The most cited cross-cultural work on
employee attitudes is that of Hofstede (1980,
1985). He conducted research on employee
attitude data in 67 countries and found that
the data grouped into four major dimensions
and that countries systematically varied
along these dimensions. The four cross-cultural
dimensions are: (1) individualism-collectivism;
(2) uncertainty avoidance versus
risk taking; (3) power distance, or the extent
to which power is unequally distributed; and
(4) masculinity/femininity, more recently
called achievement orientation. For example,
the United States was found to be high on
individualism, low on power distance, and
low on uncertainty avoidance (thus high on
risk taking), whereas Mexico was high on
collectivism, high on power distance, and
high on uncertainty avoidance.