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International Journal of Value-Based Management 9:121-131, 1996.

(~) 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions in the GCC Countries:


An Empirical Investigation*
MOHAMMED I. AT-TWAIJRI & IBRAHIM A. AL-MUHAIZA
College of lndustrial Management, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals,
Dhahran - 31261, Saudi Arabia

Abstract. Managerial values are not the same across the world. Therefore, Multinational

Corporations may be making costly decisions if they assume that corporate policies will
receive the same attention, understanding or acceptance in their branches over the world. This
paper applies Hofstede's four cultural dimensions to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
countries. It also compares Hofstede's results with regard to these four cultural dimensions
with our findings. The results of this study show that countries change. They reemphasize
the concept that ethnocentric management theories have been untenable. This implies the
necessity that Multinational Corporations should study the culture of the country they plan
to do business with before starting the negotiations process that precedes the operations in
that country and also to monitor changes in the life style of these countries over time. When
Multinational Corporations become aware of the international workforce management and
the differences between different cultures, they will save themselves costly troubles, loss of
qualified personnel as well as loosing international customers. Therefore, it is important for
Multinational Corporations to utilize management theories available to them through research
and experience.

Researchers have been attempting to cluster countries into similar cultural groupings for the purpose of studying similarities and differences. Such
research helps us to learn the reasons for cultural differences and how they can
be transcended. Much o f the initial research in this area examined similarities
a m o n g countries based on e m p l o y e e work values and attitude.
Hofstede (1980, 1983), based on data collected from 50 countries and
3 regions, was able to identify four cultural dimensions which explain the
behavior of people (i.e. P o w e r Distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism,
Uncertainty Avoidance, and Masculinity vs. Femininity) to compile a series
of country clusters. S o m e o f the six G u l f Cooperation Council (GCC) countries [Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE)] were part of
H o f s t e d e ' s study. In his study, Hofstede grouped some Arab countries in one

* The program leading to this article was supported in part by a grant from KFUPM.

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M.I. AT-TWAYRI AND I. A. AL-MUHAIZA

cluster. The Arab countries studied by Hofstede were Egypt, Lebanon, Libya,
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and UAE (Hofstede, 1983).
Earlier research indicates the existence of cultural as well as managerial
traits differences among Arab countries (Ali and AI-Shakhis, 1985, 1989;
Tourki, 1989; At-Twaijri, 1989, 1990). The cultural differences among the
GCC populations are not as lucid as those between the GCC countries and
other Arab countries. The GCC populations are to some extent similar in their
traditions, culture, religion, local language and political systems and therefore,
may be considered homogeneous. This similarity was one of the basis for
creating the Gulf Cooperation Council (Shaker, 1986a, 1986b; Ibrahim, 1989).
The GCC countries were part of one country under the Ottoman (Turkish)
rule. These countries were then exposed (with the exception of Saudi Arabia)
to European occupation who fragmented it into many states. Naturally, each
state tried to distinguish itself from the others. The discovery of oil has caused
a change in the life styles of the GCC citizens. These two factors made the
GCC populations differ in their attachment to their history and traditions and
how they see it, their devotion to their religion, their thinking, and the way
they see life and deal with it (Ibrahim, 1989). Arab states in Hofstede's study
were a mixture of GCC populations and other Arab populations who are
different in many fundamental issues like wealth, population size, political
systems and value systems.
Though there are many researches indicating contrasting management
issues in multinational corporations, research comparing the different Gulf
states with regard to managerial values is limited. But there are papers written
comparing some of these states with the U.S. or some European countries.
For example, the GCC countries that Badawy (1979) surveyed (Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Oman) were included in Ronen and Shenkar's
(1985) study of clustering countries since the group
"did not appear in any other study, and its inclusion provides information
on a world region with distinct work goals."
Since the GCC countries share certain common cultural heritage, one might be
inclined to predict similar managerial and personal traits (At-Twaijri, 1989).
Ali and A1-Shakhis (1985), in studying managerial value system in Saudi
Arabia, cautioned against attributing complete validity to any theoretical and
personal observation that might assume similarities of Arab values in various
Arab countries.
Ali and A1-Shakhis (1989) examined managerial beliefs about work in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. They have indicated that despite the fact that both Saudi
Arabia and Iraq share a similar Islamic and Arabic heritage and cultural
background, the two countries display differences on some social and reli-

HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSION

123

gious dimensions. The result of the study partially supports Hofstede's (1983)
findings. Ali and A1-Shakhis (1989) pointed out that though Hofstede's data
relative to Arab states were not as strong as his other data, his findings shed
light on a significant feature of Arabian culture characterized by wide power
distance, strong uncertainty avoidance, and low individualism.
The purpose of this paper is 1) to compare the results of this study (for
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman) with Hofstede's 1983 study
(for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya and Iraq); 2) to
explore if differences among GCC populations exist with regard to the four
dimensions of national culture identified by Hofstede.

Methodology
Research instrument
Data were collected by means of a questionnaire from oil companies in five of
the six GCC countries (i.e. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman).
UAE was excluded due to the few number of responses. The targeted sample
was the native managers in these oil companies.
The same four dimensions of national culture identified by Hofstede were
applied in this study. The four dimensions are: Power Distance, Uncertainty
Avoidance, Individualism vs Collectivism, and Masculinity vs Femininity.
The formulas measuring Hofstede's cultural dimensions were used as recommended by Hofstede (1980). These formulas are as follows:
1. Power Distance Index (PDI):
PDI -- 135 - 25 (XQ26) + % respondents to Q20 answering manager 1
or 2 - % of respondents to Q19 answering manager 3.
2. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI):
UAI -- 300 - 30 (XQ22) - % respondents to Q27 staying < 5 years - 40
(XQ21) [choices 1 and 2]
3. Individualism Index (IDV):
X = 0.86 (XQ1) + 0.49 (XQ7) + 0.46 (XQ2) - 0.63 (XQ10) - 0.69
(XQ4) - 0.82 (XQ15)

.. tDV= 100 [ ~ - 1
4. Masculinity Index (MAS):
Y = 0.69 (XQ5) + 0.69 (XQ8) + 0.59 (XQ13) + 0.48 (XQ6) - 0.54
(XQ2) - 0.56 (XQ14) - 0.59 (XQ9) - 0.70 (XQ11)

MAS ,0012 1

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M.I. AT-TWAYRIAND 1. A. AL-MUHAIZA

Table 1. Results of this Study vs Hofstede's


Dimensions

Hofstede

Gulf

SA

Kuwait

Bahrain

Oman

Qatar

PDI
UAI
IDV
MAS

80
68
38
53

56
91
38
45

61
88
41
53

51
103
31
43

46
77
38
53

60
72
52
12

59
89
40
43

Sample
500 questionnaires were distributed. The questionnaires were mailed to the
Personnel Manager of each oil company in each country. The Personnel
Managers were requested to distribute the questionnaires to their respective
managers and mail them back to the researchers. A total of 204 responses
were received (response rate of 40%). 28 responses were excluded because
they were answered by non-GCC nationals. The survey was conducted in
English.

Results and discussion

Table 1 shows the Power Distance Index (PDI), Uncertainty Avoidance Index
(UAI), Individualism Index (IDV) and Masculinity Index (MAS) for the
total sample and for each of the five GCC countries. Table 1 also shows
the results of Hofstede's (1983) study for the Arab group (Egypt, Lebanon,
Libya, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and UAE) with regard to the four cultural
dimensions.

Power Distance Index (PDI)


Power distance measures the extent to which a society accepts the unequal
distribution of power in institutions and organizations (Hofstede, 1980). The
PDI ranges from zero to 100, with PDI of 50 as the mid-point. A PDI of
more than 50 represents a large power distance. The results show a PDI for
the sample (Gulf in Table 1) of 56 wich represents a large PDI, Table 1 also
shows the results of the individual GCC countries which are large power
distance indices with the exception of Bahrain. In this study, Saudi Arabia
had the highest PDI score of 61, while Bahrain had the lowest PDI score of
46.
Hofstede had categorized the Arab countries in his study as a large power
distance countries with a PDI of 80. The PDI's for the two studies (Hofstede's

HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSION

125

vs. this study) are substantially different, 80 vs. 56. The difference may
be attributed to the fact that during the period when Hofstede study was
conducted in the 70's and the time of this study in the 90's some social
changes in the GCC countries had occurred because of the wealth that was
accumulated since the mid 70's. This wealth was the reason for the formation
of joint ventures and other business dealings that resulted in a greater exposure
to other nations especially the West.
GCC countries are known to be ruled by families. Consequently, these
countries are politically centralized, which encourages the presence of power
distance condition. However, things have occured in these countries in recent
years. Almost all GCC countries have recently established A1-Shura Council
(consultative assemblies) to discuss important decisions before they are finally
made (Parker, 1993). This shows how the GCC countries are moving towards
decentralizing decision making and therefore, reducing the power distance
condition.
At the business organizational level, autocratic decision making is a characteristic of managers in GCC organizations. However, the more exposure to
Western education and multinational management, the less likely the indigenous Saudi supervisors are to behave entirely according to the traditional
cultural patterns (Harris and Moran, 1991). This will ultimately result in
reducing the power distance index in the GCC countries.
Table 1 shows that Kuwait and Bahrain had the lowest PDI scores which
indicates that they are more tolerant to new ideas and Western influence within
the generally accepted cultural frame of reference. Bahrain and Kuwait are
known since long time to be the countries in the area that do not reject the
presence of Westerners. Reviewing the writings of the missionaries in the area
supports this point. English and American missionaries have visited these two
places, opened schools and hospitals, and had built good relations with the
officials and people of these two countries which was not, until recently,
the case with the other GCC countries. Kuwait and Bahrain has also been
known for being trade centers and therefore, are more acquainted with city
life compared to nomad life in the other GCC countries.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)


Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which people in a society feel threatened
by ambiguous situations, and the extent to which they try to avoid these
situations by providing greater career stability, establishing more formal rules,
rejecting deviant ideas and behavior, and accepting the possibility of absolute
truths and the attainment of expertise (Hofstede, 1980).
The UAI ranges from 8 to 112 with 56 as the midpoint. Results from this
study confirm Hofstede's study in categorizing the Arab countries studied as

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M.I. AT-TWAYRI AND I. A. AL-MUHAIZA

strong uncertainty avoidance countries. However, the 91 UAI for the Gulf
in this study is significantly higher than Hofstede's UAI of 68 for the Arab
group. In this study, Kuwait had a distinctively strong UAI of 103, while
Oman had the lowest UAI of 72. Yet even Oman's UAI was higher than what
Hofstede had observed.
GCC managers are characterized by certain features that lead to the conclusion of classifying them as risk avoiders. Saudi Arab managers, as reported
by At-Twaijri (1989), and middle eastern managers in general, as reported
by Badawy (1980), made their decisions at the highest level of management.
GCC institutions, especially private ones, believe in the foreign experts and
rely on their knowledge and experience. This demonstrates how they avoid
risk.
With the increase of wealth in the hands of the people of the GCC countries,
the fear of losing this wealth also increased. Changing oil prices is a major
concern for these countries since oil sales represent their major source of
revenues. As prices are fluctuating, their state of mind and economic planning
are affected. These fluctuations in oil prices increase the avoidance of risk in
the GCC countries. Before the discovery of oil, these countries had nothing
to lose since they were either poor or average with hard living conditions.
But now that they have accumulated large capital reserves and being weak,
compared to other countries around them, are in fear of these neighbors who
might try to take away this wealth. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait is an example.
As their fear increased, their uncertainty avoidance also increased. Kuwait
score of 103 is the highest with regard to UAI.
Adler (1986) noted that lifetime employment is more common in high
uncertainty avoidance countries. This study confirms this. In the GCC countries, employment for nationals can not be terminated by a company except
when a criminal act is committed by the employee. Adler also indicated that
employees in high power distance and high uncertainty avoidance countries
tend to view their organizations as pyramids of people rather than as families. Everyone in the organization knows who reports to whom, and formal
lines of communication run vertically which means that management reduces
uncertainty by emphasizing who has the authority over whom. This is also
true in the GCC countries. People in these countries usually plead to the top of
the pyramid to get their papers processed, their needs fulfilled or complaints
resolved.
The lowest scores are for Oman and Bahrain. Bahrain is known for a long
time as a trade center. Bahrain is a big commercial and investment center in
the Gulf area. Bahrain produces far less oil than the rest of the GCC countries
who are large oil producers. Therefore, it is necessary for the managers of
Bahrain to be more risk takers in order to invite and maintain investments from

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127

other GCC countries. Parker (1993) noted that Bahraini planners are keen to
portray the country's future as a Gulf equivalent of Singapore and that these
planners are confident that Bahrain can once again expand as an offshore
banking center, offering an increasingly sophisticated range of services. On
the other hand, Oman may be a safer country than other GCC states due to
its location in the south part of the Gull
Individualism vs Collectivism Index (IDV)

Individualism is the tendency of people to look after themselves and their


immediate family only, which implies a loosely integrated society. Collectivism is the tendency of people to belong to groups and to look after each
other in exchange for loyalty in a tightly integrated society in which people
distinguish between in-groups (relatives, clans, organizations) and out-groups
(Hofstede, 1980).
The individualism index ranges from zero to 100 with 50 as the mid-point.
The Gulf IDV per this study was found to be 38 which is the same index
reported by Hofstede for the Arab group in his study. This means that the
GCC countries are collectivist countries with the exception of Oman that
had an individualism index of 52. Kuwait had the lowest IDV score of 31.
The results indicate that although life style has changed in the Arab world
between the 70's and 90's, some values did not change. One of these values is
the association of the individual to a group, tribe or other form of association.
This confirms what Hofstede (1987) called "the Law of Conservation: old
values do not disappear overnight, and often survive in new settings."
Islam, which is the only religion of the GCC countries, emphasizes to a
great extent the idea of unity. People are urged and rewarded to care and
help each other. This certainly is a major reason for the IDV result reached.
Another important factor is the fact that Arabs are fundamentally organized
into tribes, families or areas. They strongly associate themselves to these
unity symbols. A person's loyalty to these unity symbols is strong and there
are social forces that strengthen such association. Adler (1986) indicated that
"Collectivist cultures control their members more through external societal
pressure - shame - while individualistic cultures control their members more
through internal pressure-guilt." Shame, in GCC countries, is associated with
the person who does not behave in the normally expected manner which is the
strong association and loyalty to his unity symbol. Another factor is that GCC
countries are wealthy but small and weak compared to their neighbors which
causes them to feel more safe as collectivist societies than individualistic
ones.
Wealth has caused the GCC populations to enjoy a more relaxing life which
was expected to reduce the dependence of people on each other. This was

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M.I. AT-TWAYRI AND I. A. AL-MUHAIZA

not the case in this study. This could be attributed to the fact that religious
teachings, external threats and social forces had a greater effect than wealth
with regard to individualism index. Such situation caused these populations
to maintain a strong social framework that promotes collectivism.
Countries with low individualism scores tend to have promotions on the
basis of seniority (Hodgetts and Luthans, 1991). This assumption holds true
in almost all GCC countries where people are generally promoted based on
the number of years spent in the organization.
Hofstede (1983) indicated that the degree of individualism in a country is
statistically related to that country's wealth. This did not prove true in our
study. Kuwait, which is at the top of wealthy GCC countries, scored the lowest
IDV among the other GCC countries. This may be explained by the findings
that Kuwait scored the highest in UAI since it is the most exposed country
among the other GCC countries to threat from two big non-GCC countries,
i.e. Iraq and Iran.

Masculinity vs Femininity (MAS)


Masculinity is the extent to which the dominant values in a society are success,
money, and things. Femininity is the extent to which the dominant values in
a society are caring for others, the quality of life or people (Hofstede, 1980).
The masculinity index ranges from zero to 100 with 50 as the mid-point.
Arab countries in Hofstede's study scored at midpoint. The MAS index for
the Gulf in this study is 45 which indicates that the GCC countries are feminine
countries. The difference in MAS scores between the two studies is small and
could be attributed to the very low MAS score of 12 for Oman as shown in
Table 1. We believe that the two studies' indexes would have been the same
if Oman was excluded. The individual results of the five GCC countries show
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as masculine with an index of 53 and the remaining
three countries as feminine (Kuwait -- 43, Oman = 12, and Qatar = 43). As
previously mentioned, Islamic teachings and tribal system stress the concept
of caring and cooperation among the people which characterizes feminine
societies.

Conclusion and implications


The results indicate that the PDI for the GCC countries has decreased compared to Hofstede's study due to the change in the life style of the GCC
populations and the increasing exposure to the West. The UAI has increased
significantly due to the increasing threats from the big neighboring countries
and the political instability in the area as a whole. The IDV is low due to the

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129

Islamic teachings and the need to get together in the face of threats. MAS
score is relatively close to midpoint and that is also due to Islamic and tribal
teachings and the pressure on individuals to care about their tribe members
or Muslim brothers.
The most significant conclusion of this research is that societies of the
GCC countries are changing. These countries are different from each other
even with the existence of some common factors. The point that countries are
different was explained by Hofstede when interviewed by Richard Hodgetts
(Hodgetts, 1993). The table shows different results for the GCC countries.
The PDI ranges from 46 to 61, UAI ranges from 72 to 103, IDV ranges from
31 to 52 and MAS ranges from 12 to 53.
When managing foreign employees, management practitioners should utilize management theories available to them through research and experience.
When these management practitioners become aware of the international
workforce management and the difference between different cultures, they
will save themselves troubles, embarrassment and/or the loss of qualified
personnel. Management practitioners' loss may also go as far as losing customers in foreign countries when they enter these with no knowledge of who
these people are.
Managerial and subordinate attitudes are influenced by culture and therefore, are different from one country to another. This research findings point to
how different countries are with regard to people treating each other, how they
are different when dealing with the future and how they value things. This
study as well as other studies, one of which is Hofstede's 1983 study, provide
Multinational Corporations with some of the attributes of doing business in
the Arab world and particularly in the GCC countries.
Since GCC managers (except Bahrain and Kuwait as explained before)
accept unequal distribution of power, therefore, they believe that work is
done because the boss wants it that way. Adler (1986) indicated that in high
power distance countries, superiors and subordinates consider bypassing to
be insubordination and that representatives sent to negotiate in these countries
should have titles equivalent to or higher than those of their bargaining
partners. Badawy (1980) indicated that Mideastern executives like to deal with
Chiefs not Indians and therefore, Multinational Corporations are advised to
send executives who have the power to make decisions in conducting business
negotiations in the Middle East.
As high uncertainty avoiders, GCC managers avoid uncertainties due to
their feeling that they are threatened by ambiguous situations. To avoid these
situations, they seek greater career stability and reject deviant ideas and behaviors. In such countries lifetime employment is more common as a resistant to
the unforeseen risks of changing the job and also the longer a person stays

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M.I. AT-TWAYRI AND I. A. AL-MUHAIZA

in the same job, the higher in rank he will reach. Therefore, Multinational
Corporations may give job security a priority in these countries. On the other hand, At-Twaijri (1989) reported that Saudi managers were less satisfied
than the Americans with their chances for advancement within the company.
Therefore, Multinational Corporations should take note of not prolonging
the advancement track toward higher positions since local managers might
choose to leave the job for a better fast track job in another company.
These managers, as explained above, made their decisions at the highest
level of management. At-Twaijri (1989) pointed that if Multinational Corporations are interested in maintaining and recruiting Saudi managers, the Multinational Corporations should support delegation of authority and/or participative decision-making processes and should encourage providing authority
and opportunities for independent thought and action accompanying available
jobs.
With regard to their low individualism scores, GCC managers seem to
live and operate in societies where there is a distinction between in-groups
(relatives, clans, and tribes) and others. As managers, they believe that they
are supposed to look after their subordinates and in-groups with whom they
share the same beliefs in exchange for subordinates' and in-groups' loyalty.
This supports Muna's (1980) finding that many Arab managers give more
importance to employee loyalty than efficiency.
We believe that the explanations for the differences between the results of
this study compared to Hofstede's are the most appropriate. It is important to
note that such differences may have been influenced by any of the following
factors:
1. The states in Hofstede's study are different from those studied here
which may indicate that GCC countries differ from the average Arab
(considering the seven states studied by Hofstede as a representative
sample of the Arab world which consists of 22 states).
2. Differences may be due to the influence of two different corporate cultures. Hofstede studied IBM which has offices all over the world. On the
other hand, this study was conducted on individual oil companies that do
not have international branches as IBM does. Since IBM is a U.S. company and these oil companies are managed in part by U.S. professionals,
we believe that they are under the influence of the U.S. culture. Despite
this common influence of the U.S. culture, the different results reached
by the two studies may be due to the different influence of corporate
cultures.
Similar research should be duplicated in intervals of every ten years to monitor
any social changes with regard to Hofstede's four cultural dimensions. The

HOFSTEDE'S CULTURAL DIMENSION

13 l

results of this proposed study would enrich the research in the cross-cultural
studies.

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