ABSTRACT
Merritt (1993) defines culture as the values/norms and practices shared with others which define a group, especially in relation to other groups. Kluckholn (1951) puts it that “culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values” (Hofstede, 1997, p. 25). Culture defines the way of life of a particular group of people, and in turn, has wide ranging influences on their values and behaviors (Hofstede, 1997). Values are part of a process of socialization and represent principles or patterns of behavior which are held in high regard. Values influence people’s actions by helping to sustain the social and economic structures in which they coexist (Kluckholn, 1951; Hofstede, 1997; Merritt, 1993). This can influence people to act in an individualistic or collective manner; how they relate to interpersonal power; how they will tolerate uncertainty, and the way they relate to members of the opposite gender (Hofstede, 1997, Chapters 4 and 5). These factors have been shown to play an important role in accident causation (Merrit and Helmreich, 1998, pp. 98-100).
