Individualistic Trade Cultures

Me First Countries Value Independent Achievements

Jan 26, 2008 Daniel Workman

America, Australia, the U.K., Canada, Netherlands & New Zealand rank as the most highly individualistic nations while Latin Americans cherish strong family loyalties.

Based on detailed analyses of international employee values that IBM collected from 1967 to 1973 and subsequent validation studies, Professor Geert Hofstede® has engineered a model with five dimensions that differentiate cultural values and behaviors.

These cultural dimensions are key to understanding how to more effectively negotiate international trade deals with people in other countries. Even large multinationals like Starbucks and Wal-Mart make billion dollar trade bloopers when they assume that people in foreign lands will share the same cultural negotiating and decision-making behaviors as in their home country America.

Individualism Defined

One of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions is called individualism. This dimension measures the extent to which people care for themselves and their immediate family only. Highly individualistic countries are generally richer countries like the United States and Canada.

Low individualism cultures practise collectivism which stresses collective efforts. Typically practised in poorer countries (in per capita terms) like Guatemala and Taiwan, people from birth onwards are integrated into strong groups that offer continuous protection in return for unquestioning loyalty.

Based on Hofstede’s statistics, the world average individualistic score is 43 points per country.

High Individualism Countries

Countries with high individualism scores typically bestow promotions based on individual initiative. Below is a list of countries with the highest individualism scores.

• United States ... 91 (111.6% higher than world average)
• Australia ... 90 (109.3% higher)
• United Kingdom ... 89 (107% higher)
• Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand ... 80 (86% higher)
• Italy ... 75 (74.4% higher)
• Belgium, Denmark ... 74 (72.1% higher)
• Sweden ... 73 (69.8% higher)
• France ... 72 (67.4% higher)
• Ireland, Switzerland ... 68 (58.1% higher)
• Germany, Norway ... 67 (55.8% higher)
• South Africa ... 65 (51.2% higher)
• Finland ... 64.5 (50% higher)
• Poland ... 61 (41.9% higher)
• Israel ... 54 (25.6% higher)
• India ... 49 (14% higher).

Low Individualism Countries

Cultures with low individualism scores focus more on collective efforts with promotion based on seniority. The following shows the countries with the lowest individualism scores from Hofstede’s study.

• Guatemala ... 6 points (86% lower than world average)
• Ecuador ... 7 (83.7% lower)
• Argentina, Panama, Peru ... 11 (74.4% lower)
• Venezuela ... 12 (72.1% lower)
• Colombia ... 13 (69.8% lower)
• Indonesia ... 14 (67.4% lower)
• Costa Rica, Pakistan ... 15 (65.1% lower)
• Taiwan ... 17 (60.5% lower)
• South Korea ... 18 (58.1% lower)
• El Salvador ... 19 (55.8% lower)
• China ... 20 (53.5% lower)
• Singapore, Thailand ... 21 (51.2% lower)
• West Africa* ... 21 (51.2% lower).

*Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone

Other Country Individualism Scores

Shown below are the individualism scores for other countries in Professor Hofstede’s study.

• Japan … 46 points (7% higher than world average)
• Iran, Spain … 41 (4.7% lower)
• Brazil, Jamaica … 38 (11.6% lower)
• Arab World* … 38 (11.6% lower)
• Turkey … 37 (14% lower)
• Uruguay … 36 (16.3% lower)
• Greece … 35 (18.6% lower)
• Philippines … 33 (13.3% lower)
• Mexico … 30 (31.2% lower)
• East Africa** … 27 (37.2% lower)
• Portugal … 26 (39.5% lower)
• Hong Kong, Malaysia … 25 (41.9% lower).

*Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates

**Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia

References

This article presents independent calculations and insights based on geert-hofstede.com and research from International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behavior (6th edition, Hodgetts-Luthans-DOH).

The copyright of the article Individualistic Trade Cultures in International Trade is owned by Daniel Workman. Permission to republish Individualistic Trade Cultures in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

World's most individualistic nation: USA