Multidimensional versus unidimensional measures in assessing national culture values: The Hofstede VSM 94 example

Recent attention in the national culture literature has been given to the question of applying sociological, group-level measures to psychological, individual-level phenomenon. The current study addresses this measurement issue by examining the most widely used measures of national culture values: those developed by Hofstede and his colleagues using the Value Survey Module (VSM) and an updated version, the VSM 94. Hofstede's country-level index scores are applied by some researchers on an individual level, which was never the intended use of the indices. In doing so, the unidimensional aspects of these indices fail to represent the multidimensional nature of an individual's cultural values. The current research involved two large studies, including data collected from over 1400 subjects in four countries. Analysis of the validity of the VSM 94 measures reveals a number of shortcomings. Our findings demonstrate the unsuitability of using measures designed for unidimensional constructs to represent multidimensional, individual-level traits.