Is there an association between countries’ culture and runners’ performance?

• Published in: Sport sciences for health 2024-09, Vol.20 (3), p.923-932
• Main Authors: Thuany, Mabliny, Gomes, Thayse Natacha, Kipchumba, Kevin, Wachira, Lucy-Joy, Malchrowicz-Mośko, Ewa, Rozmiarek, Mateusz, Knechtle, Beat, Rolim, Ramiro, dos Santos, Marcos André Moura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Culture; Data collection; Ethics; Human Physiology; Individualism; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Participation; Personal information; Professional relationships; Questionnaires; Running; Sports Medicine; System theory
• ISSN: 1824-7490; 1825-1234
• DOI: 10.1007/s11332-024-01177-w

Background It is widely accepted that countries’ characteristics influence sports performance. However, there is a missing link regarding the association between cultural dimensions and runners’ performance. Our purpose was to verify if the six cultural dimensions of Hofstede are related to performance in non-elite runners and to investigate whether cultural factors remain as predictors when individual factors are considered. Methods We used a cross-sectional design, sampling 279 runners from Brazil, Spain, Kenya, Portugal, and Poland. We used a web survey to collect data from runners, while countries’ cultural dimensions were obtained through the six dimensions of Hofstede’s theory (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence). A robust regression analysis was performed considering three different models (crude, adjusted by cultural dimensions, adjusted by runners’ characteristics). For all analyses, running pace was considered as performance indicator. Analysis was performed in STATA (version 14), adopting a 95% confidence interval. Results The crude model showed that power distance and indulgence were associated with running pace. The culture-adjusted model showed that higher scores of masculinity in a country leads to lower performance (β = 3.9; p