Global Clustering of Countries by Culture – An Extension of the GLOBE Study

Abstract

In the “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness" (GLOBE) Research Program (House et al., 2004; Chokkar et al., 2007), research collaborators around the world studied leadership attributes by first grouping 62 societies around the world into 10 country clusters based on their cultural similarities. Because the groupings were based on empirical cultural dimensions obtained from individuals surveyed from these countries, the extension of their methodology to include additional countries would similarly require such survey data. The difficulty of obtaining such data has hitherto prevented their cultural groupings from being extended to other countries beyond those included initially.

The objective of this study is to derive a statistical model of their country cultural clustering using observable and easily obtained data from the countries included in the original study. We use multivariate discriminant analysis to examine the observable attributes of the countries used in the original GLOBE clusters, using the following factors: (1) racial/ethnic distribution; (2) religious distribution; (3) geographic proximity of the countries; (4) major language distribution; and (5) colonial heritage. Based on the degree of fit of the statistical model (discriminant analysis), we classify all other countries into the 10 cultural clusters identified in the GLOBE study. Finally, using the results from the statistical analysis, we derive general rules of thumb for classifying countries into the same 10 cultural clusters. This extension enables researchers seeking to apply global cultural groupings in their study to have a more reliable basis to do so.

Keywords: cultural cluster, country grouping, GLOBE study, taxonomy of cultures

JEL Classification: D73, K42, N30, N40