What it shows
Hofstede’s six dimensions of national culture: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity (which Hofstede Insights has renamed “motivation towards achievement and success”), long-term versus short-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint.
Each row has a one-line meaning and a scale from lower to higher, with dots for the groups of countries that Hofstede (2011) names toward each end. The positions are relative; there are no scores.
How to read it
Power distance is lower in Germanic and English-speaking Western countries and higher in East European, Latin, Asian and African countries.
On individualism, developed and Western countries are the most individualist, with the United States highest; less developed and Eastern countries are collectivist, and Japan sits in between.
East Asian countries are the most long-term oriented, followed by Eastern and Central Europe. The United States and Australia are among the short-term oriented.
Mediterranean Europe sits in the middle on indulgence. Eastern Europe, Asia and the Muslim world lean toward restraint; North and South America and Western Europe toward indulgence.
The six dimensions
- Power distance: how far the less powerful accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.
- Uncertainty avoidance: how uncomfortable a society feels in unstructured, novel or unknown situations.
- Individualism versus collectivism: how far people are integrated into groups.
- Masculinity versus femininity: assertive and competitive values versus modest and caring ones.
- Long-term versus short-term orientation: a focus on the future, or on the present and past.
- Indulgence versus restraint: free gratification versus control of basic human desires related to enjoying life.
Ways to use it in teaching
Before an international business case, ask students where they expect the two countries involved to sit on each row, then check against the country scores in Hofstede, Hofstede and Minkov (2010).
The positions describe national cultures, not the people in them, a confusion Hofstede (2011) warns against. Use the diagram to open a discussion of stereotyping.
Compare the six dimensions with the nine of the GLOBE study (House et al. 2004), which splits collectivism and masculinity–femininity in two, and ask which differences a manager would notice first.
Sources
- Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014
- Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind (Rev. 3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
- Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 19, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory
- House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (Eds.). (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies. Sage.
