defined by intercorrelated items). This paradigm has been subsequently used by hundreds of prominent scholars all over the world and has produced solid results. This new text takes the next step: It critically examines in one comprehensive volume all current, prevalent methods that have been developed since HofstedeÆs work, offering students and researchers the theoretical and practical advantages and potential pitfalls of each approach.The book is structured into two distinct parts. Part I focuses on the main theoretical and statistical issues in cross-cultural analysis using HofstedeÆs method and the different research methods now associated with it. Part II will consist of presentations of all well-known (and some less known) large-scale cross-cultural studies, since Hofstede's, that have explained cross-cultural variation in terms of dimensional models. The presentations will explain how these models have contributed to our practical understanding of cross-cultural diversity. Key features of the work include:Coverage of all large-scale cross-cultural studies, including ones led by Hofstede; Schwartz; Bond; Noorderhaven; Smith, Dugan, &BAD:amp; Trompenaars; Levine; Kuppens; Schimmack; Schmidt; Project GLOBE; TIMSS; Lynn and Vanhanen; McCrae; Smith; Inglehart; Minkov The first comprehensive and statistically significant analysis of the predictive powers of each cross-cultural model, based on nation-level variables from a range of large-scale database sources such as the World Values Survey, the Pew Research Center, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the UN Statistics Division, UNDP, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, TIMSS, OECD PISATables with scores for all culture-level dimensions in all major cross-cultural analyses (involving 20 countries or more) that have been published so far in academic journals or booksThe book will be an invaluable resource to masters and PhD students taking advanced courses in cross-cultural research and analysis in Management, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, and related programs. It will also be a must-have reference for academics studying cross-cultural dimensions and differences across the social and behavioral sciences.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xii
Introduction	p. 1
Understanding "Culture"	p. 7
The Concept of Culture	p. 9
The "Unpackaging" of Culture	p. 10
Meaning of the Word Culture and Definitions of the Concept	p. 10
Culture As Is Versus Culture As It Would Be	p. 12
Classifications of the Concepts of Culture	p. 13
Subjective Culture: Mental Software	p. 13
Objective Culture: Institutions and Artifacts	p. 14
Culture as a System of Behaviors	p. 14
Culture as a Set of Meanings	p. 14
Culture as an Independently Existing Phenomenon	p. 15
Culture as a Subjective Human Construct	p. 16
Conclusions About the Conceptualization of Culture	p. 16
Main Characteristics of Culture	p. 19
Sharedness	p. 20
Normalcy	p. 22
Integration, Functionality, Rationality, and Logic	p. 22
Stability and Changeability	p. 23
Transmittability	p. 24
Complexity	p. 24
National Culture	p. 25
National Culture Versus Organizational Culture	p. 27
National Culture Versus Religious Denomination Culture	p. 28
Diffuseness	p. 29
Uncontrollability	p. 31
Predictability	p. 32
The Elements of Culture	p. 38
Particular Elements of Culture	p. 39
Universal Elements of Culture	p. 40
Self-Reports	p. 40
Values	p. 42
Norms and Ideologies	p. 42
Values for Children	p. 44
Beliefs	p. 44
Behavioral Intentions	p. 45
Self-Reported Behaviors	p. 45
Attitudes	p. 45
Self-Descriptions	p. 45
Reports of Impressions of Others	p. 45
Peer Reports	p. 46
Idealistic Reports	p. 46
Stereotypes	p. 46
Mental Skills and Knowledge	p. 51
General Intelligence and Related Domains	p. 51
Perception Characteristics	p. 52
Cognitive Patterns	p. 52
Observable Behaviors	p. 52
Direct Observation of Behaviors	p. 52
National Statistics	p. 53
Statistical Products	p. 53
What Else Can Be Studied by Cross-Cultural Analysts?	p. 54
Studying Culture	p. 59
Types of Cross-Cultural Studies: Merits and Pitfalls	p. 61
Studies of Culture Versus Studies of Something Else	p. 62
Qualitative Versus Quantitative Studies	p. 62
Idiographic Versus Nomothetic Studies	p. 62
Insiders' Versus Outsiders' Studies	p. 63
Studies Comparing Variables Versus Studies Comparing Cases	p. 64
Structure-Oriented Versus Level-Oriented Studies	p. 65
Synchronic Versus Diachronic (or Longitudinal) Studies	p. 65
Deductive Versus Inductive Studies	p. 66
Paper-and-Pencil Versus Observational Studies	p. 66
Studies Using Primary Data Versus Studies Using Secondary Data	p. 67
Studies Across Individuals First Versus Studies Directly Across Societies	p. 68
Theoretical Versus Empirical Perspectives	p. 72
Theory Before Empiricism	p. 73
Empiricism Before Theory	p. 75
The Goal of Culturology and the Other Social Sciences: Theory or Empiricism?	p. 78
Defining Constructs Empirically	p. 79
A Note on Operationalism as a Method of Defining Constructs in Culturology or Other Domains	p. 79
A Search for Truth Versus a Search for What Works	p. 80
Cross-Cultural Comparability	p. 84
Etic Versus Emic Approaches	p. 85
Incomparable Phenomena	p. 87
Criteria for the Cross-Cultural Transferability of Etic Individual-Level Constructs and the Instruments for Their Measurement	p. 87
Criteria for the Applicability of Etic Approaches to Studies at the Societal Level	p. 89
Are Etic Tests Preferable to Emic Ones?	p. 90
Paper-and-Pencil Studies	p. 93
Selecting Samples of Respondents: Nationally Representative Samples Versus Matched Samples	p. 94
Types of Items in Noncognitive Paper-and-Pencil Studies	p. 95
Likert Scales	p. 96
Free-Choice Items	p. 96
Forced-Choice Items	p. 96
Issues Associated With Likert Scales	p. 97
The Reference Group Effect	p. 97
Potential Meanings of Some Positions on a Likert Scale in Cross-Cultural Analysis	p. 98
Extracting Societal Information From Items on a Likert Scale	p. 98
Response Style	p. 99
Detection of Response Style	p. 100
Treatment of Response Style: Undesirable Bias or Normal Style?	p. 101
Causes of Response Style: The Number of Points on a Likert Scale	p. 102
Causes of Response Style: The Language of the Questionnaire	p. 103
Causes of Response Style: The Role of Culture	p. 103
Causes of Response Style: The Nature of the Items	p. 103
Causes of Response Style: The Role of Intelligence and Education	p. 104
Conclusions About the Causes of Response Style	p. 104
Dealing With Response Style Before the Study: Choice of Items and Scales	p. 104
Dealing With Response Style After the Study: Standardization of Scores	p. 105
Issues Associated With Forced-Choice Items	p. 108
Issues Associated With Free-Choice Items	p. 108
Other Issues That Can Affect Data for Cross-Cultural Research	p. 109
Poverty	p. 109
Distance From the Researcher	p. 109
Social Desirability	p. 109
Taboos	p. 110
Intelligibility Problems	p. 110
Semantic Differences	p. 111
Political Factors	p. 112
Test-Retest Reliability of Paper-and-Pencil Studies at the National Level and Other Statistics	p. 113
Face Validity	p. 113
Common Method Variance and Validation	p. 114
Data Analysis	p. 123
Sample Issues	p. 124
Selection of an Appropriate Sample of Societies	p. 124
Galton's Problem	p. 126
Missing Data Bias	p. 127
Dimensions of Culture	p. 197
The Utility of the Dimension Paradigm in Cross-Cultural Research	p. 128
The Nature of Cultural and Other Dimensions	p. 129
Why Dimensions Are Subjective Human Constructs	p. 131
Subjective Selection of Samples for the Construction of Dimensions	p. 131
Subjective Selection of Items for the Construction of Dimensions	p. 131
Subjective Selection of the Number of Dimensions	p. 131
Subjective Selection of the Nature of the Dimensions	p. 132
Individual and Ecological Dimensions: Different Levels and Units of Analysis	p. 132
Polarity	p. 134
Different Versions of the Same Ecological Dimension?	p. 135
Dimensions and Polythetic Classes	p. 136
Data Reduction	p. 136
Agreement and Aggregation	p. 136
Correlations and Scales	p. 137
Scale Reliability	p. 139
Multidimensional Scaling	p. 139
Plotting Variables on an MDS Map	p. 140
Identifying Cultural Dimensions on an MDS Map	p. 140
Plotting Cases on an MDS Map and Calculating Case Coordinates	p. 144
Using MDS for Identifying Typologies	p. 146
Issues Related to Multidimensional Scaling as a Data Reduction Technique	p. 149
Factor Analysis	p. 149
Calculation of Factor Scores	p. 153
Issues Related to Factor Analysis as a Data Reduction Method	p. 154
Factor Analysis as a Scale Reliability Test	p. 156
How Do We Know That We Have Constructed Appropriate Dimensions?	p. 157
Constructing Individual and Ecological Dimensions	p. 164
Clustering	p. 166
Looking for Cause-and-Effect Relationships	p. 171
The Consilience Approach	p. 172
Contextual Consilience	p. 172
Methodological Consilience	p. 172
Predictive Consilience	p. 173
Exclusive Consilience	p. 173
The Issue of Time Sequence	p. 173
Looking for Noncultural Variables That May Be Determinants of Culture	p. 173
Multiple Regression Analysis	p. 174
Divergent Results From Different Types of MRA	p. 175
The Excluded Variables	p. 175
Issues Related to Samples	p. 175
Issues Related to the Independent Variables	p. 176
An Example of an MRA	p. 177
Major Cross-Cultural Studies	p. 197
Cultural Dimensions Across Modern Nations	p. 199
Geert Hofstede (1980, 2001): A Study of Values, Beliefs, and Norms Across the IBM Corporation	p. 201
Chinese Culture Connection (1987): A Study of National Values Based on a Chinese Questionnaire	p. 217
Shalom Schwartz (1994): A Study of the Values of Schoolteachers and University Students	p. 224
Peter Smith, Fons Trompenaars, and Shaun Dugan (1995): A Study of Locus of Control	p. 232
Peter Smith, Shaun Dugan, and Fons Trompenaars (1996): A Study of the Values and Beliefs of Organizational Employees	p. 238
Robert Levine and Ara Norenzayan (1999): A Study of the Pace of Life	p. 246
Robert Levine, Ara Norenzayan, and Karen Philbrick (2001): A Study of Helping Strangers	p. 251
Ashleigh Merritt (2000): An Attempt to Replicate Hofstede's Four Dimensions	p. 255
Ronald Inglehart and Wayne Baker (2000): An Analysis of the World Values Survey	p. 261
Ulrich Schimmack, Shigeiro Oishi, and Ed Diener (2002): A Study of Personal Emotional Dialecticism and Frequencies of Pleasant and Unpleasant Emotions	p. 268
Peter Smith, Mark Peterson, and Shalom Schwartz (2002): A Study of Managers' Sources of Guidance	p. 272
Evert van de Vliert and Onne Janssen (2002): A Study of Performance Motives	p. 279
Robert McCrae (2002): A Comparison of Mean National and Ethnic Personality Traits (Self-Reports)	p. 284
Robert McCrae and Antonio Terracciano (2005): A Study of Mean National or Ethnic Personality Traits (Peer Reports)	p. 291
David Schmitt, Juri Allik, Robert McCrae, and Veronica Benet-Martinez (2007): A Study of the Geographic Distribution of the Big Five Personality Traits (Self-Reports)	p. 297
Michael Bond, Kwok Leung, and Associates (2004): A Study of Social Axioms	p. 305
Project GLOBE (2004): A Study of National Stereotypes and Ideologies	p. 310
Project GLOBE (2004): A Study of Culturally Endorsed Leadership Profiles	p. 330
Eva Green, Jean-Claude Deschamps, and Dario Paez (2005): A Study of Beliefs and Values	p. 337
David Schmitt (2005): A Study of Sociosexuality	p. 341
Peter Kuppens, Eva Ceulemans, Marieke Timmerman, Ed Diener, and Chu Kim-Prieto (2006): A Study of Positive and Negative Emotions	p. 345
Christian Welzel (2010): An Analysis of the World Values Survey	p. 350
Michael Minkov (2009a): A Study of Social Polarization in Social Opinions and Life-Quality Judgments	p. 358
Michael Minkov (2011): A Study of Values Related to National Economic Growth and Educational Achievement	p. 364
Michael Minkov (2011): A Study of National Homicide Rates and Their Correlates	p. 377
Michael Minkov and Geert Hofstede (2012a): An Analysis of the World Values Survey Replicating Two Dimensions of the Chinese Values Survey	p. 390
Geert Hofstede, Bram Neuijen, Denise Daval Ohayv, and Geert Sanders (1990): A Study of Organizational Cultures Across 20 Danish and Dutch Organization Units	p. 397
A Summary of the Observed Cultural Differences Across the Globe	p. 407
Cultural Differences Between Rich and Developing Countries	p. 409
Cultural Differences Across Rich Countries	p. 417
Cultural Differences Between Eastern Europe and Latin America	p. 420
Cultural Differences Between East Asia and the Arab World	p. 425
Cultural Differences Between the Arab World and Sub-Saharan Africa	p. 430
Appendix	p. 434
References	p. 442
Index	p. 470
About the Author	p. 481
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