Relationship between Uncertainty Avoidance Culture, Entrepreneurial Activity and Economic Development

2.
 
Literature Review and Developing Research Hypothesis
2.1.
 
Culture and Entrepreneurship 
Cross-cultural researches of Hofstede help us to distinguish the differences between beliefs, values and work acts 
(Hofstede and Bond, 1984). Culture contains beliefs, values, symbols, morals, laws, customs, opinions, religions, 
superstitions and art among people in a society (Nguyen et al., 2009; Dodor and Rana, 2007). Culture has been defined 
in different ways. Geert Hofstede determines cultu
re as “
the collective programming of the mind which separates the 
members of one group or category of people from another”
(Hofstede, 2001). In a similar way, Swartz and Davis 
(1981) describe culture as a pattern of expectations and beliefs shared by the organization
’s enrollees. Culture also 
influentially gives shape to the behaviour of individuals and groups in the organization (in Maxell, 2013). 
The Hofstede’s theoretical framework ide
ntifies four cultural dimensions: masculinity-femininity, collectivism-
individualism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance. In latter survey, Hofstede adds a new dimension called Long 
Term and Short Term Orientations (Frijns et al., 2013; Rozell et al., 2010). The five cultural aspects are described as 
(Hofstede and Bond, 1984) :
x
Power D
istance (PDI): “
The extent to which the less powerful individuals in a society accept and 
expect that power is distributed uneq
ually”
. 
x
Uncertainty A
voidance (UAI): “
The degree to which people feel threatened by ambiguous 
situations, and have created beliefs and institu
tions that try to avoid these”
. 
x
Individualism - Collectivism (IDV): Individualism is described 
as “a situation in which people are 
supposed to look after themselves and their immediate family only”. Its o
pposite, collectivism is described as 
“a situation in which people belong to in groups or collectivities which are supposed to look after them in 
exchange for 
loyalty”.
x
Masculinity - Femininity (MAS): Masculinity is described 
as “a situation in which the dominant 
values in society are success, money, and thing
s” whereas femininity is described
as “a situation in which the 
dominant values in society are caring for 
others and the quality of life”.
x
Long Term - Short Term Orientation (LTO): According to 
Hofstede (2001), “
long term orientation 
stands for the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular perseverance and thrift. In 
contrast, short term orientation stands for the fostering of virtues related to the past and present, in particular, 
respect for tradit
ion, preservation of ‘face’ and
fulfilling social 
obligations”.
On the other hand, an entrepreneur is described as a person who starts and presides over his or her own business. In 
the easiest form of this sample, potential entrepreneurs prefer beginning a business and reaping a suspended profit 
instead of being employed and gett
ing a salary (Bönte et al., 2009). Entreprene
urship is a developing discipline that 
has begun ripe in recent years, yet there is a lack of alliance on elaborately what constitutes entrepreneurism. 
Entrepreneurship is defined as a context specific social period which individuals and groups compose prosperity by 
utilizing market opportunities (Hitt et al., 2011). 
As entrepreneurial perspective was improved by a convenient cultural adaptation and framework, conceptional 
assertions about relationship between culture and entrepreneurship have subsisted with more recent empirical study for 
decades(Urban, 2006). Hofstede have not demonstrated the connection between culture and entrepreneurial activity 
independently (Mueller and Thomas, 2000; Urban, 2006). In spite of critics against it, 
Hofstede’s research of IBM 
employees on international scale provides 
a primary “mapping” of cultural dimensions with entrepreneurial traits in a 
new area. By this way, this structure is helpful to separate cultural factors and to relate them to entrepreneurial features 
(Ross and Mitchell, 2007). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are used in majority of studies related to culture and 

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