ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the role of culture from different perspectives, followed by a summary of Hofstede’s four dimensional (4-D) model and the addition of a fifth dimension following the contribution of The Chinese Culture Connection’ in identifying an ‘ernie’ Chinese dimension. Hofstede’s well-known study of cross-cultural values has come to be regarded as amongst the most influential in the field, and the subsequent extensive citation of a study, which involved the measurement of international differences in cultural values within IBM or ‘Hermes’, is testimony to its seminal status. Following a discussion of Hong Kong culture, the chapter also reviews critiques of Hofstede’s model and describes and discusses the details of the method and results of the replication. Both Hong Kong and the UK scored as ‘moderately masculine’ in the original 4-D study, with the UK having a higher Masculinity-Femininity score than Hong Kong.
