Geert Hofstede: Cross-Cultural Management Research
摘要
Geert Hofstede is one of the pioneers and best-known interculturalists in comparative management research. With his comprehensive study, Culture’s Consequences (Sage, 1980), he contributed to the quantitative operationalization of culture through the use of cultural dimensions. His book, according to Minkov (Evolution of the Minkov–Hofstede model Parallels between objective and subjective culture. In S. J. Magala, C. Erten, R.M. Bell, M.-T. Claes, S. Yazici & A. Karabag (Eds.), Hofstede Matters (1st ed., pp. 119–134). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003410348 , 2024), constituted a revolutionary contribution to the field of cross-cultural research. However, the dichotomously coined, universal cultural dimensions such as power distance or collectivism versus individualism have also led to controversial discussions in cross-cultural management research and cultural studies. He is one of the few European researchers among the most widely cited contemporary management scholars. Much admired, but also much questioned, his work represents a significant starting point for the spread of the culture-bound thesis of work and management practices. On the other hand, his cultural dimensions approach has been used in numerous studies in various disciplines to investigate the influence of culture on a variety of social phenomena. Discussions about Hofstede’s work have ignited, focusing on the concept of culture used, as well as the positivist methodological approach, and have generated new streams of research.