Evolution of the Hofstede Model of Cultural Dimensions: Parallels Between Objective and Subjective Culture

Abstract

Some 40 years ago, the Dutch social scientist Geert Hofstede laid the foundations of the science of modern cultural comparisons and created the most popular model of national culture that is still in use today across the world. Meanwhile, numerous issues with that model have been identified and the need for a thorough revision has become obvious. This article briefly explains Hofstede’s model and its issues and summarizes the existing revisions of it, resulting in a new, simpler, and more robust Minkov-Hofstede model. This new version explains a wide range of differences in national indicators, such as transparency-corruption, gender equality, road death tolls and industrial fatalities, educational achievement, violent crime, adolescent fertility, family structure, and innovation rates, to name just a few. These indicators form a pattern that is similar to the new Minkov-Hofstede model and can be explained through similar theories. This is evidence that subjective culture (what people think and feel) has a mirror image in objective culture (what people do). The new Minkov-Hofstede model can be applied to countries, as well as to some sub-national units such as US states.