Geert Hofstede Manual Vsm94
V S M 94
VALUES SURVEY MODULE 1994
MANUAL
by Geert Hofstede
MAY BE FREELY USED FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES
FOR REPRODUCTION IN COMMERCIAL PUBLICATIONS,
PERMISSION IS NEEDED
Copyright ( Geert Hofstede BV hofstede@bart.nl Contents
How to use and not to use the VSM 94 3
1. Formulas for index calculation 4
History of the VSM 94 7
2. Comparison of the VSM 94 with the VSM 82 8 3. A note on translations 10 4. Literature 10
1. How to use and not to use the VSM 94
The Values Survey Module 1994 (VSM 94) is a 26-item questionnaire developed for comparing culturally determined values of people from two or more countries or regions.
It allows scores to be computed on five dimensions of national or regional culture, on the basis of four questions per dimension: for this, it needs 5 x 4 = 20 questions. The remaining six questions are demographic; they ask for the respondent’s gender, age, education level, kind of job, present nationality, and nationality at birth.
Experience has shown that the answers to the 20 content questions vary substantially between nationalities. This is not to say that every respondent of one nationality gives one answer and everyone of another nationality gives another answer, but on average, a sample of respondents of nationality A will (nearly) always score higher, or always score lower, than a comparable sample of people of nationality B (in statistical terms, an analysis of variance shows a significant country effect).
However, answers to the 20 content questions will also be influenced by other characteristics of the respondents, such as gender, age, level of education, occupation, kind of work, and year that the survey was held. Therefore,
VALUES SURVEY MODULE 1994
MANUAL
by Geert Hofstede
MAY BE FREELY USED FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES
FOR REPRODUCTION IN COMMERCIAL PUBLICATIONS,
PERMISSION IS NEEDED
Copyright ( Geert Hofstede BV hofstede@bart.nl Contents
How to use and not to use the VSM 94 3
1. Formulas for index calculation 4
History of the VSM 94 7
2. Comparison of the VSM 94 with the VSM 82 8 3. A note on translations 10 4. Literature 10
1. How to use and not to use the VSM 94
The Values Survey Module 1994 (VSM 94) is a 26-item questionnaire developed for comparing culturally determined values of people from two or more countries or regions.
It allows scores to be computed on five dimensions of national or regional culture, on the basis of four questions per dimension: for this, it needs 5 x 4 = 20 questions. The remaining six questions are demographic; they ask for the respondent’s gender, age, education level, kind of job, present nationality, and nationality at birth.
Experience has shown that the answers to the 20 content questions vary substantially between nationalities. This is not to say that every respondent of one nationality gives one answer and everyone of another nationality gives another answer, but on average, a sample of respondents of nationality A will (nearly) always score higher, or always score lower, than a comparable sample of people of nationality B (in statistical terms, an analysis of variance shows a significant country effect).
However, answers to the 20 content questions will also be influenced by other characteristics of the respondents, such as gender, age, level of education, occupation, kind of work, and year that the survey was held. Therefore,