ABSTRACT
Scholars have explored the concept of culture for many decades, leading to a literature at least two centuries old. In 1952, Kroeber and Kluckhohn identified over 160 different definitions of the term culture. Culture is a learned system of meaning that consists of a set of taken-for-granted assumptions, traditions, beliefs, values, norms and symbols that are passed on from one generation to the next. Culture is learned through experience and through sharing from one generation to another, but culture is also dynamic and ever-changing. The chapter discusses dimensions which includes individualism and collectivism, power distance, high and low uncertainty avoidance, high- and low-context cultures, and monochronic and polychronic time orientations. Understanding general expectations of each dimension can be helpful in cross-cultural contexts, because the dimensions help individuals analyze unfamiliar actions through a common framework. The chapter introduces individualism vs. collectivism, high vs. low power distance, high vs. low uncertainty avoidance, high- vs. low-context orientation, and monochronic vs. polychronic.
