To read this content please select one of the options below:

Cultural dimensions in business life: Hofstede's indices for Latvia and Lithuania

Maik Huettinger (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)

Baltic Journal of Management

ISSN: 1746-5265

Article publication date: 12 September 2008

8943

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the culture dimensions of young Latvians and Lithuanians in accordance with Geert Hofstede's indices. These culture characteristics are discussed from the perspective of their similarity with Estonia and the Scandinavian countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is part of the Hofstede national culture studies. The survey is based on more than 800 questionnaires, which were handed out to students in Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden. The Swedish scores were used to calibrate the Lithuanian and Latvian values to the existing Hofstede database.

Findings

The study shows that respondents of both countries score very similar for all five dimensions of the Hofstede model: power distance moderate low, moderate for uncertainty avoidance, very low for masculinity, individualism moderate‐high, and very low in long‐term orientation.

Research limitations/implications

The empirical research was limited to participants who classified themselves as belonging to the dominating ethnic class. Ethnical minorities were excluded – however they might have a considerable influence in daily business life. A second weakness might be that the students sample represents the values of young Lithuanians and Latvians – the future society of the countries. An examination of the majority of population who grew up with communist ideology might have shown different results.

Practical implications

The results of the study have shown that the three Baltic countries score pretty uniformly and much more similar to Scandinavia than Russia and/or Poland. International business actors should therefore include the Baltics in their Nordic strategy – rather than adding them to central and eastern Europe.

Originality/value

The main value of this study is that the Hofstede methodology was for the first time applied for Latvia. The results for Latvia and Lithuania were meanwhile reviewed by Prof. Hofstede and included into his database.

Keywords

Citation

Huettinger, M. (2008), "Cultural dimensions in business life: Hofstede's indices for Latvia and Lithuania", Baltic Journal of Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 359-376. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465260810902414

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles