Tools / Culture Comparators

Culture Comparators

Three lenses on how workplace culture differs by country, on one page. Start with the directional Culture Map estimates, cross-check against real Hofstede scores, then see the whole values landscape on the live World Values map.

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Caveat: these are broad, directional patterns for reflection, not rules about individuals. Individual, regional, generational, company, class, and context differences are often bigger than the country-level trend. Use this to ask better questions, not to stereotype.

Where the placements come from: these are directional approximations based on Erin Meyer's eight Culture Map dimensions. Low, Middle, and High divide each scale into equal thirds. The precise coordinates only position the dots; they are not official country scores or licensed Erin Meyer data.

Framework: Erin Meyer, The Culture Map
Dimension descriptions/examples: Harvard Business Review, “Navigating the Cultural Minefield”
Official paid country-comparison tool: Culture Map Premium

Type countries to compare

Common countries

How to read this

Each chart is a left-to-right continuum. Further left tends toward the left-hand style; further right tends toward the right-hand style.
Pastel dashed lines connect each country across dimensions, e.g. Communicating → Evaluating → Persuading.
Low, Middle, and High divide each axis into thirds. Country dots remain directional estimates, not official ratings.

Supplementary: Hofstede's 6 Cultural Dimensions

A second, independent lens. Unlike the Culture Map section above, these are real published scores, not estimates. Geert Hofstede's six dimensions rank countries 0-100; pick countries to see where they land.

Where these numbers come from: the actual 0-100 values from Geert Hofstede's dimension data matrix, which he releases as free open data for reuse. The first four dimensions trace to IBM employee surveys in the late 1960s-70s; Long-Term Orientation and Indulgence were added later using World Values Survey data (Michael Minkov, 2000s). Scores are dated - treat them as directional, since cultures shift. Countries without a full six-dimension score (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Israel's Indulgence) are omitted here. Newer but less-open alternatives include the GLOBE study (2004) and the World Values Survey's Inglehart-Welzel map.

Type countries to compare

Common countries

How to read the Hofstede dimensions

Power Distance - acceptance of unequal power. High = steep hierarchy is expected and accepted.
Individualism - high = "I" and self-reliance; low = "we" and group loyalty.
Achievement vs Caring - Hofstede's "Masculinity". High = competition and success; low = cooperation and quality of life.
Uncertainty Avoidance - high = wants rules and structure; low = comfortable with ambiguity.
Long-Term Orientation - high = pragmatic, future-focused, thrifty; low = tradition and quick results.
Indulgence - high = free gratification and leisure; low = restraint and strict social norms.
Each number is Hofstede's published country score for that dimension.

Newer alternatives

Two frameworks that postdate Hofstede's original surveys, each with different trade-offs.

Not open data

GLOBE study (House et al., 2004)

Nine cultural dimensions across 62 societies, surveyed in the 1990s-2000s. More recent and methodologically richer than Hofstede - it separates cultural practices ("as is") from values ("should be"). Trade-off: the full country scores aren't cleanly open or free, and the practices-vs-values split is hard to present simply, so it isn't built into a comparator here.

globeproject.com →

Open · current

World Values Survey / Inglehart-Welzel map

The most current option - the latest wave ran 2017-2022 and the data is openly published. Trade-off: it compresses culture into just two dimensions and leans toward broad societal values more than workplace behavior. Because it's open, it's plotted live below.

worldvaluessurvey.org →

The Inglehart-Welzel cultural map: each country sits on two axes - Traditional ↔ Secular-rational (vertical) and Survival ↔ Self-expression (horizontal). Positions are the factor scores from World Values Survey waves (mostly wave 7, 2017-2022; survey year shows on hover), via an open replication dataset. Up = more secular-rational; right = more self-expression. Taiwan and Hong Kong aren't in the WVS aggregation, so they're absent here.

Focus mode

Secular-rational

Traditional

Survival

Self-expression

Search or click a dot to highlight countries; hover any dot for its two scores. Focus mode hides the rest. Codes match the sections above.