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The relationship between national wealth and national culture has been studied extensively. Economic development has been found to be related to cultural values. Other studies have found a relationship between culture and environmental sustainability. We contribute to this literature by studying the relationship between national culture and a new dependent variable: gross domestic product per capita balanced with environmental sustainability (Weighted GDPC). As predicted, we found that power distance was negatively related to weighted GDPC, whereas individualism was positively related to weighted GDPC. Implications and future research are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
The relationship between national wealth and national culture has been studied extensively in the literature. Economic development has been found to be related to cultural values with disadvantaged countries placing a higher value on economic and physical security, and developed countries placing a higher value on nonmaterial needs like freedom and quality of life. Other studies have found a relationship between culture and environmental sustainability. There exists little empirical research that investigates relationships among national culture, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Tribunella & Friedman (2010) proposed a model that incorporates both national economic and environmental needs. We build on their research by exploring the relationship between national culture and a new dependent variable: gross domestic product per capita balanced with environmental sustainability.
LITERATURE REVIEW
National Culture and Economic Development
Tang & Koveos (2008) offer an extensive literature review of the relationship between national wealth and national culture. They found economic development was related to cultural values. Research has found economically disadvantaged countries place higher value on economic and physical security, and developed countries place higher value on nonmaterial needs like freedom, self-expression, and quality of life (Inglehart & Abramson, 1994; Leung, 2006). Other research has examined the impact of economic development on Hofstede's (1980, 2001) cultural dimensions: power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation. For example, economic development in China has been linked to changes in work values with the new generation of Chinese managers placing a higher value on individualism and less importance on Confucian values than older generations of managers (Ralston, Egri, Stewart, Terpstra, & Yu, 1999). Hofstede (1980, 2001) found a significant relationship between GNP per capita and power distance and individualism. GNP per capita was positively related to...