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ABSTRACT Cross-national comparisons of culture-related values are largely based on an ontology that asserts a certain 'reality': the perceived sameness of the self with social others. This ontology is predicated on the presumption that comparisons and contrasts among cultures can be based on a universal pre-ordained set of dimensions upon which commensurability of comparisons and contrasts is advanced. The present article argues that a methodological approach combining 'text' and 'context' demonstrates that the presumed sameness of the self with social others leads to a loss of context-specific, experiential understanding. The approach suggested here thus destabilizes the presumption of a universal set of dimensions upon which comparisons and contrasts among cultures have previously been made. This, in turn, destabilizes the very concept upon which cross-national comparisons have been based.
KEY WORDS * cross cultural * Hofstede * narrative * Ricoeur * text-context
Introduction
Cross-national comparisons of culture-related values (Hofstede, 1980; Trompenaars, 1993) are widely accepted for comparing and contrasting cultures and determining whether countries can be grouped according to similar values. Such cross-national comparisons have previously facilitated an understanding of cultural differences (Boyacigiller et al., 2003); however, scholarship in cross cultural management is now facing pressing challenges. There is an increasing awareness of the variability of the spoken word and of the context-dependence of thought and action. These challenges provoke pertinent questions. How can scholarship account for the variability that exists in meanings, desires and aspirations at the level of individual discourse? How can scholarship relate variability at the individual level to culture? And how can scholarship go beyond a dualistic conception of person and culture - a dualism that has previously dominated the field of cross cultural management?
Zander (2004) elaborated on some of these challenges in noting major themes in recent advances in cross cultural management. Some of these themes included the role of language, social construction, multiple identities and multiple cultures. These themes drew attention to a need to move beyond the conventional understanding whereby language is taken to correspond to a stable reality that is independent of culture. Reliance on language as a 'code' prevents a more productive approach whereby language and its creative capacities are understood to have the ability to generate multiple cultures.
Ricoeur's (1992) cultural philosophy is relevant...