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National Level Culture and Global Diffusion 91

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research. With these caveats in mind, a discussion of potential na-
tional cultural dimensions follows.
Studies attempting to identify national cultural characteristics
are plentiful. One of the most widely used sets of national cultural
characteristics are those established by Geert Hofstede (1980). Hof-
stede analyzed survey data from an international sample of IBM em-
4
ployees from 1967 to 1973. The survey questions were designed to
measure work-related values. Hofstede used these measures of val-
ues, which are a component of culture, to identify national level cul-
tural characteristics common among all of the respondents. He then
created scales that provided a score on each of the characteristics for
each of the fifty-one countries represented in the sample.
Hofstede found national cultures vary on five dimensions: indi-
vidualism vs. collectivism, femininity vs. masculinity, long-term vs.
short-term orientation in life, power distance, and uncertainty
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avoidance (Hofstede 1997). For four of the five national cultural di-
mensions the implications for diffusion of interactive networks are
inconclusive. Based on descriptions of the dimensions, contradictory
hypotheses predicting both an increase and decrease in the speed of
diffusion can be developed. This does not imply that the cultural di-
mensions are irrelevant for the study of interactive network diffu-
sion. It does, however, highlight the need for a theoretical structure
to more accurately predict the direction of the relationships. 6
The one dimension that is theoretically unambiguous in terms
of its implications for diffusion of interactive networks is uncertainty
avoidance. The uncertainty avoidance dimension is reported as an
index and is interpreted as the extent to which the members of a cul-
ture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. In coun-
tries with low uncertainty avoidance (Jamaica, Denmark) it is
common that motivation comes from achievement, esteem or be-
longingness; there is a high tolerance for deviant or innovative ideas
and behavior. In strong uncertainty avoidance countries (Greece,
Portugal) there is resistance to innovation and motivation for work
comes from security as well as esteem and belongingness. The im-
plications of uncertainty avoidance for diffusion of an innovation are
clear. In low uncertainty avoidance cultures new ideas will be more
readily accepted than in high uncertainty avoidance cultures. Thus,
low uncertainty avoidance cultures should experience faster rates of
diffusion of new technologies.
In addition to using generic national cultural variables, re-
search by DeKimpe, Parker, and Sarvary (1997) suggests the vari-
ables used in a diffusion study should match the innovation being