This book overcomes the limitations of existing models of national culture by presenting a novel archetypal methodology that captures heterogeneity within and between nations in a simple manner. The authors incorporate this methodology into a new, empirically derived theory of nations as composites of diverse culture configurations (or archetypes). The theory, which is illustrated through data on secular and emancipative values obtained from the European and World Value Surveys, shows the unity and diversity of these values across 117 nations, and identifies trends in global culture over four decades. Based on the authors' research, the book argues that universal archetypes capture the unity and diversity of the global cultural mosaic with precision and fidelity. By reflecting the reality of changing culture around the world with greater clarity, the book's novel approach provides a comprehensive lens for international business scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to view, understand and explain culture-related phenomena.

Why do different groups of people behave in different ways when dealing with the common challenges of human life? The answer often lies in their cultural attitudes, values, and consequent behaviours. The study of human culture has been deemed a key contribution to understanding human life for many centuries. Explanations and descriptions of cultural characteristics abound, but in the field of business, none have been more influential and warmly embraced than those developed by Geert Hofstede and the GLOBE group. These models of national culture, which characterise Japanese, Americans, French and may other nationalities in terms of common characteristics such as collectivism, masculinity, and power distance, are the most widely cited and applied in business research, teaching and recommendations for practice. But this seminal work needs a careful reality check. The authors of this book point out a range of problems associated with the Hofstede and GLOBE national culture measures which bring into question their accuracy and usefulness in meeting the expectations of management culture researchers and students. This book explains in detail why the measures developed by Hofstede and GLOBE are of dubious validity and why they should be viewed with caution by those looking for answers to the complex questions of culture.