Leading Cultural Research in the Future: A Matter of Paradigms and Taste

The styles and approaches used in cross-cultural organizational research are nearly as varied as the cultures under study. We see two variations of one dominant style in the work of Hofstede and the GLOBE research consortium. In this commentary, I shall place these approaches in context and discuss alternatives that seem to be highly promising but largely overlooked. Based on this analysis, I conclude that it may well be time that this form of large-scale, multi-country survey be set aside for the development of alternative mid-range theories having a more direct application and explanation for organizational phenomena in a cultural and national context.