Page 321 - Cultures and Organizations

286 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

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darity. In Geert’s earlier publications, this distinction was conceptually

associated with uncertainty avoidance, but he did not find objective ways of
measuring it. 15
The indulgence versus restraint dimension solves the paradox of the
poor Filipinas who are happier than the rich citizens of Hong Kong. The
Philippines in Table 8.1 can be seen to rank higher on indulgence than Hong
Kong, but still a lot lower than societies in northern Latin America or some
western African nations.
The correlations of IVR with the IBM dimensions described in this
book are as follows: IVR shows a weak negative correlation with power dis-
tance (PDI), indicating a slight tendency for more hierarchical societies to
be less indulgent. It is not correlated with the other IBM dimensions, nor
with long-term orientation as measured with the Chinese Values Survey
(LTO-CVS). 16
The relationship of IVR with LTO-WVS is shown in Figure 8.1, which
crosses the two dimensions among ninety common countries. The overall
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correlation is signifi cantly negative. This is to be expected, in view of
the lack of support in indulgent societies for thrift as a desirable trait in
children. However, the common variance of LTO-WVS and IVR is just 20
percent, much less than, for example, the 35 percent shared variance of two
other established dimensions, PDI and IDV.
The quadrants of the diagram show a clear regional pattern. The
relatively rare combination of high indulgence plus long-term orientation
groups nine European Union member countries plus Switzerland, Taiwan,
and Singapore. The most common pattern—high indulgence plus short-
term orientation—groups twelve Latin American countries, four African
countries, four Anglo countries, five northern European countries, four

southern European countries, and two Southeast Asian countries. The next

most common pattern—restraint plus long-term orientation—groups nine
East and South Asian countries, nineteen Eastern European countries, and
a few others. The rarer combination of restraint plus short-term orienta-
tion is found in five Muslim countries, six black African countries, and a

few others.
Statistically, there is a positive relationship between indulgence and
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national wealth, significant but weak. National wealth explains about 10

percent of country differences in indulgence. Restraint is somewhat more
likely under poverty, which makes sense.