Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Operating in foreign countries implies that organizations need to consider local cultures and adapt their human resource development (HRD) processes to local norms for an optimized performance. Such an adaptation requires the adoption of adequate cultural frameworks as Hofstede’s 6-D Model (Hofstede et al., 2010). A major limitation of Hofstede’s model is the missing consideration for regional and subcultural differences within the same country. Such a limitation may affect the success of HRD initiatives, as undertaken by global companies in a specific context.
OBJECTIVE:
This research intends to test Hofstede’s 6-D Model (Hofstede et al., 2010) at the subcultural level using the case of a multinational company operating in the North and Northwest regions of Morocco, and to provide a critical analysis of this theory as to its applicability in the context of multinational organizations.
METHODS:
A quantitative survey-based study was considered for this research, using the Value Survey Module 2013 (VSM). The sample included the managers and professional workers of the Moroccan subsidiary of a multinational company from various cities in two regions. A descriptive approach was adopted to interpret the main features from the collected data. The collected scores were then treated using SPSS and XLSTAT to conduct the T-test statistical analysis, allowing also for a critical analysis of the subcultural value scores.
RESULTS:
The results of this study show differences between the cultural value dimensions in the subcultures of the North and Northwest of Morocco and the national culture. The comparison of the scores between North and Northwest regions of Morocco and Hofstede’s Moroccan national score following the T-test statistical analysis shows differences between at least four indices in both regions, leading to the conclusion that the regional cultural scores are statistically different from national scores.
CONCLUSIONS:
Given the importance of HRD in contributing to learning and change strategies and the importance of aligning leadership development approaches with the cultural values of multinational organizations, this study provides a further understanding of how subcultures represent important platforms for building contextualized HRD systems that foster managerial effectiveness and performance.
Keywords
Literature review
Globalization, HRD and cultural differences
In a business world where classical boundaries have no longer any sovereignty, globalization is the current trend that leads national economies through information technology and communication to encompass fast changing environments. Globalization provides opportunities for multinational organizations to invest and operate in international markets for better economic advantages while bringing together multicultural and diverse staff members in complex and specific cultural environments. HRD processes such as global HR staffing policies require hence adaptation and adjustment while following cultural frameworks that help handling global cultural constraints [29].
Considered as significant part of HRD strategies, managing diversity has become broadly accepted for what it can generate in terms of positive organizational results, if managed properly (Alcázar et al., 2013). Managing diversity also helps developing teams into more innovative and productive workforce, which can, sequentially, be translated into an increased overall organizational performance [18]. Similarly, managers’ attitudes as influenced by the national culture in which they were raised, may impact workers’ performance and their degree of success [18, 21]. As employees perceive, opt to feel, think, and act on their job tasks in function of their respective cultures, global staffing policies considered as a requisite for foreign operations management are to be considered by organizations to manage subsidiaries across different countries for the sake of survival and growth while exploring new opportunities in international markets. Four types of global staffing policies and human resource orientations are identified: ethnocentric, polycentric, geocentric, and regiocentric [19, 23]. Ethnocentric staffing policies are appropriate when the need for control is crucial to ensure the compliance with corporate policy or when there is a perceived lack of qualified nationals. For polycentric oriented organizations, however, subsidiaries are quasi-independent in making decisions and are allowed to self-develop in their environment. Geocentric management orientation requires high level of communication and integration policies across borders as decisions and top management actions are emphasized by a deep understanding of the international business environment. Finally, a regiocentric staffing policy emphasizes the development of regional experts as such an approach implements international career development boundaries facets. Cultural differences represent a major determinant to decide on the implementation of such global staffing policies and bring together staff members as multicultural interactions and integrations represent an important factor that need to be handled and managed carefully through adequate cultural frameworks.
According to Cseh & Coningham [3] and Cummings & Worley [6], as organizational development initially started in the US, the developed approaches and practices have been mainly influenced by Western specialists causing in some aspects conflict with the values and assumptions of other societies. Triandis & Gelfand [27] argue that cultural awareness provides implicit theories of social behavior that act directly on performance management as such an awareness controls instinctively the action of individuals, which requires in turn better consideration of cross cultural differences.
In today’s modern societies, different predominant tendencies and framework preferences have emerged to compare cultural social behaviors from one geographic region to another. The original work of Hofstede [10] is considered among the pioneering bases of most cultural models as the results of his work have been used for the development and in support of various cross cultural theories [14, 24] such as Globe or Trompenaars. It is also noteworthy the continuous update of Hofstede’s theory and its impact on other cultural research studies since the 70’s of the 20th century.
Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions framework
Hofstede et al. [11] define culture as the collective mind programming to differentiate and categorize people according to their surrounding environment. Hofstede and his team conducted one of the most in depth studies of how culture influences values in the workplace defining the following six dimensions framework of national culture that represents independent preferences for one condition over another differentiating consequently countries from each other [11].
Power distance
Power distance is defined as the degree to which the power disproportionately distributed is accepted and expected by the less influential groups of institutions and organizations within a country. This dimension expresses the cultural approach towards such disparities among people while considering individuals as being unequal within societies.
Individualism
The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence individuals maintain with each other in society. In collectivist societies most people’s social behavior is largely determined by goals and attitudes, while following the expectations and principles that are shared with the group. However, individualist societies are characterized by the focus on individuals, attitudes, and values of collectivities so people are supposed to rely on themselves and their direct family only.
Masculinity
The essential foundation regarding this dimension is what motivates people, either wanting to compete and be the best (Masculine) or believing and liking what you do (Feminine). A low score on the masculine dimension means that the prevailing values in society are feminine and what counts the most is the quality of life and taking care of others. On the other hand, a high score indicates that the society is driven by competition and accomplishment.
Uncertainty avoidance
This dimension describes how a society or members of a culture deals with confusing or unknown circumstances when they feel threatened, creating beliefs and institutions to avoid it and feel safer within their comfort zone.
Long-term orientation
This dimension describes how societies deal with the present and future challenges while maintaining some links with their own past. Those with high scores on this dimension are societies preparing for the future by encouraging modern education. A low score, however, means that the society is normative and makes sure to maintain traditions and customs while societal change is occurring.
Indulgence
Indulgence is defined as the extent to which society controls and allows gratification of basic and natural human motivations as associated with appreciation of life. If a culture scores low on this dimension, this means that it is restraint-oriented and that strict social norms regulate people motivations.
Research and findings about Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and their implications for human resource development
Several studies have been conducted to test and compare social, cultural, and behavioral understanding of concepts from one country to another, or to compare ethnic groups within the same country on the basis of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and their implications for HRD decisions and contextualization needs. For instance, Hennekam & Tahssain-Gay [9] conducted a study whose objective was to make a cross-cultural assessment of the attitudes toward diversity among human resource managers working for the same multinational company in two culturally different countries: the Netherlands and Morocco. The findings of this study showed that Hofstede’s framework does not capture all aspects of culture and its complexities but remains a useful tool for understanding and comparing cultures on certain dimensions [25]. The authors recommended other important aspects of culture to be considered particularly when it concerns African countries such as religion and traditions, given their effect on HRD practices, and concluded that Hofstede’s scores need to be updated very often as cultural values change over time, which is also consistent with other scholars’ findings [12, 26]. Duncanson et al. [7] have also conducted a research examining the African-American subculture using Hofstede’s dimensions to show that subcultures are an important factor for HRD processes as implemented by organizations, including organizational development practices. Their findings revealed that the US scores were different from those of African-Americans who had lived in the country for almost four centuries. Another study by Najera [16] came to the conclusion that western management practices and theories on international business practices should not be imposed in foreign countries and must be avoided mainly by HRD managers. The study also revealed that worker’s perception of being positive at work in a particular maquiladora is affected by the combination of Hofstede’s dimensions and Mexican culture. In his research, Busse [1] empirically investigated the correlations between cultural dimensions and several variables indicating innovation. The author discussed criticism and a potential remedy for Hofstede’s main flaw, namely, equaling cultures and nations, when emphasizing the significance of culture for businesses and searching for ideal cultural constellations to promote entrepreneurial innovativeness among employees. Similarly, Valdez et al. [28] found out that cultural norms of comfort with uncertainty may impact differentially entrepreneurship dimensions and concluded that maximizing economic development through entrepreneurial activities, requires differential national policy and HRD managerial approaches to be adopted across diverse nation states. In a comparative study between Italy and Germany about risk perceptions among firefighters, Prati et al. [20] identified some differences in perceived training and practical experience about the different emergency situations and underlined the importance of considering organizational factors and contextualizing HRD decisions in the prediction of risk perception. Finally, Yeh [30] used Hofstede’s value scores of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity among samples of American, Japanese, and Taiwanese managers and concluded that given the replicated scores, factor structures, correlations among measures, some methodological problems, and serious problems of reliability and legitimacy of Hofstede’s methodology, the framework should not be used without specific adjustments and qualifications when making HRD decisions.
Research purpose and context
Literature demonstrates that most of research on Hofstede’s 6-D Model focused principally on testing and comparing social, cultural, and behavioral understanding of concepts between countries, or in some very few cases such as Duncanson et al. [7], consisted of comparing ethnic groups within the same country. The purpose of our study is to test Hofstede’s 6-D Model at the regional level of a country, more specifically in the North and Northwest regions of Morocco using the Value Survey Module 2013 to explore differences and similarities among Hofstede’s cultural scores between the two subcultures of these regions and the national culture. The study aims to identify some of the limitations of Hofstede’s cultural assessments, particularly when predicting sub-cultural features which should transcend the nation-wide dimension. This research also intends to promote a sub-cultural perspective when adopting HRD programs and actions aimed to align employee behaviors with organizational expansion strategies, allowing hence for better contextualization, adaptation, and adjustment. Integrating the sub-cultural assessment into HRD managerial decision-making could help organizations develop more effective and culturally-specific programs to drive employee performance and the organization’s value generation dynamics.
Each country has rich subcultures that evolved based on regional cultural heritage or specific natural geographical borders, causing cultural habits to vary from one region to another within the same country, and workers’ habits to fluctuate too. The Moroccan culture is a plurality of subcultures enriching one another, constituting a multicultural Moroccan identity, and reflecting a rich national diversity in terms of languages, ethnicities, fashion, architecture, cooking, painting, literature, theater etc. The two geographic areas were selected considering government investment in infrastructure in those regions to promote direct foreign investment and make these regions attractive for multinational organizations. An overview of the deep drivers of Moroccan culture compared to other world cultures can be explored through the lens of the 6-D Model. The power distance dimension’s score of 70 positions Morocco as a hierarchical society, while on individualism, Morocco is considered as a collectivist society with a score of 46. Morocco gets also on masculinity dimension an inconclusive and intermediate score of 53 and scores of 68 and 14 respectively on uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation which makes the Moroccan society not long-term oriented and having a very high preference for avoiding improbability. Finally, the low score of 25 on indulgence dimension indicates that Morocco has a restraint culture.
Research design
A quantitative survey-based study was considered for this research to test Hofstede’s 6-D Model in the North and Northwest regions of Morocco and to explore differences and similarities among cultural value dimensions’ scores between the two subcultures in these regions and the national culture of Morocco, while using the Value Survey Module 2013 (VSM) as developed by Hofstede and his team. The VSM includes 30-items, on the basis of four questions per dimension, allowing scores to be calculated on the six dimensions of national culture, which counts for a total of 24 content questions. For statistical purposes, the last six questions concern the respondent’s demographic data (gender, age, education level, kind of job, present nationality, and nationality at birth). The survey questions are scored on five-point scales (1-2-3-4-5), covering the six components of Hofstede’s six dimensions of national value systems’ index scores: power distance (large vs. small), individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance (strong vs. weak), long- vs. short-term orientation, and indulgence vs. restraint. The sample included the managers and professional workers of the Moroccan subsidiary of a multinational company from various cities in both regions. This allowed also for comparative analysis between the two subcultures while following the same company’s HRD policies. For instance, the original Hofstede’s work on cultural dimensions between 1967 and 1973 [10] surveyed only IBM executives to compare populations. The selected multinational company operates in 12 different Moroccan cities in Morocco. In the North of Morocco, the following cities were included: Tangiers, Assilah, Tetouan, M’diq, Fnideq, and Martil. As for the Northwest region of Morocco, the study considered the following cities: Rabat, Salé, Temara, Skhirat, Bouznika, and Charrat. The participants were northern and northwestern Moroccan natives to ensure cultural representation. The questionnaire was administered in French using an online platform for each region. The participants were initially contacted by phone to explain the purpose of the research. 72 responses were received from the North from a population of 287 managers and professional workers, and 68 from the Northwest from a population of 225 managers and professional workers, with a 95% confidence level, and a confidence interval of 10 towards Hofstede’s Moroccan culture value dimensions’ scores in each dimension. The participants from both regions were selected from a list as provided by the HR department of the multinational company. As first data analysis, a descriptive approach was adopted to interpret the main features from the collected data. The collected scores were then treated using SPSS and XLSTAT to conduct the T-test statistical analysis, allowing also for a critical analysis of the subcultural value scores, to evaluate if the results are consistent or not with Hofstede’s Moroccan dimensions’ value scores.
Research results
Sample characteristics and patterns
The questionnaire conducted in the North of Morocco involved 30% female and 70% male participants. The sample’s age groups are mostly concentrated in the 35–49 years old range, respectively 33% for the 35–39 years group, and 38% for the 40–49 years group. The rest of the sample concerns 18% for the 30–34 years group, 3% for the 25–29 years group, and 10% for the 50–59 years group. The surveyed participants had different educational backgrounds. 90% of the participants have 16 years or over of formal school education. Additionally, 42.5 % of the sampled population is holding a master’s degree or equivalent (18 years or over) followed respectively by 47.5% of participants holding a bachelor’s degree or equivalent (16 and 17 years of formal education), and finally 10% of the participants hold vocational/technical school diplomas. 47% of the managers and professional workers sampled in the North are managers of one or more subordinates (non-managers), followed by 35% who are managers of one or more managers, and 18% who are academically trained professionals or equivalent but without any managerial responsibility. As for their nationality, all participants are Moroccans and raised in the North of Morocco, 12.5% have a dual nationality, respectively 2.5% French-Moroccans, 7.5% Spanish-Moroccans, and 2.5% Belgian-Moroccans. The nationality at birth of all participants is Moroccan since they are all born and raised in the North of Morocco.
As for the Northwest region of Morocco, the survey involved 28% female and 72% male participants. The sample’s age groups are very diverse, respectively 33% for the 35–39 years group, 23% equally for the 25–29 and 40–49 years groups, 20% for the 30–34 years group, and 3% of the sample for the 50–59 years group. The surveyed participants had different educational backgrounds. 97.5% of the population have 16 years or over of formal school education of which 52.5% is holding a master’s degree or equivalent (18 years or over), followed respectively by 45% of respondents holding a bachelor’s degree or equivalent (16 and 17 years of formal education), and finally 2.5% of the participants hold vocational/technical school diplomas. 40% of the participants in the Northwest region are managers of one or more subordinates (non-managers), followed by 32% of managers of one or more managers, and 28% who are academically trained professionals or equivalent but without managerial duties. All participants in the Northwest region are Moroccan nationals, and 2.5% have a Spanish-Moroccan dual nationality. The nationality at birth of all participants in the Northwest region is Moroccan.
Hofstede’s subcultural scores analysis and T-test statistical analysis
Hofstede’s subcultural scores analysis
The results show that the North of Morocco gets an inconclusive and intermediate power distance dimension score of 51, while on individualism the score is 18 positioning the region as a collectivist society. The score of 28 makes also the North of Morocco as feminine society and more consensus-oriented, while a weak score of 19 on long-term orientation qualifies the North Moroccan region as not long-term oriented. The uncertainty avoidance (UA) score of the North of Morocco is –30. The Moroccan score on Hofstede’s 6-D Model for UA is 68 but as highlighted by Hofstede et al. [11], each cultural dimension requires adding a constant (positive or negative) selected by the assessor to shift the UA score to a value between 0 and 100, depending on the nature of the sample. We added 30 to have a low score of 0, which makes the North of Morocco not avoiding uncertainty but relying on practice more than principles or traditions. Finally, the low score of 39 on indulgence indicates that the North of Morocco has a culture of restraint (Fig. 1).
Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture in the North of Morocco.
As for the Northwest region of Morocco, the power distance dimension score of 39 positions the Northwest region of Morocco as non-hierarchical, while on individualism the score is 18 positioning the region as a collectivist society. The score of 32 makes the Northwest region of Morocco as feminine society and more consensus-oriented, while a weak score of 6 on long-term orientation describes the Northwest Moroccan region as not long-term oriented. Following the same procedure, we added 30 to have a low score of 0 on uncertainty avoidance, which makes also this region of Morocco not avoiding uncertainty but relying on practice more than principles or traditions. Finally, the low score of 42 on indulgence dimension indicates that the Northwest region of Morocco has a culture of restraint (Fig. 2).
Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture in the Northwest region of Morocco.
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of two regions were then compared with the Moroccan cultural dimensions through T-test analysis to check the consistency between the regional and national scores.
For the North, the results show a significant statistical difference between three scores while comparing the regional and national values, as the T-test of the individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance dimensions is inferior to the significance level of 0.05. As for power distance, long-term orientation, and indulgence the regional and national dimensions’ scores remain consistent (Figs. 3 and 4).
T-test comparison between Hofstede’s scores at the regional and national levels – the case of the North.
T-test graphs comparing Hofstede’s scores at the regional and national levels – the case of the North.
Regarding the Northwest region, the results show consistency between regional and national scores for the long-term orientation and indulgence dimensions. However, a significant statistical difference between the other four Hofstede’s dimensions scores as assessed at the regional and national levels was identified since the T-test of power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance remains inferior to the significance level of 0.05 (Figs. 5 and 6).
T-test comparison between Hofstede’s scores at the regional and national levels – the case of the Northwest region.
T-test graphs comparing Hofstede’s scores at the regional and national levels – the case of the Northwest region.
The results of this study show differences between the cultural value dimensions in the subcultures of the North and Northwest of Morocco and the national culture (Fig. 7).
Comparison of Hofstede’s cultural and subcultural dimensions in Morocco.
The survey results following Hofstede’s 6-D Model [11], determine clear differences but also some similarities between Hofstede’s dimensions scores at the national level and the cultural scores in the Moroccan North and Northwest regions. The most significant difference is identified in the scores of both regions describing such subcultures as being feminine societies and not avoiding improbability in contrast to the national scores of Morocco that show a masculine society that avoids uncertainty. Differences can also be noted in the power distance index between the national and regional scores since Hofstede’s national score indicates a hierarchical society, while the results of the study show a non-hierarchical score for the Northwest region score and an inconclusive and intermediate score for the North. National and regional scores demonstrate also similarities as being collectivist societies, not long-term oriented, and having a culture of restraint. The comparison of the scores between North and Northwest regions of Morocco and Hofstede’s Moroccan national score following the T-test statistical analysis shows differences between at least four indices in both regions, leading to the conclusion that the regional cultural scores are statistically different from national scores.
From an economic perspective, given the increasing tendency for multinational organizations to setup subsidiaries in the North and Northwest regions of Morocco and also the importance of human resource development in contributing to learning, change strategies, and leadership development approaches aligned with the cultural values of such multinational organizations [2, 18], subcultural differences should be considered and integrated to guide effective decision making for any expansion strategies. Our research demonstrates that relying only on Hofstede’s cultural model and its national scores to implement human resource development strategies and to inform decision making when setting global plans is not enough. As Taras et al. [25] recommended, an assessment of face, content, and construct validity needs support and validation against other cross-cultural frameworks. Instead of considering only Hofstede’s scores to detect cultural behaviors or global staffing policies, Cseh et al. [5] advance that HRD professionals can guide leaders working with people from different cultures (or subcultures) and in global working environments, which is the norm in global workplaces, by offering cross-cultural training programs and experiential learning opportunities. To allow the participants to make meaning of their learning, such programs and activities have to be internalized through a self-reflective process, while targeting subcultural aspects when it concerns national subsidiaries. These programs can also help the members of an organization achieve a deeper understanding of their surroundings, impact their relationships with each other, see beyond the current established paradigms, and achieve a more peaceful world and a more productive working environment. To develop such programs, HRD professionals should have resources (e.g. list of designated persons with expertise in handling different cross-cultural situations to address regional subcultural concerns), tools (exercises leading to reflection such as journaling), and a rich portfolio of approaches (e.g. facilitation of group discussions).
We believe our research lays the theoretical foundations of such supporting programs to succeed global strategies while emphasizing the importance of incorporating regional and subcultural specificities and characteristics for effective decision making. This study has also the potential to trigger scientific and academic discussion and debate on how to develop models and culture assessment frameworks addressing the regional and subcultural dimensions and allowing for more accurate comparative analyses that could support an organization’s expansion plan, particularly when it comes to applying or making investments in HRD policies, procedures, and practices that are meant to support individual and team performance and help the organization generate value.
Following Hofstede’s previous studies, this research used a sample of managers and professional workers in a single multinational organization to show the differences between regional and national scores for at least four dimensions. To better grasp the socio-cultural characteristics of each region, future research should adopt a holistic view while incorporating other units of analysis, including regional actors, operators, and individuals. To further diagnose the subcultural level at the national level through cultural frameworks, future studies using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions should be conducted taking into consideration all social categories at the regional level while targeting both multinational and local organizations to get an in-depth understanding of each subculture.
Additionally, as the results show that Hofstede’s framework does not reflect entirely the subcultural aspects of a nation and its complexities although it is still considered a useful tool for understanding and comparing cultures on certain dimensions, the reliability and validity of an assessment in a cultural framework should be done separately at each individual, group, and country level, unless the scope of research and the dataset do not allow for such alternative approaches [25]. An assessment of face, content, construct validity, along with validation against several conditions, for instance indices from other cross-cultural comparison studies and relevant external constructs such as economic, political, demographic, and if possible behavioral indicators, should be involved comprehensively to validate the culture survey instrument and to make sure the use of a cultural framework such as Hofstede’s Model is accurate.
Finally, and concerning the use of statistical significance tests as the T-test, future research should consider statistical power whenever interpreting the results, since its analysis is particularly important to understand the results of significance tests following existing literature [8]. In this study, the sample included the managers and professional workers in a chosen multinational organization operating in the two Moroccan regions which limited the statistical power of the conducted analyses. As Hancock et al. [11] advance, when designing future studies, principally when making choices about sample size, power analysis should be prudently considered.