Geert Hofstede
Geert Hofstede | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gerard Hendrik Hofstede 2 October 1928 Netherlands |
| Died | 12 February 2020 (aged 91) |
| Other names | Geert |
| Occupation(s) | Social psychologist, Professor Emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management |
| Years active | 1955–2020 |
| Known for | Cross-cultural studies, Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory |
Gerard Hendrik (commonly known as Geert) Hofstede (2 October 1928 – 12 February 2020) was a Dutch social psychologist, former IBM employee, and Professor Emeritus specializing in Organizational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University. He gained international recognition for his groundbreaking studies on cross-cultural groups and organizational behavior.
Hofstede is credited with creating a widely adopted model that quantifies cultural differences across nations through six key dimensions: power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, long-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint. His influential publications include Culture's Consequences and Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, the latter co-written with his son Gert Jan Hofstede. This work explores organizational culture, which differs from national culture but is examined using comparable analytical approaches.
Biography
Born to Gerrit and Evertine Geessine (Veenhoven) Hofstede, he completed secondary education in 1945 before earning an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Delft Technical University in 1953. After spending ten years working in industry, he pursued doctoral studies part-time at Groningen University, where he was awarded a PhD with distinction (cum laude) in social psychology in 1967. His dissertation was entitled "The Game of Budget Control".
After obtaining his doctorate, Hofstede served for two years as a technical officer in the Dutch armed forces. Subsequently, from 1955 to 1965, he was engaged in industrial work. In 1965, he joined IBM International as a management trainer and personnel research manager, establishing the company’s Personnel Research Department. Between 1971 and 1973, he held a visiting lecturer position at IMEDE (currently known as International Institute for Management Development). In 1980, he co-founded the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC) at Tilburg University, where he also assumed the role of director.
Upon retiring in 1993, Hofstede remained active internationally as a lecturer and researcher. Additionally, he was an extramural fellow at Tilburg University’s Center of Economic Research.
His accolades include honorary memberships in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and AIESEC, fellowships with the Academy of Management and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, and being knighted in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2011. He earned honorary doctorates from seven European universities such as Nyenrode Business University and Athens University of Economics and Business, along with honorary professorships at The University of Hong Kong and several institutions in China.
Married to Maaike A. van den Hoek since 1955, they had four sons: Gert-Jan Hofstede, a social scientist who collaborated extensively with his father; Rokus Hofstede, a translator; Bart Hofstede, who serves as Cultural Counselor for the Netherlands; and Gideon Hofstede, an international marketing professional. He was also grandfather to ten grandchildren.
In 2014, a documentary titled An Engineer's Odyssey chronicled his life journey. At age 88 in 2016, he received his ninth honorary doctorate during a ceremony in Prague. Geert Hofstede passed away on February 12, 2020.
Work
Geert Hofstede was an influential scholar specializing in organizational culture, cultural economics, and management. He was a pioneer in examining cross-cultural teams and organizations, creating a model to evaluate and distinguish between national and organizational cultural traits. His research demonstrated that both national and regional cultures significantly shape societal behaviors and organizational practices.
Early inspiration
At the age of seventeen, shortly after World War II, Hofstede aspired to broaden his horizons beyond the Netherlands. He enrolled in a technical college in 1945 and completed various internships, including a 1947 journey to Indonesia where he worked as an assistant ship's engineer. This experience exposed him to diverse cultures, igniting his curiosity about cross-cultural phenomena. Later, a visit to England confronted him with culture shock despite the geographical proximity, further deepening his interest in cultural distinctions.
From 1955 through 1965, Hofstede occupied several professional and managerial positions within three Dutch industrial firms. Beginning as a mechanic provided him with practical insights into organizational structures from the operational level. His engineering training contributed to a methodical and quantitative approach in analyzing social environments, which played a crucial role in formulating his cultural dimensions theory.
IBM research
During his tenure at IBM International, Hofstede shifted from engineering roles to psychology-related functions, becoming a management trainer and heading personnel research by establishing IBM’s Personnel Research Department. He implemented employee opinion surveys across more than 70 national subsidiaries globally, amassing comprehensive data on workplace behavior and cooperation. A two-year research leave starting in 1971 enabled him to conduct an in-depth analysis of this data, uncovering consistent cultural variations among countries.
As a guest lecturer at IMEDE (currently the International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland, Hofstede validated his findings through interactions with international managers from over 30 countries outside IBM. This confirmed that cultural differences were rooted primarily in national socialization processes rather than specific corporate environments.
Upon returning to IBM, Hofstede aimed to extend his research but encountered limited support. Consequently, he accepted part-time roles at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Brussels and at the INSEAD business school in France. Between 1973 and 1979, he examined the IBM survey data through an interdisciplinary lens incorporating psychology, sociology, political science, and anthropology. These efforts culminated in the 1980 release of Culture's Consequences, which introduced his seminal framework of cultural dimensions.
Research on national cultures
Hofstede initially derived four cultural dimensions by analyzing survey responses from 40 countries, shifting focus from individual-level data to country-level ("ecological") analysis to better capture societal cultural trends. Introduced in 1980, this model gained widespread acceptance among management practitioners, particularly following the 1991 publication of Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.
In the same year as his initial publication, Hofstede co-established the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation (IRIC) at Tilburg University, where much of his core research took place. Later editions expanded the scope to include between 76 and 93 countries and added two further cultural dimensions while clearly differentiating organizational culture as a distinct concept.
Criticisms
Although Hofstede's framework is widely implemented in business and management contexts, it has encountered considerable critique. Professor Brendan McSweeney contends that the model places excessive emphasis on national culture as a deterministic factor and is flawed methodologically—a point Hofstede responded to, but McSweeney maintained remained unresolved.
According to Professors Barry Gerhart and Meiyu Fang, national cultural variations account for merely 2–4% of the differences in individual values, suggesting that the model’s utility in explaining personal behavior—critical for HR and organizational planning—is quite limited.
Galit Ailon points out inconsistencies within Hofstede’s theoretical and methodological approach, warning against uncritical reliance on it in management settings. Likewise, Philippe d'Iribarne from CNRS challenges the assumption of cultural homogeneity within countries and organizations, emphasizing that culture is fluid and often fragmented among subgroups. Hofstede acknowledged that d'Iribarne’s qualitative perspective complements his own quantitative approach.
Additional academics highlight the ecological fallacy risk when applying Hofstede’s national-level indices to individuals, cautioning that this misuse may distort management research and training outcomes. Comparisons with the GLOBE project expose validity concerns across various cultural frameworks, complicating their application in international business environments.
Nonetheless, re-examinations by scholars such as Shalom Schwartz, Ronald Inglehart, and Arno Tausch have demonstrated significant correlations between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions—including power distance, individualism versus collectivism, long-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint—and other global value surveys, reinforcing their significance for cross-cultural business strategies.
Impact and Recognition
Hofstede’s publications have been translated into 23 languages and cited extensively, ranking him among the most frequently referenced European social scientists.
He achieved notable acclaim for his cross-cultural research. In 2004, Hanze University Groningen in the Netherlands established the Geert Hofstede Lecture, a biennial event dedicated to intercultural communication. Two years later, Maastricht University created a Geert Hofstede Chair focusing on cultural diversity.
In 2008, six European universities collaborated to form the Geert Hofstede Consortium to deliver a Master’s program in International Communication (MIC).
The Reputation Institute honored Hofstede as Best Scholar of the Year in 2009 for his scholarly contributions enhancing reputation through both research and practical application.
In October 2010, Maastricht University School of Business and Economics founded the Geert Hofstede Fund aimed at supporting research and initiatives related to multicultural interaction and cultural differences.
Archives
Since February 2020, the Archives of Geert Hofstede have been accessible to the public at the Library of the University of Groningen.
Selected Publications
Hofstede produced numerous seminal works influencing social psychology and sociocultural anthropology, significantly impacting studies on international business management and organizational culture.
- Hofstede, G. (1978). The Poverty of Management Control Philosophy. The Academy of Management Review, 3(3), 450–461.
- Hofstede, G. (1967). The Game of Budget Control: How to Live with Budgetary Standards and Yet be Motivated by Them. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 20(3), 388–390.
- Hofstede, G. (1983). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28(4), 625–629.
- Hofstede, G. (1986). Cultural differences in teaching and learning. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10(3), 301–320.
- Hofstede, G. (1993). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(1), 132–134.
- Hofstede, G. (2002). Dimensions Do Not Exist: A reply to Brendan McSweeney. Human Relations, 55(11), 1355–1361.
- Hofstede, G. (2010). The GLOBE debate: Back to relevance. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(8), 1339–1346.
External links
- Official academic site of Geert Hofstede
- Geert Hofstede Friends – an international network of professionals advancing Geert Hofstede's research, coordinated by Prof. Gert Jan Hofstede [1]