Conclusion
The focus of our paper has been to examine critically and in depth the Hofstede and
GLOBE national culture dimensions, scales and scores, and show how their
unreliability and invalidity at the individual and organizational levels undermine their
usefulness for management theory and practice. The items used to measure Hofstede
and GLOBE national dimensions are not positively and significantly correlated at the
individual or organizational level and therefore do not measure an individual or
organizational level construct/characteristic, cultural or otherwise. In addition, a
detailed examination of the score construction methodology in Hofstede and GLOBE
shows that the international culture differences are exaggerated. We therefore
recommend that scholars and practitioners should be cautious in using the national
culture models for their own research at least until the dimensions are refined through
further academic research to ensure greater clarity, precision, and congruence among
the culture constructs and definitions, and the items used to measure these constructs.
This is not to suggest that individuals or groups do not vary on say individualism/
collectivism, power distance or other values and characteristics. But these differences,
or for that matter, similarities, need to be empirically examined with scales that are
valid at the respective levels of analysis, and in the specific contexts of our interactions
with other individuals and groups of different nationalities, rather than simply
assumed in a stereotypical manner based on the national culture scores as is the
general practice currently in the management discipline.