ABSTRACT
The radical changes in the late 1990s involved Icelandic banks becoming integrated into global financial markets, which led to an unprecedented economic boom and finally to an economic collapse in 2008. This led to a deadly combination, creating a loop that was re-affirmed within banks. Geert Hofstede’s model has been widely influential in stressing the importance of taking into account cultural variables in explaining economic behaviour. Icelandic banks were privatized little by little, as was common among companies owned by the government during the late 1980s and 1990s in the international arena. Looking at the Hofstede cross-cultural model from a general point of view provides few clues as to the origin of the crisis. Stefan Olafsson maintains that Icelanders share many cultural, political and social aspects with Nordic countries but show strong American characteristics such as a sense of individualism and independence and resentment towards central authority.
