Outliers: The Story of Success · chapter 7 · id outliers-c7-03-hofstedes-power-distance-index

“Hofstede's Power Distance Index shows South Korea scoring high on cultural hierarchy, which directly explains why subordinates could not challenge authority figures in the cockpit.”

contestedconfidence: high⚠ extracted by pipeline, re-audit pending

Receipts

McSweeney (2002), Human Relations 55(1) -- critique of HofstedeDOI registry: valid

Hofstede's dimensions are based on surveys of IBM employees in a single company during the 1960s-70s, not nationally representative. They treat national cultures as monolithic and static, ignoring massive within-country variation.

Ailon (2008), Organization Studies -- further critique of Hofstede's internal contradictionsFLAGGED: DOI not in registry

Hofstede's framework suffers from internal contradictions and methodological problems. The dimensions do not predict individual behavior in professional contexts.

This claim is a stable, citable object. If you can falsify a verdict, tell us — corrections are loud here.