AIB-SE (USA) 2004 Annual Meeting, Knoxville, TN

THE IMPACT OF DEMOGRAPHIC HETEROGENEITY ON THE NATIONAL CULTURE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA Michael Mbheki Sithole, Globe Institute of Technology Barbara Dastoor, Nova Southeastern University
This study aimed at investigating an all-inclusive South African National Culture based on Hofstedes five cultural dimensions Power Distance, Masculinity/femininity, Individualism/collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance, LongTerm/short-term Orientation. Hofstedes (1980) seminal work included South Africa and his study focused on White English speakers only to the exclusion of Blacks, Asians, Coloreds, and non-English speaking Whites. The existence of distinct sub-cultures in South Africa is well documented. The study identified significant cultural differences between the four main race groups Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Coloreds. It also compiled overall dimension scores for an all-inclusive South African national culture and compared them with Hofstedes findings on culture dimensions. The implications of these findings impact business and managerial decisions, communication, motivation, discipline and marketing efforts. They also impact diversity sensitivity programs. Future research opportunities were also identified relationships with economic indicators, impact of education, age, gender, and job category. The need to investigate the impact of sub-groups within Blacks, Whites, Asians, and Coloreds was also identified.

Introduction
This study examined the cultural values of an all-inclusive South African national culture by surveying Whites, Coloreds, Asians, and Blacks. The South African national culture described by Geert Hofstede (1980) was a result of a study that surveyed white English speakers only, and it ignored the presence of others races in the country. The study also tested whether or not there are cultural differences between White, Coloreds, Asians, and Blacks in South Africa. This up-to-date information on South Africa's multi-cultural background and its collective influence on its national culture has several potential benefits. It can provide both the scholastic and corporate world with better insights into the dynamics of the new South African society and its culture. It relates to appropriate communication styles, recruitment, training, promotion and indeed the profitability of local and multi-national companies operating in the country. The five cultural dimensions described by Hofstede (1980) have been successfully employed in two South African studies. (Bendixen & Burger,1998) in their study Cross-Cultural Management Philosophies reported that management educators should strive for an integrated approach and note that both management experience and management education are important. Their study seemed to indicate that the development of Afro-centric approach incorporating indigenous values and humanism and ubuntu is not indicated. Their limited convenience sample undermines the generalizability of their findings. Thomas & Bendixen,(2000) in their study The Management Implications of Ethnicity in South Africa reported that among their middle management sample representing Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Coloreds found no difference in the five cultural dimension means. They concluded that employee diversity should not adversely affect management performance. The study had a limited sample, 586 managers of which 286 were white respondents, 40 Asian respondents, 50 Colored respondents and 210 Black respondents. A study conducted by Orpen in 1982 demonstrated differences in individualism and collectivism among blacks and whites in South Africa. Blacks clerks felt that support for peer and leader was more important in organizations but among white clerks this was not the case. South Africa has many cultural and ethnic groups. The four officially recognized race groups are generally described as follows: (1) White South Africans are South Africans with a European ancestry; this includes British, Dutch, Jewish, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. (2) Indians/Asians are South Africans of Indian, Pakistani, and Arab ancestry. (3) Coloreds are those of mixed race. (4) Blacks/ Bantu/Africans are South Africans natives. The

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limited number of recent studies on South Africans, and their limitations in terms of sample sizes clearly demonstrates the need for additional research. Hence, the research described below was careful to include adequate sample sizes for the four race groups, to draw the samples from various geographic locations throughout South Africa and to provide necessary assistance to potential respondents who might have difficulties responding to a written questionnaire. In addition, to hold the effects of differences attributable to a variety of organizational cultures, respondents worked for a single company. The population for the study included South Africans of all races; it is described next along with descriptions of the company and data collection procedures. Survey instruments were distributed to employees of Portnet, South Africa, a parastatal controlled by the Department of Public Enterprises Ministry. It employs more than half a million workers with a wide range of education, trade qualifications and skills. The company is controlled by a Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Siyabonga Gama, who reports to the Minister of Public Enterprises. Headquarters in Johannesburg in the Gauteng province, Portnet controls Durban harbor, South Africas main import/export harbor that serves all the Southern African countries including Swaziland, leSotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, and Botswana. Portnet also operates the following sea ports: Richards Bay, Port Elizabeth, East London, Capetown and Saldhana Bay. The large operations of Portnet and its countrywide services render it the ideal company for the study of South Africa's National Culture. The Portnet Chief Executive Officer authorized data collection in his company, and Portnets human resources department distributed the questionnaires to all the ports. The selection of respondents was by computerized random selection involving the staff of all the ports. 500 questionnaires were distributed to each of the four groups Whites, Coloreds, Asians and Blacks. The human resources department, with extensive experience in survey distribution and data collection, also maintains employment history records including education, promotion, and length of service. The criteria for inclusion in the study were at least a high school diploma, or technical or college education. The criteria were aimed at ensuring that all the participants have a working understanding of the English language. English is a second language to Afrikaners, Blacks, Indians and some Coloreds. It is, however, the business language of South Africa. Respondents were drawn from operational workers, supervisors, and all levels of management. The questionnaires and cover letter, assuring respondents of the confidential nature of the research and request for support, were be distributed by e-mail to the staff with a request for the return of completed surveys to the researcher via e-mail. The literacy rate remains low in South Africa. The administration of the VSM 94 instrument to respondents with standard 10 or higher would restrict the population to 22.6% of the total population, 16.4 percent standard 10 and 6.2% college graduates. This 22.6% includes 15.1% Blacks, 16.6% Coloreds, 40.4% Indian and 64.8% Whites. Only 8.6% of the total population lists English as their first language compared to 14.4% Afrikaans and 83% Black languages. The elimination of bias towards English speaking respondents necessitated the translation of The VSM 94 instrument to Zulu/Xhosa; the main Nguni languages. The translated VSM 94 instruments were be subjected to pretest/post test on 20 respondents of Zulu and Xhosa language groups. Two college graduates, trained to conduct interviews, assisted semi literate and illiterate respondents with the completion of the survey. This procedure was successfully applied by Bendixen and Burger (1998) in data collection in South Africa. The VSM 94 surveys were distributed to 1000 Transnet employees in four South African cities with the approval of the Chief Executive Officer of Portnet. 500 survey instruments were administered to White, Black, Asian, and Colored respondents in Johannesburg and Pretoria in the Gauteng Province ( headquarters staff ), Durban in the KwaZulu/Natal Province, and Cape Town in the Western Cape Province. The respondents had a minimum education of a high school diploma and included operational employees, supervisors, middle and upper management. Completed surveys were be shipped by e-mail to the researcher. Hard copies of completed survey instruments were shipped to the researcher by DHL courier by the two college graduate data collectors.

Survey Instrument
The Value Survey Module (VSM 94) instrument was used for data collection. The Value Survey Module was first published in Hofstede's work - Culture's Consequences (1980) and later in Cultures and Organizations : Software of the Mind (1991). It consists of 20 basic content questions and 6 socio-demographic questions. It takes about 10 minutes to complete the survey. The VSM 94 has been validated in countless research around the globe. Its reliability has been established in the analysis of national variations in income distribution, defense spending,

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administrative cultures and religious values. The primary data was collected from employees of IBM, a large multinational company. The company collected employee attitude data from its international employees between 1967 and 1973. Two survey rounds produced 116,000 questionnaires from 72 countries in 20 languages. The main focus was on country differences in responses to questions on employee values

Hypotheses
The first hypothesis compared the South African National culture ( total sample representing Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Coloreds ) with the South African National culture reported by Hofstede in his 1980 seminal research. Four hypotheses compare four different South African sub-groups to the South African Anglo-Saxon culture on the five cultural dimensions. H1O: There is no difference on the cultural values between the South African National Culture (current data) and the Anglo-Saxon culture (identified by Hofstede in 1980). H1A : There is a difference on the cultural values between the South African National Culture (current data) and the Anglo-Saxon culture (identified by Hofstede in (1980) . H20 : There is no difference between the South African White sub-culture and the Anglo- Saxon culture. H2A : There is a difference between the South African White sub-culture and the Anglo- Saxon culture. H30 : There is no difference between the South African Black sub-culture and the Anglo- Saxon culture. H3A : There is a difference between the South African Black sub-culture and the Anglo- Saxon culture. H40 : There is no difference between the South African Asian sub-culture and the Anglo-Saxon culture. H4A : There is a difference between the South African Asian sub-culture and the Anglo- Saxon culture. H5O : There is no difference between the South African Colored sub-culture and the Anglo-Saxon culture. H5A : There is a difference between the South African Colored sub-culture and the Anglo-Saxon culture.

Data Analysis
Responses were coded according to the formula of the VSM 94 manual to obtain a score for each culture dimension. VSM 94 demographic data age, gender, education, and occupation. An item was added asking for race information to permit comparisons between the four groups. Table 1 presents the scores by race groups based on the data collected for this study and those reported by Hofstede (1980). The latter appear in the first row, and the all-inclusive South African national culture scores for the present study in the second row. The last four rows report the scores by race groups based on the data collected for this study. Hypothesis 1. The null hypothesis that there was no difference between Hofstedes reported South African National Index Scores and the present study was supported only in respect of the PDI cultural dimension. The alternate hypothesis that there was a difference between Hofstedes reported National Index Scores and the present study was supported in respect of IDV, MAS, and UAI cultural dimensions. Hypothesis 2. The null hypothesis that there were no differences between Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African White sub-culture was rejected and the alternate hypothesis that there exist differences between the Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African White sub-culture was supported in respect of PDI, IDV, MAS and UAI. Hypothesis 3. The null hypothesis that there were no differences between Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African Black sub-culture was rejected and the alternate hypothesis that there exist differences between Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African Black sub-culture was supported in respect of PDI, IDV, MAS, and UAI. Hypothesis 4. The null hypothesis that there were no differences between Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African Asian sub-culture was rejected and the alternate hypothesis that there exist differences between

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Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African Asian sub-culture was supported in respect of PDI, IDV, MAS, and UAI.

Hypothesis 5. The null hypothesis that there were no differences between Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African Colored sub-culture was supported in respect of IDV and UAI. It was rejected in respect of PDI and MAS. The alternate hypothesis that there exist differences between Hofstedes reported South African National Culture and the South African Colored sub-culture was rejected in respect of IDV and UAI. It was supported in respect of PDI and MAS. The major findings of the present study confirmed the existence of differences in Index Scores reported by Hofstede (1980) and the present research. The study found differences between the White, Black, Asian and Colored sub-cultures and Hofstedes (1980) National Cultural Index Scores. In a study by Thomas and Bendixen (2000) that focused on middle management staff in South Africa, the five cultural dimensions scores were PDI 1, IDV 81, MAS 34, UAI 48 and LTO 45. The present study is at variance with these findings PDI 49, IDV 77, MAS 39, UAI 46 and LTO 28. It is important to note that the high IDV score reported by Hofstede (1980) has been consistently found in studies by Thomas and Bendixen and the present study. The extremely low PDI reported by Thomas and Bendixen is at variance both with the present study and with the seminal work by Hofstede (1980). Thomas and Bendixens MAS and UAI index scores are consistent with the present study. Their LTO index score is also at variance with the findings of the present study. The Asian community of South Africa differs from the Indian and other Asian communities in the five cultural dimensions. Although this community arrived in South Africa as indentured laborers to support the fledgling sugar cane industry, they have developed into a model community. They are second only to the white community in educational accomplishments. They have the highest percentage of professionally trained people doctors, lawyers, judges, professors etc, they dominate the highest positions in the public sector and they have three ministers in the present government despite their numerical strength. Asians are the smallest race in the country. The existence of differences in the index scores of Blacks, Whites, Coloreds and Asians was confirmed in the present study. These findings are consistent with the diverse sub-cultures of these racial groups. It must be noted, however, that the study conducted by Thomas and Bendixen focused solely on middle managers in South Africa and the preponderance of Whites in this group is a South African reality. The respondents in their study were Whites 286, Asians 40, Coloreds 50 and Blacks 210.

Implications
The present study fills the void resulting from the lack of a study from a sample that included the whole population in South Africa. The exclusion of the South African data from the results published by Inglehart et al (1998) in their Attitude questions in the 1990-93 World Values Survey was based on the reality that the South African National Index Scores were based on the responses of white South Africans only. South Africa has a large power distance and strong uncertainty avoidance. This combination of cultural dimensions also characterizes Latin, Mediterranean, Islamic, and some Asian countries including Japan. Hofstede (2000) reports that these countries favor a full bureaucratic organization type whose implicit model is a pyramid.. The diverse South African sub-cultures and their differences on the cultural dimensions power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and short/long term orientation present a challenge to managers in their interaction with their staff. Cultural diversity presents both challenges and opportunities in the success of managerial interventions. The disparity in uncertainty avoidance, evident in the South African sub-cultures, pose a challenge to international marketers charged with the promotion of unfamiliar products in South Africa. Brand loyalty plays an important role in the buying habits of most South African market segments. Sithole & Hall, ( 2001.) The present research findings of high uncertainty avoidance supports the reported high brand loyalty especially among the

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Blacks in South Africa. Diversity awareness plays a key role in the evolving South African market segments. The shifts in the white South African index scores, evident in the present study, underscores the magnitude of the transformation of the South African society ushered in by the advent of the demise of the apartheid political system and the democratization of the country. The UAI score of 22 is much lower than the 49 score, the MAS score of 21 shows a significant drop from 63 and the PDI score of 42 also shows a lower index than the 49 reported by Hofstede (1980). There are limitations of the present study. The number of Colored and Asian respondents, though well above the 20 minimum recommended by Hofstede (1991), could have at least been above 50, a figure recommended by Hofstede (1991) for a meaningful sample size.

Future Research
While the present study focused on the South African sub-cultures, there exist avenues of fruitful pursuit. The demographic data collected using the VSM 94 enables the study of the effects of gender, age, and job categories on the five cultural dimensions power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance and long term/short term orientation. The present study focused on the main sub-cultures in South Africa. It did not address the white sub-cultures Afrikaner versus Anglo Saxon, the main black sub-cultures Nguni versus Sotho, and Asian sub-cultures Hindu versus Muslim. There could be differences in the cultural index scores of managers and non-management staff. There is evidence of the influence economic activity gross national product and long-term/short term orientation, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, and masculinity and power distance Hofstede (1980). A study of the South African economic indicators and their possible correlation with the cultural dimensions would be a fruitful area of study.

References
Bendixen, M. and Burger, B. (1998) Cross-Cultural Management Philosophies. Journal of Business Research. 42, 101-114. Hofstede, G.(1980a) Cultures Consequences : International Differences in Work-Related Values. Sage Publications. Beverly Hills London. Hofstede, G.(1984a) Cultures Consequences : International Differences in Work-Related Values. Abridged edition. Sage Publications. Beverly Hills London. P 111-191. Hofstede, G.(1991) Cultures in Organizations : Software of the Mind. McGraw Hill. London. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences Second Edition : Comparing Values,Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Sage Publications. Beverly Hills. London. Inglehart, R. Basanez, M. and Moreno, A. (1998) Human Values and Beliefs : Cross-Cultural Source Book. University of Michigan Press. Orpen, C. (1982) The effect of social support on reactions to role ambiguity and conflict: A study among white and black clerks in South Africa. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13, p 375-384. Thomas, A. & Bendixen, M. (2000) The Management Implications of Ethnicity in South Africa. Journal of International Business Studies. 31,3. 507-519. Sithole, M. & Hall, S. (2000) Cultural Influence in Global Marketing : A South Africa Perspective. Association of Marketing Theory and Practice. World Bank (1997) World Development Report New York: Oxford University Press.

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