Mapping world cultures: Cluster formation, sources and implications

This paper extends and builds on Ronen and Shenkar's synthesized cultural clustering of countries based on similarity and dissimilarity in work-related attitudes. The new map uses an updated dataset, and expands coverage to world areas that were non-accessible at the time. Cluster boundaries ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of international business studies 2013-12, Vol.44 (9), p.867-897
Main Authors: Ronen, Simcha, Shenkar, Oded
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Attitudes to work
Business and Management
Business Strategy/Leadership
Business studies
Chinese culture
Cluster analysis
Corporate culture
Countries
Cross cultural studies
Cultural differences
Cultural identity
Cultural studies
Cultural values
Empirical research
Financial investments
Geography
Globalization
International Business
Islam
Management
Mapping
Multinational corporations
Multinational enterprises
Organization
Regionalism
Spain
Studies
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Summary:This paper extends and builds on Ronen and Shenkar's synthesized cultural clustering of countries based on similarity and dissimilarity in work-related attitudes. The new map uses an updated dataset, and expands coverage to world areas that were non-accessible at the time. Cluster boundaries are drawn empirically rather than intuitively, and the plot obtained is triple nested, indicating three levels of similarity across given country pairs. Also delineated are cluster adjacency and cluster cohesiveness, which vary from the highly cohesive Arab and Anglo clusters to the least cohesive Confucian and Far Eastern clusters. Exploring predictors of cluster formation, we draw on the ecocultural perspective and other inputs, and examine the combined role of language, religion, and geography in generating cluster formation. We find that these forces play a prominent yet complex role: for instance, the religion and language brought by the Spanish fail to create a singular, cohesive Latin American cluster akin to the Anglo cluster. The role of economic variables is similarly considered. Finally, comparing the current map with that of 1985, we find strong support for the divergence (vs convergence) argument. Implications for international business are delineated.
ISSN:0047-2506
1478-6990
DOI:10.1057/jibs.2013.42