Culture and leadership in Iran: The land of individual achievers, strong family ties, and powerful elite

Abstract

Over the past twenty-five years, Iran, a country of over 60 million people, has endured a bewildering rate of societal and economic change. Little is currently known about the country besides its extremist and confrontational policies both inside and outside the country. In this article, we report on a study of 300 Iranian middle managers from the banking, telecommunications, and food-processing industries as part of the GLOBE Project. Our findings show that despite much visible economic and societal change, the country's deeper cultural traits seem rather intact. The first important finding is that Iran, while a Middle Eastern country, is not part of the Arab culture. Instead, it is part of the South Asian cultural cluster consisting of such countries as India, Thailand, and Malaysia. The country's culture is distinguished by its seemingly paradoxical mix of strong family ties and connections and a high degree of individualism. Societal or institutional collectivism is not a strong suit of Iranians. The ...