A Look at Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions in Two Service Sectors from Romania

• Main Authors: Carmen Andreea Vrânceanu, Maria-Cristina Iorgulescu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest 2016-11-01
• Series: Amfiteatru Economic
• Subjects: Hofstede; work values; consultancy services industry; hotel industry.
• Online Access: http://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/ArticolEN.aspx?CodArticol=2574
• ISSN: 1582-9146; 2247-9104

The economic literature on culture has mainly focused on the influence of national culture and its role in determining the organizational culture. Hofstede has demonstrated in his research the importance of culture in determining human relations in the workplace. People can comply with both organizational rules and cultural norms, but truly give priority to the latter. Differences between organizational rules may appear depending on the organizations’ activity or depending on the employees’ professions. These differences between industries and professions remain little explored in literature. As a result, the article presents Hofstede’s model of the first five dimensions of national culture in th e Romanian service industry (individualism/collectivism, power distance, long/short term orientation, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance), by comparing the results obtained in two different domains: the hotel industry and the consultancy serv ices industry. The findings are interesting, as they reflect employees’ work values in two sectors of the service industry. Furthermore, the article discusses whether the national culture has a direct impact on the culture developed in a specific activity sector. Also, the article debates if the organizational culture is more powerful than the national culture by comparing the values obtained at national level and the values obtained at organizational level through Hofstede’s model. Another objective of the research is to point out the differences in cultural dimensions between the workers from the hotel industry and workers from the consultancy services industry. The implications of the conclusions are discussed, considering the limitations of the empirical study presented and the future research directions.