Pakstudy#2
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nimra rafiISSN 2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
1
Cultural Diversity In
Pakistan: National Vs
Provincial
Syed Afzal Moshadi
Shah*
Dr. Shehla Amjad*
*COMSATS Institute of
Information, Technology,
Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Email address:
afzalshah@ciit.net.pk
Abstract
The purpose of the research
was to investigate the
cultural dimensions of the
four provinces of Pakistan
i.e. Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan of Pakistan and
their comparison with national
culture. The research
capitalizes upon the
methodology devised by
Hofstede et. al (2008) in order
to investigate the cultural
dimensions. A total 557
questionnaires were used in
order to reach the final
analysis by using descriptive
statistics and test of
significance. Research
findings show an existence of
a cultural
diversity among different
provinces of Pakistan, where
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)
possessing the most
distinctive culture. Beside
provincial disparity with
national culture on one to one
basis, it does not affect the
results on aggregate basis.
Hence the national culture
remains a true
representation of the
country. The nature of
subcultures within provinces
and the level of their impact
was the major
limitation of the research.
The research would benefit
businesses in Pakistan at
large both local and Multi-
national organizations.
VSM-08 is the latest version
of all the methodologies
devised by Hofstede. No
study has yet been
conducted in Pakistan to
identify
cultural dimensions on
province level using the
parameters defined in this
model. Future research on
different management and
marketing
aspects in Pakistani culture
can be conducted in the light
of this research.
Keywords: Cultural
dimensions, Provincial culture,
National Culture, Hofstede.
1. Introduction
Pakistan came into
existence on August, 14,
1947 from British Rule.
Its population in 2009
is about 174.58 million
with an area of 340, 499
sq mi (Britannica.com,
2010). Islam is the major
religion of the people of
Pakistan. It is a Muslim
dominated country with
95 percent Muslim and
only 5 percent others.
However, being a
pathway to many military
conquests in the history,
it has
given birth to several
ethnic groups. The
interaction between
invaders and the locals
had given
birth to a common
language called Urdu;
however the locals kept
their particular ethnic
and
cultural values alive. The
distribution of ethnic
groups in numerical size
and on language basis
include: Punjabis,
Pashtuns, Sindhis,
Seraikis, Muhajirs,
Balochis, Hindkowans,
Chitralis and
other smaller groups.
Table-1: Ethnic group
composition in Pakistan
Ethnic Group Percentage
of the total
population
Punjabis 44.15%
Pushtoons 15.42%
Sindhis 14.1%
Serakis 10.53%
Muhajirs – Urdu Speaking
7.57%
Balocuhis 3.57%
Others 4.66%
Source: Heritage Online
(2010)
ISSN 2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
2
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) is the northernmost
province of Pakistan.
Major languages in the
province are Pashto &
Hindko. Peshawar is the
Provincial capital. Punjab
is situated on eastern
side of Pakistan. Major
languages of the
province are Punjabi &
Seraki. Sindh is on the
south of
Pakistan and by the
Arabian Sea. Sindhi
language is the major
language of the
province. On
westernmost site of
Pakistan is situated the
province of
Balouchistan. Pashtun
(Pathan) and
Baloch make the two
distinct and major ethnic
groups of the province,
while Sindh origin being
on the third.
Despite the fact that
Urdu is the national
language of the country;
still there does not exists
a single language that is
spoken throughout the
country. According to
Britannica.com (2010), all
the principal languages
possess a strong
regional focus, beside
the fact that some of
the
languages may exist in
other regions as well.
However, each of the
four provinces is named
after
their main dominating
sub-culture such as
Sindhi in Sindh, Balochi
in Balochistan, Pushton
in
Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa
and Punjabi in Punjab.
The purpose of this study
is to investigate the
cultural differences
between the provinces of
Pakistan using Hofstede
Framework for Cultural
Differences as a tool. The
study was conducted
on the university
students of all the four
provinces. The limitation
in Hofstede’s work is
beyond
the scope of this study.
1.1 Statement of the
problem
Pakistan is a multi-
cultural country that
comprises of different
sub-cultures. Employees
encounter these
differences several
times a day while
dealing with colleagues,
customers,
suppliers etc. The
dealing solely relies on
the cultural orientation
of that employee.
There is a
need to devise a
proper training
procedure that equips
employees with cross
cultural
understanding and ways
to effectively manage
these relationships.
Hence unfolding the
cultural
differences within the
country would be the first
step to start the journey.
1.2 Objectives of the
study:
The overall objective of
the research is to
investigate the cultural
dimensions of Pakistan.
More specifically:
1. To assess the nature
of National and Provincial
culture.
2. To assess the cultural
diversity among
provinces.
3. To assess the
relationship between
National and Provincial
culture.
1.3 Hypotheses:
In the light of the above
mentioned objectives,
following hypotheses
have been defined for
empirical testing:
1. There exists a cultural
diversity among different
provinces of Pakistan.
2. There exists a
difference between
National culture and
Provincial culture.
3. There exists a
disparity between
National culture and an
average of total
Provincial
culture.
4. There exists parity
between different
provinces on the basis of
certain cultural variables.
ISSN 2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
3
Figure1. Conceptual
Framework
2. Literature Review
Culture as per Oxford
dictionary is an
“Intellectual and artistic
achievements or
expression
or refined appreciation of
the arts etc., or customs,
achievements etc. of a
particular civilization
or group”.
Hodgetts et. al. (2006)
defined culture as an
acquired knowledge
that people use to
interpret experiences and
generate social behavior.
This acquired knowledge
further form values,
creates attitude and
influence behavior.
Tayeb (2001) defines
culture as an outcome
of a
relationship between two
or three people over a
length of time, which
may be their own unique
culture.
Cultural differences may
be examined in several
ways to understand
their impact on
international businesses.
The best way probably
would be to investigate
its impacts on how
people think and behave
(Hodgetts, 2006).
Another way to depict
culture is through
concentric
circles that are
demonstrated in figure-2.
Provinces
Individulism vs
Collectivism (IDV)
Uncertainty
Avoidance (UAI)
Power distance (PDI)
Masculinity vs.
Femininity (MAS)
Long term orientation
(LTO)
Monumentalism
(MON)
Indulgence vs.
Restraint (IVR)
Punjab Sindh
Nation If there is a country whose culture is
starkly contrasted by its international image, it has
to be Pakistan. Pakistanis all over the world often
face the dilemma of explaining what their culture
really entails, thanks to years of news-media
exaggeration and agenda setting. Beyond
democratic and economic disappointment dwells a
world of Pakistani civil society that works resiliently
against all odds to keep what matters most intact:
the country’s vibrant culture. Let’s try to get to know
Pakistan a little better. Pakistan. Pakistanis all over the world often face the
dilemma of explaining what their culture really entails, thanks to years of news-media
exaggeration and agenda setting. Beyond democratic and economic disappointment dwells a
world of Pakistani civil society that works resiliently against all odds to keep what matters most
intact: the country’s vibrant culture. Let’s try to get to know Pakistan a
Assignment # 02
Assignment Topic: Pakistani Culture
Subject: Pakistan Study
Submitted by: Nimra Rafi
Roll Number: 190316
Discipline: BS-1st, Psychology
Submitted to: Madam Rabail Ali
Institution: Psychology Department, Islamia College Peshawar
Pakistani culture is very diverse:
Thanks to its historical, geographical and ethnic diversity, Pakistan’s culture is a melting pot of
Indian, Persian, Afghan, Central Asian, South Asian and Western Asian influences. There are
over 15 major ethnic groups in Pakistan, which differ in physical features, historical bloodlines,
customs, dress, food and music. Pakistani culture is a beautiful blend of the Punjabi, Sindhi,
Pathan, Balochi, Barohi, Seraiki and Kashmiri cultures. Rich Literature Pakistani culture is rich
in the literatures of Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu, Baruhi, Baluchi and Kashmiri languages.
Some of these include Punjabis, Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns, Kashmiris, Hazaras, Makranis and
Baltis, coming from regions as close to home as the Indus Valley or as far as Africa or Tibet.
Other than ancient ethnic elements, the religious influence of Islam has also strongly shaped
Pakistani culture since it first came to the region in AD 700.
Many different languages are spoken in Pakistan:
The official number of languages actively spoken in Pakistan is between 73 and 76. This means
that within hours as you travel between the country’s districts, there are languages that other
groups in different regions do not speak. The most popular languages, however, belong to the
largest ethnic groups with their own modern and ancient literature. Most languages in Pakistan
belong to the Indo-Iranian language group, including Urdu, the national language.
The people are friendly, but gender segregation still exists:
Due to Islamic and tribal influences, non-urban regions of Pakistan have varying levels of gender
segregation, while big cities too have conservative expectations in terms of interactions between
men and women. Couples usually don’t hug or kiss in public in a non-platonic way. Regardless
of that, the people of Pakistan are helpful, friendly, approachable and humble.
Pakistanis love listening to – and making – music:
Diverse culture has exposed Pakistani musicians to many different poetic forms anpd styles,
along with languages and literature. Qawwali and Ghazal are the nation’s auditory treasures.
Building on that, Pakistani TV shows, like Coke Studio, have amassed millions of fans
internationally and locally, from non-Pakistanis to non-Urdu speakers. The nation has also
produced legendary singers, `like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and poets like Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who
have left a tremendous influence on the culture and the collective conscience of the people.
Contemporary musicians too play with modern styles and develop fusions in the Urdu language,
of blues, funk, rock and jazz.
Family bonds are strong in Pakistan:
Family comes first in Pakistan due to religious, cultural, economic and societal values. Pakistani
society is not led by individualism but rather by collectivism, where family and other
relationships stand strong.
Pakistani culture includes excellent craftsmanship:
Pakistani truck art is not the only world-famous example of craftsmanship. Passed down through
generations, Pakistani craft includes a plethora of styles, materials and aesthetics. Calligraphy in
Arabic is one of the most prominent skills found in many local buildings and sites and wall
hangings, like copper work, paintings and carved wood. Pottery, especially blue pottery, typical
of Sindh and Multan, is loved all over the world for its look. Naqashi, or the art-making of
camel-skin lamps, is another example of local craft, along with colourful tile work, which is a
Mughal legacy.
Sufism has given birth to beautiful poetry and music:
Mainstream Islam and Islamic mysticism are both prevalent in Pakistan, but often, hard-line
clerics, who follow the Wahhabi school of thought, reject the tradition of mysticism or Sufism
that has added great beauty to the already unique Islamic flavour of the country. Sufis show their
devotion through many means like dance, poetry, whirling, meditation, etc. Some of the
country’s most spiritually advanced and unifying messages of love are found in Sufi poetry. The
hard-liners may try to isolate them, but the population cannot help but be entranced by them.
Pakistanis love chai a little too much:
Chai is everywhere in Pakistan, probably in a similar sense to how beer is in alcohol-consuming
countries. In fact, Pakistan is the third-largest importer of tea, although some tea is grown locally
too. Pakistanis make their tea strong and sweet in either milk or diluted milk depending on their
preference. Sometimes cardamom and other spices are added to tea on special occasions. Black
tea was introduced to the country by the English during the colonial years, but green tea has been
a part of the local culture for thousands of years. Tea time is such an important time of day that
many people enjoy high tea in five-star hotels, which basically include a buffet of teas and all the
complimentary snacks that go with it.
Pakistanis are very hospitable:
Guests, tourists and visitors, whether domestic or international, are always welcomed with open
arms. Even the poorest labourers go out of their way to help new visitors. Cultural and religious
beliefs encourage Pakistanis to show love and respect towards guests. In Islam especially, a guest
is a blessing from God, and it is taught that they must be given the best treatment possible.
Pakistanis love sports, especially cricket:
Cricket may have been a sport that was introduced to Pakistan by the British, but today, the
country has not only made it its own but has also raised one of the world’s best cricket teams.
Other sports, like hockey, squash and badminton, are also widely played and appreciated. Polo
has a special place in northern Pakistan too, with one of the highest polo grounds in the world
situated here.
Pakistanis are resilient and hard-working:
It is common knowledge that the Pakistani nation has suffered from the country’s economic
situation with rampant poverty and high illiteracy. Terrorist attacks and misgovernment have
also led to terrible consequences. Regardless of these sufferings, Pakistan’s spirit lives on and the
nation continues to hope and work for a better future. The people of Pakistan would soar high if
they got the sincere political effort and leadership they deserve.
Pakistanis have big weddings:
Pakistani weddings epitomise the richness of the culture. A single wedding will introduce you to
the many elements of these local traditions. Pakistani weddings are laden with a multitude of
colours, beautifully embroidered flowing fabrics in silks and chiffon, tantalizing food,
traditionally decorated stages and a lot of music and dance. Weddings in Pakistan are a serious
deal, with preparations starting months before. After all, most local weddings last anywhere from
three to six days. The celebrations usually start with a day dedicated to henna application,
followed by a musical night and a night of traditional rituals to bless the couple. Then, there are
dinner parties that last two days thrown by the bride and groom’s side of the family.
Pakistanis don’t keep calm and have no chill:
Pakistanis are a passionate, emotional, expressive and colourful people – just like their culture.
Whatever they love, they do with plenty of zest and excitement. They love to celebrate, no
matter the occasion, and feasting, giving presents, throwing parties and having regular large
gatherings with friends and family are all very common.
REFERANCE:
Alichin, Bridget, and Alichin, Raymond. The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, 1982.
Cohen, Stephen. Pakistan Army 1998, 1999.
Harrison, Selig. India and Pakistan: The First Fifty Years, 1998.
Hussain, Ishrat. Pakistan: The Economy of an Elitist State, 1999.
Mayhew, Bradley. Lonely Planet Pakistan, 1998.
Mirza, Humayun. From Plassey to Pakistan: The Family History of Iskander Mirza, the First
President of Pakistan, 1999.
https://www.slideshare.net/mbkayani/culture-of-pakistan-62273475
2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
1
Cultural Diversity In
Pakistan: National Vs
Provincial
Syed Afzal Moshadi
Shah*
Dr. Shehla Amjad*
*COMSATS Institute of
Information, Technology,
Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Email address:
afzalshah@ciit.net.pk
Abstract
The purpose of the research
was to investigate the
cultural dimensions of the
four provinces of Pakistan
i.e. Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan of Pakistan and
their comparison with national
culture. The research
capitalizes upon the
methodology devised by
Hofstede et. al (2008) in order
to investigate the cultural
dimensions. A total 557
questionnaires were used in
order to reach the final
analysis by using descriptive
statistics and test of
significance. Research
findings show an existence of
a cultural
diversity among different
provinces of Pakistan, where
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)
possessing the most
distinctive culture. Beside
provincial disparity with
national culture on one to one
basis, it does not affect the
results on aggregate basis.
Hence the national culture
remains a true
representation of the
country. The nature of
subcultures within provinces
and the level of their impact
was the major
limitation of the research.
The research would benefit
businesses in Pakistan at
large both local and Multi-
national organizations.
VSM-08 is the latest version
of all the methodologies
devised by Hofstede. No
study has yet been
conducted in Pakistan to
identify
cultural dimensions on
province level using the
parameters defined in this
model. Future research on
different management and
marketing
aspects in Pakistani culture
can be conducted in the light
of this research.
Keywords: Cultural
dimensions, Provincial culture,
National Culture, Hofstede.
1. Introduction
Pakistan came into
existence on August, 14,
1947 from British Rule.
Its population in 2009
is about 174.58 million
with an area of 340, 499
sq mi (Britannica.com,
2010). Islam is the major
religion of the people of
Pakistan. It is a Muslim
dominated country with
95 percent Muslim and
only 5 percent others.
However, being a
pathway to many military
conquests in the history,
it has
given birth to several
ethnic groups. The
interaction between
invaders and the locals
had given
birth to a common
language called Urdu;
however the locals kept
their particular ethnic
and
cultural values alive. The
distribution of ethnic
groups in numerical size
and on language basis
include: Punjabis,
Pashtuns, Sindhis,
Seraikis, Muhajirs,
Balochis, Hindkowans,
Chitralis and
other smaller groups.
Table-1: Ethnic group
composition in Pakistan
Ethnic Group Percentage
of the total
population
Punjabis 44.15%
Pushtoons 15.42%
Sindhis 14.1%
Serakis 10.53%
Muhajirs – Urdu Speaking
7.57%
Balocuhis 3.57%
Others 4.66%
Source: Heritage Online
(2010)
ISSN 2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
2
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) is the northernmost
province of Pakistan.
Major languages in the
province are Pashto &
Hindko. Peshawar is the
Provincial capital. Punjab
is situated on eastern
side of Pakistan. Major
languages of the
province are Punjabi &
Seraki. Sindh is on the
south of
Pakistan and by the
Arabian Sea. Sindhi
language is the major
language of the
province. On
westernmost site of
Pakistan is situated the
province of
Balouchistan. Pashtun
(Pathan) and
Baloch make the two
distinct and major ethnic
groups of the province,
while Sindh origin being
on the third.
Despite the fact that
Urdu is the national
language of the country;
still there does not exists
a single language that is
spoken throughout the
country. According to
Britannica.com (2010), all
the principal languages
possess a strong
regional focus, beside
the fact that some of
the
languages may exist in
other regions as well.
However, each of the
four provinces is named
after
their main dominating
sub-culture such as
Sindhi in Sindh, Balochi
in Balochistan, Pushton
in
Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa
and Punjabi in Punjab.
The purpose of this study
is to investigate the
cultural differences
between the provinces of
Pakistan using Hofstede
Framework for Cultural
Differences as a tool. The
study was conducted
on the university
students of all the four
provinces. The limitation
in Hofstede’s work is
beyond
the scope of this study.
1.1 Statement of the
problem
Pakistan is a multi-
cultural country that
comprises of different
sub-cultures. Employees
encounter these
differences several
times a day while
dealing with colleagues,
customers,
suppliers etc. The
dealing solely relies on
the cultural orientation
of that employee.
There is a
need to devise a
proper training
procedure that equips
employees with cross
cultural
understanding and ways
to effectively manage
these relationships.
Hence unfolding the
cultural
differences within the
country would be the first
step to start the journey.
1.2 Objectives of the
study:
The overall objective of
the research is to
investigate the cultural
dimensions of Pakistan.
More specifically:
1. To assess the nature
of National and Provincial
culture.
2. To assess the cultural
diversity among
provinces.
3. To assess the
relationship between
National and Provincial
culture.
1.3 Hypotheses:
In the light of the above
mentioned objectives,
following hypotheses
have been defined for
empirical testing:
1. There exists a cultural
diversity among different
provinces of Pakistan.
2. There exists a
difference between
National culture and
Provincial culture.
3. There exists a
disparity between
National culture and an
average of total
Provincial
culture.
4. There exists parity
between different
provinces on the basis of
certain cultural variables.
ISSN 2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
3
Figure1. Conceptual
Framework
2. Literature Review
Culture as per Oxford
dictionary is an
“Intellectual and artistic
achievements or
expression
or refined appreciation of
the arts etc., or customs,
achievements etc. of a
particular civilization
or group”.
Hodgetts et. al. (2006)
defined culture as an
acquired knowledge
that people use to
interpret experiences and
generate social behavior.
This acquired knowledge
further form values,
creates attitude and
influence behavior.
Tayeb (2001) defines
culture as an outcome
of a
relationship between two
or three people over a
length of time, which
may be their own unique
culture.
Cultural differences may
be examined in several
ways to understand
their impact on
international businesses.
The best way probably
would be to investigate
its impacts on how
people think and behave
(Hodgetts, 2006).
Another way to depict
culture is through
concentric
circles that are
demonstrated in figure-2.
Provinces
Individulism vs
Collectivism (IDV)
Uncertainty
Avoidance (UAI)
Power distance (PDI)
Masculinity vs.
Femininity (MAS)
Long term orientation
(LTO)
Monumentalism
(MON)
Indulgence vs.
Restraint (IVR)
Punjab Sindh
Natio
ISSN 2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
4
Figure 2 - A model of
Culture
The explicit
artifacts and
products of the
society
The norms and values
that guide the society
The implicit, basic
assumptions. That guide
people’s behavior
Source: Hodgetts et al (2006,
p97)
The importance of
understanding the
cultures for organization
increases many folds
when
it has a highly
diversified workforce. In
order to develop cross
cultural awareness, an
organization can mainly
use four elements,
raising the awareness of
cultural differences,
focusing
on ways attitudes are
shaped, providing factual
information about each
culture and building skills
in the areas of language,
nonverbal
communication, cultural
stress management, and
adjustment
adaptation skills”
(Challahan, 1989:632).
Hofstede (1980)
identified cultural
variable that may be
used to measure
different cultures and are
widely recognized as
study of cultures
(Dickson et al.,
2003). Other popular
studies on cultures that
are similar to Hofstede’s
work are Trompenaars’s
cultural dimension and
GLOBE project (Hodgetts,
2006).
Beside a lot of
appreciation and
acknowledgement on
the work done by
Hofstede, still
there are many social
scientists who criticize
his work. Hofstede’s
initial work on IBM
employees
working in 70 countries
around the world was
also criticized for
focusing on only one
company
(Hodgetts, 2006:101).
Hofstede acknowledged
their view point and
addressed this issue by
stressing upon the fact
that beside their similar
nature of work,
educational attainments
etc. the
only thing different would
be their national
differences which was
the core of the study.
Clark (2003) argued upon
the existence of several
distinct cultures within a
national culture
buttressing with
different social
scientists view point for
Hofstede’s using the
Nation as a
Culture. Study
conducted by Blodgett
et al (2008) has also
found some
inconsistency in
Hofstede’s work
regarding the reliability
of different variables
used in the study.
In a recent study
conducted by
Terracciano et al (2005)
on 49 different
countries of the
world in order to
understand the
relationship between
National Character and
the mean
personality trait. The
study involved 65
researchers around the
world and concluded
that
National Character of the
countries does not
indicate mean
personality trait levels.
3. Methodology
The target respondents
were university
students from 20
universities of Pakistan
taking 5
universities per province
selected on systematic
random approach, where
as students were
selected
through simple random
sampling. Choosing
university students as
target respondents on
one hand
allows rigorous test of
the applicability of the
scale (Durvasula et al,
1993) while on other
hand
serves as a platform to
minimize random error
as the sample of
university students is
more
homogenous than
general public (Calder et
al , 1981). A total of 600
questionnaires were
circulated
amongst 20 universities
of all the four provinces.
Out of which 557 were
collected, 23 were not
properly completed and
hence were removed out.
Questionnaires received
from Khyber Pakhtoon
Khawa (KPK) were 129,
Punjab 135, Sindh 123
and Balochistan 147.
The male / female of the
respondents of the
questionnaire for Khyber
Pakhtoon Khawa (KPK)
were 80/49, Punjab was
ISSN 2039 - 2117
Mediterranean
Journal of Social
Sciences
Vol.2, No.2, May 2011
MCSER – Mediterranean
Center of Social and
Educational Research
Rome, Italy, www.mcser.org
5
85/50, Sindh 70/53 and
Balochistan was 67/80.
The gender wise
respondents’ composition
was
Male 53% and female
47%.
Capitalizing upon
Hofstede et al (2008)
latest work on cultural
dimensions, in this
research
we have used Value
Survey model-08 called
VSM-08. The model is
based on investigating
seven (7)
cultural dimensions
through 34 different
questions. Each cultural
dimension is measure
through 4
different questions
while the remaining 6
questions enquire
general demographics
of the
respondents ie. age,
gender, educational
achievements, nature of
the job, province of
birth, and
current province of
residence. VSM 08
model beside
amendments in
questions used in priors
models (VSM 94 & VSM
82) also incorporates two
new variables proposed
by Michael Minkov
(2007) in his work “What
Makes Us Different and
Similar”. A
comprehensive detail of
each variable is
given below: Different
cultural dimensions that
have been used in this
study are i) Power
distance
ii) Individualism (IDV) iii)
Masculinity Index (MAS)
iv) Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI), v)
Long Term Orientation
Index (LTO) vi)
Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR) &
vii)
Monumentalism Index
(MON).
Power Distance Index
(PDI) is the expectation
and acceptance of
unequal distribution of
power
by less powerful or less
influential members of
an organization and
institution within a
society.
Individualism Index
(IDV) refers to a type
of society that allows a
loose interaction
between
individuals. In such a
society people normally
look after for themselves
and their immediate
family
members. Individualism
is an opposite of
Collectivism. Whereas a
collectivist society
strongly
integrated in groups
and protect them with
unquestionable loyalty.
Masculinity Index (MAS)
represents a society in
which there exists a clear
difference in social
genders. Males are
assumed to
be tough, assertive, and
inclined towards material
success, while females
being tender, modest
and
inclined towards quality
of life. Opposite to
Masculinity is
Femininity, in which
there exist an
overlap between social
gender roles.
Uncertainty Avoidance
Index (UAI) represents
to a society in which
the members of the
organization or
institutions feel
threatened by unknown,
ambiguous, uncertain or
unstructured
situations. Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO)
refers to a society that
is oriented towards
future
rewards, in particular
adaptation, theft and
perseverance. The
opposite of this is called
Short Term
Orientation. Indulgence
versus Restraint Index
(IVR) represents a
society that all free
gratification of
feelings and desires
particularly that has to
do with leisure, spending,
consuming, marry
making and
sex. However, Restraint
represents opposite to
this. Monumentalism
Index (MON) represents a
society that rewards
figurative speaking, likes
monuments being proud
and unchangeable. The
opposite to this is called
Self-Effacement.
Cronbach Alfa has been
used to measure the
reliability of the survey
results. It was carried
out in two steps. In first
step the reliability of the
whole survey instruments
(total sample) was
measure which came a=
0.78, well above the
acceptable range of
0.700.
Table 2: Reliability test on
survey outcome
Cronbach's Alpha N of
Items
Total Sample 0.781 28
PDI 0.754 4
IDV 0.872 4
UAI 0.720 4
MAS 0.779 4
LTO 0.752 4
MON 0.788 4
IVR 0.723 4
In second step Cronbach
Alfa was measured on all
the seven summated
scaled instrument
developed through 4
different questions in
order to measure their
internal consistency or
average
correlation. The resultant
values are all above
0.700, which is again
above the acceptable
range.
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4. Research Findings
4.1. Power Distance
Index (PDI)
Research findings on
Power distance index
(PDI) illustrates that
Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa
(KPK) province is the
highly power distanced
province with 79.62,
followed by Punjab
province
by 76.13, Sindh by 43.08
and Balochistan by
32.50. The result findings
suggest that the
tendency of
expecting or accepting
unequal distribution of
power by less powerful
members is high KPK and
Punjab provinces is
higher than Sindh and
Balochistan provinces.
Power Distance Index (PDI)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-3. Power distance
Index for provinces of
Pakistan
4.2 Individualism Index
(IDV)
The data obtained on
comparison of
Individualism vs
Collectivism, indicate
that all the four
provinces of Pakistan
possess a strong index
on Collectivism over
Individualism. Their
respective
scores on individualism
are Punjab=31.94,
Sindh=40.77,
Balochistan=3.75, and
KPK=18.08. The
findings indicate that
Collectivism is a national
culture and the people
living in the country
possess
a strong urge towards in
group cohesiveness and
expect loyalty.
Individualism Index (IDV)
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
40.00
45.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-4. Individualism
Index for provinces of
Pakistan (IDV)
4.3 Masculinity Index
(MAS)
Uniformity between
provincial and national
culture is observed while
studying the data on
Masculinity vs Feminity.
The data indicates a
strong cultural behavior
towards strong
masculinity
for KPK and Punjab
province with 80.38 and
74.84 respectively while
Sindh and Balochistan
provinces show a
relatively low masculinity
tendency by 67.69 and
62.50. In the other
words, KPK
and Punjab provinces are
weak in femininity, as
compared to Sindh and
Balochistan.
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Masculinity Index (MAS)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-5. Masculinity Index
for provinces of Pakistan
(MAS)
4.4 Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
The data on Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
suggests that the society
by and large don’t
feel threatened by
uncertainty, unknown,
ambiguous or
unstructured situation.
The findings of
such data amidst
terrorist attacks being
going on around the
country, high level of
political
instability, ever
increasing inflation etc is
very interesting. This
phenomenon can be
understood by
two variable that affect
severely “Locus of
Control” and “Faith in
Religion”.
4.4.1 Locus of control
Trompenaars, in his on
cultures have given an
importance to the
Environment. He
believes a
specific attention should
be given to the aspect
that how much people
assume having control of
the outcomes. People
who believe that they
control their outcome
are called “Inner-
directed”
while the one who
consider that let the
things happen and they
posses no control over
them are
called “Outer-directed”.
Outward directed
people, who consider
that the locus of
control lies
outside in the
environment, don’t take
the responsibility of the
affairs and believe that
what so ever
happened was beyond
their control. (Hodgetts
et al, 2006)
Table 3: Inner-directed
countries
United States 89%
Switzerland 85%
Singapore 58%
Japan 56%
China 35%
Source: Hodgetts, R.M et al
(2006) pp. 115
From above table all the
three Asian Countries
(Singapore, Japan &
China) are outer-directed
nations. Pakistan being a
neighboring country to
China also carries the
same attribute on Locos
of
Control.
4.4.2 Faith in Religion
A clear majority of people
living in Pakistan (95%)
are Muslims and they
have a firm believe in
God Almighty. They
firmly believe in every
thing happening around
them by the will of Al-
might
God and they possess no
power and control over
them. Therefore the
people living in different
provinces of Pakistan
don’t feel threatened by
uncertainty, unknown,
ambiguous or
unstructured
situation.
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Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-6. Uncertainty
Avoidance Index for
provinces of Pakistan (UAI)
4.5 Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO)
KPK province is having
the highest index on
Long term orientation
(LTO) while province
Punjab being the lowest
on the scale. Sindh and
Balochistan are relatively
on medium on LTO.
The findings indicate that
the people living in
province KPK have
nurtured strong desires
towards
future rewards etc. as
compared to Sindh,
Balochistan and Punjab.
There is a common
perception
among the people of
Pakistan that Punjabis
are lively people who
enjoy their life at best
they spend
their time in leisure,
merrymaking with
friends, spending and
consuming. By this we
may deduce
that by and large
Punjabis want to live in
present instead of
thinking about the future.
Long Term Orientation Index (LTO)
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-7. Long term
orientation Index for
provinces of Pakistan (LTO)
4.6 Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR)
Punjabi, KPK, and Sindhis
have show healthy sings
on Indulgence and the
data suggests that
people belonging to
these societies would
show free gratification
of their desires and
feelings,
during leisure time pass,
consumption, spending
and merrymaking with
friends. Balochistan
people
show a weak index value
on IVR indicating that
there exits a strong
Restraint Culture.
However,
we have to take into
account that the
meaning of Indulgence
and Restraint would be
slightly
different than what it
may apply in West.
Pakistan is basically
wrapped into three
strong layers that
control the emotions of
the individuals regarding
IVR. i) Country’s religion
ii) Cultural bindings iii)
Class consciousness.
4.6.1 Country’s religion
Islam being the major
religion of the country
plays a vital role in
deciding about the
activities
regarding IVR. Like the
consumption of Alcohol
is strongly forbidden
and is called “Umm-ul-
Khabais” meaning
“Mother of all evils”. An
open display of love
between husband & wife
is strongly
forbidden. A relationship
between male and
female with proper
marriage is strongly
condemned.
Islam not only
discourages over
spending but also under-
spending. Islam
encourages leisure time
pass to be spent in praise
of Al-mighty Allah and for
the welfare of the
society. Country’s rules
and
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regulations are also
devised in such a way
that they buttress Islamic
rules and any
contradiction
found is eradicated or
amended.
4.6.2 Cultural bindings
People in Pakistan by and
large are closely tied in
cultural boundaries. They
prefer to opt for IVR
that is culturally
acceptable. Fried theory
of ID, Ego and Super Ego
is quite relevant in this
case.
Wearing typical dresses,
offering particular food
& drinks on weddings
and funerals is a good
example of cultural
influence on IVR.
4.6.3 Class
consciousness
There exits a strong
class consciousness
among the people of
Pakistan which directly
affect on
IVR. People preferences
on the choice of locality
for building their houses,
type of the cars they
require to maintain,
cloths they should wear
etc. are some of the
influences made by
class
consciousness.
Indulgence versus Restraint Index (IVR)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-8. Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IDV) for
provinces of Pakistan
4.7 Monumentalism
Index (MON)
The data on MON
indicate that people of
Pakistan by and large
are Monumentalism in
nature. They not only
like and praise their
heroes and their
ideologies but also at
times don’t
hesitate to sacrifice their
lives for them. Some of
them are common while
others may be termed as
local heroes. Most of
the common heroes are
either from religious
inspirations or from the
struggle of country’s
Independence. However
we can divide the over
all heroes into four broad
categories i) Religious
Heroes (RH) ii) Fighter
Heroes (FH) iii) Political
Heroes (PH) iv) Trend
Heroes (TH).
4.7.1 Religious Heroes
In Religious Heroes (RH),
Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon Him) is
unquestioned Hero for all
the Muslims around the
world. Muslim strongly
wishes to follow his
teaching and His way of
life.
Beside Him, Muslim ranks
his companions, followers
and many spiritual
leaders down the line as
a
role model to live a life.
4.7.2 Fighter Heroes (FH)
Fighter Heroes (FH) can
further sub-divided into
two broader categories a)
Intellectual Front
Fighter Heroes (IFFH) b)
War Zone Fighter Heroes
(WZFH). Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
Dr. Allama Iqbal,
Muhallana Muhammad Ali
Johar, Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan and many others
are the
IFFH who pursued the
case for an
Independent State for
Muslims and ultimately
won it
successfully in the shape
of Pakistan. Maj. Azeez
Bhatti Shaheed, Rashid
Minhas and many others
who fought bravely in
different wars mostly
defending homeland are
considered as WZFH.
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4.7.3 Political Heroes
(PH)
Political Heroes (PH), the
people of Pakistan mostly
have a strong &
unquestioned loyalty
towards their political
leaders regardless of
their deeds. Political
parties earn the vote of
sympathy,
religion, contribution in
country’s independence,
voice of youth or being
ethnic minority. A good
majority of the followers
never question the
policies and the actions
of their leaders rather
they
consider it a part of their
duty to defend their
actions at every cost.
4.7.4 Trend Heroes (TH)
Trend Heroes (TH) are
the ones that affect the
life style mostly followed
by the youth. Even
though the affiliation with
them is not as strong one
as in the case of other
heroes, however they
do inspire the way of
life. These heroes are
from music, movies,
dramas etc appearing
in
Hollywood, Bollywood,
Lollywood, local
television channels etc.
Monumentalism Index (MON)
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure 9. Monumentalism
Index (MON) for the
provinces of Pakistan
5. Comparison of
provincial and National
Culture
An attempt has been
made to measure the
differences of different
provinces with the
national culture. National
culture has been
measured on the overall
sample prior to
segregating
on Provincial basis.
Table-I below enlists all
the findings on Provincial
Culture and on National
culture. Punjab and KPK
provinces show a close
similarity with National
culture on Power
Distance Index (PDI),
hence indicating an
existence of Power
distance culture, whereas
province
Sindh and Balochistan
show lower on the
scale. The research
findings on
Individualism Index
(IDV) show a
remarkable similarity
between provincial and
National Culture. Both
findings
indicate and existence of
strong collectivism as
they rank low on
Individualism scale.
National culture also
remains true
representation of
Provincial culture in
case of
Masculinity Index (MAS)
as they indicate an
existence of strong
Masculinity. Another
close
resemblance is
witnessed we when
compare Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
as both the
provinces and National
culture indicate a society
that does not feel any
threats and uncertainty
regarding futures.
Another parity is found
between national
culture and provincial
culture on
Long Term Orientation
Index (LTO) as both
results indicate a
society that is Long
term
oriented, Punjab being
the least while KPK
Province being highest on
the scale. Indulgence vs
Restraint Index (IVR)
shows a remarkable
resemblance as they are
close to the average of
65.3,
which shows an
existence of a society
that show free
gratification of their
desires and feelings,
during leisure time pass,
consumption, spending
and merrymaking with
friends while staying in
their religious, cultural,
and class boundaries.
Both Provicial and
National Cultures
indicate an
existence of strong
Monumentalism Index
(MON) within the country.
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Table 4: Provincial and
National Culture Data
Punjab Sindh
Balochistan
Khyber
Pakhtonkhawa
(KPK)
National
Culture
PDI 76.13 43.08 32.50
79.62 69.74
IDV 31.94 40.77 03.75
18.08 30.09
MAS 74.84 67.69 62.50
80.38 74.74
UAI 13.06 06.54 05.00
18.08 11.38
LTO 47.19 66.54 65.00
94.23 68.92
IVR 68.39 64.62 53.75
69.62 69.83
MON 110.65 127.31
70.00 122.69 120.26
On taking an average of
all the provincial findings
and comparing the
results with National
culture gives us a better
view of the identicalness
of both cultures.
Table 5: Provincial average
and National Culture results
Provincial
Average
National
Culture
PDI 57.83 69.74
IDV 23.63 30.09
MAS 71.35 74.74
UAI 10.67 11.38
LTO 68.24 68.92
IVR 64.09 69.83
MON 107.66 120.26
As shown in the table-6,
Chi Square values are
larger than the alpha
value which indicates
that it is not statistically
significant. This means
that the proportion of
Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan,
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) cultures are not
significantly different
from the proportion of
the
national culture.
Table 6: Chi Square values
National Punjab Sindh
Balochistan
KPK
National n/a 0.227
0.227 0.227 0.243
Punjab 0.227 n/a 0.227
0.227 0.243
Sindh 0.227 0.227 n/a
0.227 0.243
Balochistan
0.227 0.227 0.227 n/a
0.243
KPK 0.243 0.243 0.243
0.243 n/a
6. Comparison of results
on National Culture:
A comparison of
Hofstede et al (2010)
findings on Pakistan
has been made with
our
findings. In order to find
out the National culture
values we measured the
responses of all 557
respondents on VSM 08
methodology regardless.
The data such obtained
is presented in the
table below against
Hofstede’s findings.
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Table-7: Hofstede and our
findings on National Culture
Hofstede findings * Our
Findings
PDI 55.00 69.74
IDV 14.00 30.09
MAS 50.00 74.74
UAI 70.00 11.38
LTO 00.00 68.92
IVR n/a 69.83
MON n/a 120.26
Source: *Hofstede (2010, p1)
and our findings.
The findings on Power
Distance (PDI),
Individualism (IDV) and
Masculinity (MAS)
represent the same
phenomena, as both
indicate a society that
accepts power distance,
is
collectivist, and the roles
are defined on gender
basis. However our
research findings are on
the
higher side. We have
observed a disparity on
our findings with
Hofstede’s while
comparing the
results on Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI).
Hofstede’s findings
indicate an existence of
a
society that strongly
avoids Uncertainty,
while our findings
indicate the other way
around.
Another disparity is
observed on Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO).
Our results indicate an
existence of a society
that is strongly Long
Term Oriented while
Hofstede’s results
indicate an
existence of a strongly
Short Term Oriented
Society. A comparison
on Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR) &
Monumentalism Index
(MON) can not be
reached as the data
from
Hofstede analysis in not
available.
7. Conclusion
The study helped us to
understand the nature of
diversity among different
provinces along
with some insights into
these differences. All
provinces showed similar
cultural nature with slight
differences in the
severity of their
closeness except:
• Punjab and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)
showed high score on
Power Distance Index
(PDI) while Province
Sindh and Balochistan
showed low score. This
indicated that the
Punjab and KPK
societies greatly accept
and except unequal
distribution of power as
compared to Sindh and
Balochistan where the
index was very low.
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) showed high value
on Long Term Orientation
as compared
to rest of the provinces
which indicate great
desire among people of
KPK towards future
rewards etc. as
compared to other
provinces.
Despite a general
homogeneity across
provincial cultures, we
have traced down
following
similarities and
dissimilarities among the
provinces of Pakistan
7.1 Similarities among
provinces
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab on Power
Distance Index (PDI).
• Province Sindh and
Balochistan on Power
Distance Index (PDI).
• Province Punjab,
Sindh and KPK on
Individualism Index (IDV).
• All the four provinces
on Masculinity Index
(MAS) as well as on
Uncertainty Avoidance
Index (UAI).
• Province Punjab,
Sindh and Balochistan
on Long Term
Orientation Index, with
Sindh
and Balochistan being
remarkably close to each
other.
• All four provinces on
Indulgence Vs Restraint
Index (IVR).
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• Province Punjab,
Sindh and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) on
Monomentlism Index
(MON).
7.2 Differences among
provinces
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab different than
Province Sindh and
Balochistan on Power
Distance Scale (PDI).
• Province Balochistan
different than the rest
of the provinces on
Individualism Index
(IDV).
• Province Balochistan
different than rest of the
provinces on Masculinity
Index (MAS).
Research findings
revealed a striking
resemblance between
Provincial and National
culture
when an average of
the provincial data was
taken. However, actual
provincial similarities
and
dissimilarities with
National Culture are
given below:
7.3 Similarities &
Dissimilarities between
provincial and National
Culture
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab showed a close
similarity with
National Culture on
Power Distance Index
(PDI) as compared to
Province Sindh and
Balochistan.
• Province Punjab and
Sindh were more close
to National culture on
IDV than
Balochistan and KPK.
• All the provinces
showed a close
resemblance with
National culture on
Masculinity Index
(MAS), Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI),
and Indulgence Vs
Restraint (IVR).
• All provinces except
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) showed a close
similarity on Long
Term Orientation (LTO).
• All provinces except
Balochistan showed a
close similarity with
National culture on
MON.
The distinctive provincial
culture of Pakistan,
despite its similarities
and differences across
other
provinces makes a
unique national culture.
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Kakuyama, T., & Moore, L.
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Do all carrots look the
same? Examining the
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employees’ motivation.
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(2003), “Research on
leadership in a cross-
cultural context: making
progress, and raising new
questions”, The Leadership
Quarterly, Vol. 14, pp. 729-
68.
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14
Durvasula, S., Lysonski, S.
and Andrews, J. C.
(1993). Cross-Cultural
Generalizability of a Scale
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oc
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4
Figure 2 - A model of
Culture
The explicit
artifacts and
products of the
society
The norms and values
that guide the society
The implicit, basic
assumptions. That guide
people’s behavior
Source: Hodgetts et al (2006,
p97)
The importance of
understanding the
cultures for organization
increases many folds
when
it has a highly
diversified workforce. In
order to develop cross
cultural awareness, an
organization can mainly
use four elements,
raising the awareness of
cultural differences,
focusing
on ways attitudes are
shaped, providing factual
information about each
culture and building skills
in the areas of language,
nonverbal
communication, cultural
stress management, and
adjustment
adaptation skills”
(Challahan, 1989:632).
Hofstede (1980)
identified cultural
variable that may be
used to measure
different cultures and are
widely recognized as
study of cultures
(Dickson et al.,
2003). Other popular
studies on cultures that
are similar to Hofstede’s
work are Trompenaars’s
cultural dimension and
GLOBE project (Hodgetts,
2006).
Beside a lot of
appreciation and
acknowledgement on
the work done by
Hofstede, still
there are many social
scientists who criticize
his work. Hofstede’s
initial work on IBM
employees
working in 70 countries
around the world was
also criticized for
focusing on only one
company
(Hodgetts, 2006:101).
Hofstede acknowledged
their view point and
addressed this issue by
stressing upon the fact
that beside their similar
nature of work,
educational attainments
etc. the
only thing different would
be their national
differences which was
the core of the study.
Clark (2003) argued upon
the existence of several
distinct cultures within a
national culture
buttressing with
different social
scientists view point for
Hofstede’s using the
Nation as a
Culture. Study
conducted by Blodgett
et al (2008) has also
found some
inconsistency in
Hofstede’s work
regarding the reliability
of different variables
used in the study.
In a recent study
conducted by
Terracciano et al (2005)
on 49 different
countries of the
world in order to
understand the
relationship between
National Character and
the mean
personality trait. The
study involved 65
researchers around the
world and concluded
that
National Character of the
countries does not
indicate mean
personality trait levels.
3. Methodology
The target respondents
were university
students from 20
universities of Pakistan
taking 5
universities per province
selected on systematic
random approach, where
as students were
selected
through simple random
sampling. Choosing
university students as
target respondents on
one hand
allows rigorous test of
the applicability of the
scale (Durvasula et al,
1993) while on other
hand
serves as a platform to
minimize random error
as the sample of
university students is
more
homogenous than
general public (Calder et
al , 1981). A total of 600
questionnaires were
circulated
amongst 20 universities
of all the four provinces.
Out of which 557 were
collected, 23 were not
properly completed and
hence were removed out.
Questionnaires received
from Khyber Pakhtoon
Khawa (KPK) were 129,
Punjab 135, Sindh 123
and Balochistan 147.
The male / female of the
respondents of the
questionnaire for Khyber
Pakhtoon Khawa (KPK)
were 80/49, Punjab was
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85/50, Sindh 70/53 and
Balochistan was 67/80.
The gender wise
respondents’ composition
was
Male 53% and female
47%.
Capitalizing upon
Hofstede et al (2008)
latest work on cultural
dimensions, in this
research
we have used Value
Survey model-08 called
VSM-08. The model is
based on investigating
seven (7)
cultural dimensions
through 34 different
questions. Each cultural
dimension is measure
through 4
different questions
while the remaining 6
questions enquire
general demographics
of the
respondents ie. age,
gender, educational
achievements, nature of
the job, province of
birth, and
current province of
residence. VSM 08
model beside
amendments in
questions used in priors
models (VSM 94 & VSM
82) also incorporates two
new variables proposed
by Michael Minkov
(2007) in his work “What
Makes Us Different and
Similar”. A
comprehensive detail of
each variable is
given below: Different
cultural dimensions that
have been used in this
study are i) Power
distance
ii) Individualism (IDV) iii)
Masculinity Index (MAS)
iv) Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI), v)
Long Term Orientation
Index (LTO) vi)
Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR) &
vii)
Monumentalism Index
(MON).
Power Distance Index
(PDI) is the expectation
and acceptance of
unequal distribution of
power
by less powerful or less
influential members of
an organization and
institution within a
society.
Individualism Index
(IDV) refers to a type
of society that allows a
loose interaction
between
individuals. In such a
society people normally
look after for themselves
and their immediate
family
members. Individualism
is an opposite of
Collectivism. Whereas a
collectivist society
strongly
integrated in groups
and protect them with
unquestionable loyalty.
Masculinity Index (MAS)
represents a society in
which there exists a clear
difference in social
genders. Males are
assumed to
be tough, assertive, and
inclined towards material
success, while females
being tender, modest
and
inclined towards quality
of life. Opposite to
Masculinity is
Femininity, in which
there exist an
overlap between social
gender roles.
Uncertainty Avoidance
Index (UAI) represents
to a society in which
the members of the
organization or
institutions feel
threatened by unknown,
ambiguous, uncertain or
unstructured
situations. Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO)
refers to a society that
is oriented towards
future
rewards, in particular
adaptation, theft and
perseverance. The
opposite of this is called
Short Term
Orientation. Indulgence
versus Restraint Index
(IVR) represents a
society that all free
gratification of
feelings and desires
particularly that has to
do with leisure, spending,
consuming, marry
making and
sex. However, Restraint
represents opposite to
this. Monumentalism
Index (MON) represents a
society that rewards
figurative speaking, likes
monuments being proud
and unchangeable. The
opposite to this is called
Self-Effacement.
Cronbach Alfa has been
used to measure the
reliability of the survey
results. It was carried
out in two steps. In first
step the reliability of the
whole survey instruments
(total sample) was
measure which came a=
0.78, well above the
acceptable range of
0.700.
Table 2: Reliability test on
survey outcome
Cronbach's Alpha N of
Items
Total Sample 0.781 28
PDI 0.754 4
IDV 0.872 4
UAI 0.720 4
MAS 0.779 4
LTO 0.752 4
MON 0.788 4
IVR 0.723 4
In second step Cronbach
Alfa was measured on all
the seven summated
scaled instrument
developed through 4
different questions in
order to measure their
internal consistency or
average
correlation. The resultant
values are all above
0.700, which is again
above the acceptable
range.
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4. Research Findings
4.1. Power Distance
Index (PDI)
Research findings on
Power distance index
(PDI) illustrates that
Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa
(KPK) province is the
highly power distanced
province with 79.62,
followed by Punjab
province
by 76.13, Sindh by 43.08
and Balochistan by
32.50. The result findings
suggest that the
tendency of
expecting or accepting
unequal distribution of
power by less powerful
members is high KPK and
Punjab provinces is
higher than Sindh and
Balochistan provinces.
Power Distance Index (PDI)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-3. Power distance
Index for provinces of
Pakistan
4.2 Individualism Index
(IDV)
The data obtained on
comparison of
Individualism vs
Collectivism, indicate
that all the four
provinces of Pakistan
possess a strong index
on Collectivism over
Individualism. Their
respective
scores on individualism
are Punjab=31.94,
Sindh=40.77,
Balochistan=3.75, and
KPK=18.08. The
findings indicate that
Collectivism is a national
culture and the people
living in the country
possess
a strong urge towards in
group cohesiveness and
expect loyalty.
Individualism Index (IDV)
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
40.00
45.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-4. Individualism
Index for provinces of
Pakistan (IDV)
4.3 Masculinity Index
(MAS)
Uniformity between
provincial and national
culture is observed while
studying the data on
Masculinity vs Feminity.
The data indicates a
strong cultural behavior
towards strong
masculinity
for KPK and Punjab
province with 80.38 and
74.84 respectively while
Sindh and Balochistan
provinces show a
relatively low masculinity
tendency by 67.69 and
62.50. In the other
words, KPK
and Punjab provinces are
weak in femininity, as
compared to Sindh and
Balochistan.
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Masculinity Index (MAS)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-5. Masculinity Index
for provinces of Pakistan
(MAS)
4.4 Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
The data on Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
suggests that the society
by and large don’t
feel threatened by
uncertainty, unknown,
ambiguous or
unstructured situation.
The findings of
such data amidst
terrorist attacks being
going on around the
country, high level of
political
instability, ever
increasing inflation etc is
very interesting. This
phenomenon can be
understood by
two variable that affect
severely “Locus of
Control” and “Faith in
Religion”.
4.4.1 Locus of control
Trompenaars, in his on
cultures have given an
importance to the
Environment. He
believes a
specific attention should
be given to the aspect
that how much people
assume having control of
the outcomes. People
who believe that they
control their outcome
are called “Inner-
directed”
while the one who
consider that let the
things happen and they
posses no control over
them are
called “Outer-directed”.
Outward directed
people, who consider
that the locus of
control lies
outside in the
environment, don’t take
the responsibility of the
affairs and believe that
what so ever
happened was beyond
their control. (Hodgetts
et al, 2006)
Table 3: Inner-directed
countries
United States 89%
Switzerland 85%
Singapore 58%
Japan 56%
China 35%
Source: Hodgetts, R.M et al
(2006) pp. 115
From above table all the
three Asian Countries
(Singapore, Japan &
China) are outer-directed
nations. Pakistan being a
neighboring country to
China also carries the
same attribute on Locos
of
Control.
4.4.2 Faith in Religion
A clear majority of people
living in Pakistan (95%)
are Muslims and they
have a firm believe in
God Almighty. They
firmly believe in every
thing happening around
them by the will of Al-
might
God and they possess no
power and control over
them. Therefore the
people living in different
provinces of Pakistan
don’t feel threatened by
uncertainty, unknown,
ambiguous or
unstructured
situation.
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Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-6. Uncertainty
Avoidance Index for
provinces of Pakistan (UAI)
4.5 Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO)
KPK province is having
the highest index on
Long term orientation
(LTO) while province
Punjab being the lowest
on the scale. Sindh and
Balochistan are relatively
on medium on LTO.
The findings indicate that
the people living in
province KPK have
nurtured strong desires
towards
future rewards etc. as
compared to Sindh,
Balochistan and Punjab.
There is a common
perception
among the people of
Pakistan that Punjabis
are lively people who
enjoy their life at best
they spend
their time in leisure,
merrymaking with
friends, spending and
consuming. By this we
may deduce
that by and large
Punjabis want to live in
present instead of
thinking about the future.
Long Term Orientation Index (LTO)
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-7. Long term
orientation Index for
provinces of Pakistan (LTO)
4.6 Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR)
Punjabi, KPK, and Sindhis
have show healthy sings
on Indulgence and the
data suggests that
people belonging to
these societies would
show free gratification
of their desires and
feelings,
during leisure time pass,
consumption, spending
and merrymaking with
friends. Balochistan
people
show a weak index value
on IVR indicating that
there exits a strong
Restraint Culture.
However,
we have to take into
account that the
meaning of Indulgence
and Restraint would be
slightly
different than what it
may apply in West.
Pakistan is basically
wrapped into three
strong layers that
control the emotions of
the individuals regarding
IVR. i) Country’s religion
ii) Cultural bindings iii)
Class consciousness.
4.6.1 Country’s religion
Islam being the major
religion of the country
plays a vital role in
deciding about the
activities
regarding IVR. Like the
consumption of Alcohol
is strongly forbidden
and is called “Umm-ul-
Khabais” meaning
“Mother of all evils”. An
open display of love
between husband & wife
is strongly
forbidden. A relationship
between male and
female with proper
marriage is strongly
condemned.
Islam not only
discourages over
spending but also under-
spending. Islam
encourages leisure time
pass to be spent in praise
of Al-mighty Allah and for
the welfare of the
society. Country’s rules
and
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regulations are also
devised in such a way
that they buttress Islamic
rules and any
contradiction
found is eradicated or
amended.
4.6.2 Cultural bindings
People in Pakistan by and
large are closely tied in
cultural boundaries. They
prefer to opt for IVR
that is culturally
acceptable. Fried theory
of ID, Ego and Super Ego
is quite relevant in this
case.
Wearing typical dresses,
offering particular food
& drinks on weddings
and funerals is a good
example of cultural
influence on IVR.
4.6.3 Class
consciousness
There exits a strong
class consciousness
among the people of
Pakistan which directly
affect on
IVR. People preferences
on the choice of locality
for building their houses,
type of the cars they
require to maintain,
cloths they should wear
etc. are some of the
influences made by
class
consciousness.
Indulgence versus Restraint Index (IVR)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-8. Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IDV) for
provinces of Pakistan
4.7 Monumentalism
Index (MON)
The data on MON
indicate that people of
Pakistan by and large
are Monumentalism in
nature. They not only
like and praise their
heroes and their
ideologies but also at
times don’t
hesitate to sacrifice their
lives for them. Some of
them are common while
others may be termed as
local heroes. Most of
the common heroes are
either from religious
inspirations or from the
struggle of country’s
Independence. However
we can divide the over
all heroes into four broad
categories i) Religious
Heroes (RH) ii) Fighter
Heroes (FH) iii) Political
Heroes (PH) iv) Trend
Heroes (TH).
4.7.1 Religious Heroes
In Religious Heroes (RH),
Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon Him) is
unquestioned Hero for all
the Muslims around the
world. Muslim strongly
wishes to follow his
teaching and His way of
life.
Beside Him, Muslim ranks
his companions, followers
and many spiritual
leaders down the line as
a
role model to live a life.
4.7.2 Fighter Heroes (FH)
Fighter Heroes (FH) can
further sub-divided into
two broader categories a)
Intellectual Front
Fighter Heroes (IFFH) b)
War Zone Fighter Heroes
(WZFH). Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
Dr. Allama Iqbal,
Muhallana Muhammad Ali
Johar, Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan and many others
are the
IFFH who pursued the
case for an
Independent State for
Muslims and ultimately
won it
successfully in the shape
of Pakistan. Maj. Azeez
Bhatti Shaheed, Rashid
Minhas and many others
who fought bravely in
different wars mostly
defending homeland are
considered as WZFH.
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4.7.3 Political Heroes
(PH)
Political Heroes (PH), the
people of Pakistan mostly
have a strong &
unquestioned loyalty
towards their political
leaders regardless of
their deeds. Political
parties earn the vote of
sympathy,
religion, contribution in
country’s independence,
voice of youth or being
ethnic minority. A good
majority of the followers
never question the
policies and the actions
of their leaders rather
they
consider it a part of their
duty to defend their
actions at every cost.
4.7.4 Trend Heroes (TH)
Trend Heroes (TH) are
the ones that affect the
life style mostly followed
by the youth. Even
though the affiliation with
them is not as strong one
as in the case of other
heroes, however they
do inspire the way of
life. These heroes are
from music, movies,
dramas etc appearing
in
Hollywood, Bollywood,
Lollywood, local
television channels etc.
Monumentalism Index (MON)
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure 9. Monumentalism
Index (MON) for the
provinces of Pakistan
5. Comparison of
provincial and National
Culture
An attempt has been
made to measure the
differences of different
provinces with the
national culture. National
culture has been
measured on the overall
sample prior to
segregating
on Provincial basis.
Table-I below enlists all
the findings on Provincial
Culture and on National
culture. Punjab and KPK
provinces show a close
similarity with National
culture on Power
Distance Index (PDI),
hence indicating an
existence of Power
distance culture, whereas
province
Sindh and Balochistan
show lower on the
scale. The research
findings on
Individualism Index
(IDV) show a
remarkable similarity
between provincial and
National Culture. Both
findings
indicate and existence of
strong collectivism as
they rank low on
Individualism scale.
National culture also
remains true
representation of
Provincial culture in
case of
Masculinity Index (MAS)
as they indicate an
existence of strong
Masculinity. Another
close
resemblance is
witnessed we when
compare Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
as both the
provinces and National
culture indicate a society
that does not feel any
threats and uncertainty
regarding futures.
Another parity is found
between national
culture and provincial
culture on
Long Term Orientation
Index (LTO) as both
results indicate a
society that is Long
term
oriented, Punjab being
the least while KPK
Province being highest on
the scale. Indulgence vs
Restraint Index (IVR)
shows a remarkable
resemblance as they are
close to the average of
65.3,
which shows an
existence of a society
that show free
gratification of their
desires and feelings,
during leisure time pass,
consumption, spending
and merrymaking with
friends while staying in
their religious, cultural,
and class boundaries.
Both Provicial and
National Cultures
indicate an
existence of strong
Monumentalism Index
(MON) within the country.
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Table 4: Provincial and
National Culture Data
Punjab Sindh
Balochistan
Khyber
Pakhtonkhawa
(KPK)
National
Culture
PDI 76.13 43.08 32.50
79.62 69.74
IDV 31.94 40.77 03.75
18.08 30.09
MAS 74.84 67.69 62.50
80.38 74.74
UAI 13.06 06.54 05.00
18.08 11.38
LTO 47.19 66.54 65.00
94.23 68.92
IVR 68.39 64.62 53.75
69.62 69.83
MON 110.65 127.31
70.00 122.69 120.26
On taking an average of
all the provincial findings
and comparing the
results with National
culture gives us a better
view of the identicalness
of both cultures.
Table 5: Provincial average
and National Culture results
Provincial
Average
National
Culture
PDI 57.83 69.74
IDV 23.63 30.09
MAS 71.35 74.74
UAI 10.67 11.38
LTO 68.24 68.92
IVR 64.09 69.83
MON 107.66 120.26
As shown in the table-6,
Chi Square values are
larger than the alpha
value which indicates
that it is not statistically
significant. This means
that the proportion of
Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan,
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) cultures are not
significantly different
from the proportion of
the
national culture.
Table 6: Chi Square values
National Punjab Sindh
Balochistan
KPK
National n/a 0.227
0.227 0.227 0.243
Punjab 0.227 n/a 0.227
0.227 0.243
Sindh 0.227 0.227 n/a
0.227 0.243
Balochistan
0.227 0.227 0.227 n/a
0.243
KPK 0.243 0.243 0.243
0.243 n/a
6. Comparison of results
on National Culture:
A comparison of
Hofstede et al (2010)
findings on Pakistan
has been made with
our
findings. In order to find
out the National culture
values we measured the
responses of all 557
respondents on VSM 08
methodology regardless.
The data such obtained
is presented in the
table below against
Hofstede’s findings.
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Table-7: Hofstede and our
findings on National Culture
Hofstede findings * Our
Findings
PDI 55.00 69.74
IDV 14.00 30.09
MAS 50.00 74.74
UAI 70.00 11.38
LTO 00.00 68.92
IVR n/a 69.83
MON n/a 120.26
Source: *Hofstede (2010, p1)
and our findings.
The findings on Power
Distance (PDI),
Individualism (IDV) and
Masculinity (MAS)
represent the same
phenomena, as both
indicate a society that
accepts power distance,
is
collectivist, and the roles
are defined on gender
basis. However our
research findings are on
the
higher side. We have
observed a disparity on
our findings with
Hofstede’s while
comparing the
results on Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI).
Hofstede’s findings
indicate an existence of
a
society that strongly
avoids Uncertainty,
while our findings
indicate the other way
around.
Another disparity is
observed on Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO).
Our results indicate an
existence of a society
that is strongly Long
Term Oriented while
Hofstede’s results
indicate an
existence of a strongly
Short Term Oriented
Society. A comparison
on Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR) &
Monumentalism Index
(MON) can not be
reached as the data
from
Hofstede analysis in not
available.
7. Conclusion
The study helped us to
understand the nature of
diversity among different
provinces along
with some insights into
these differences. All
provinces showed similar
cultural nature with slight
differences in the
severity of their
closeness except:
• Punjab and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)
showed high score on
Power Distance Index
(PDI) while Province
Sindh and Balochistan
showed low score. This
indicated that the
Punjab and KPK
societies greatly accept
and except unequal
distribution of power as
compared to Sindh and
Balochistan where the
index was very low.
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) showed high value
on Long Term Orientation
as compared
to rest of the provinces
which indicate great
desire among people of
KPK towards future
rewards etc. as
compared to other
provinces.
Despite a general
homogeneity across
provincial cultures, we
have traced down
following
similarities and
dissimilarities among the
provinces of Pakistan
7.1 Similarities among
provinces
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab on Power
Distance Index (PDI).
• Province Sindh and
Balochistan on Power
Distance Index (PDI).
• Province Punjab,
Sindh and KPK on
Individualism Index (IDV).
• All the four provinces
on Masculinity Index
(MAS) as well as on
Uncertainty Avoidance
Index (UAI).
• Province Punjab,
Sindh and Balochistan
on Long Term
Orientation Index, with
Sindh
and Balochistan being
remarkably close to each
other.
• All four provinces on
Indulgence Vs Restraint
Index (IVR).
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• Province Punjab,
Sindh and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) on
Monomentlism Index
(MON).
7.2 Differences among
provinces
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab different than
Province Sindh and
Balochistan on Power
Distance Scale (PDI).
• Province Balochistan
different than the rest
of the provinces on
Individualism Index
(IDV).
• Province Balochistan
different than rest of the
provinces on Masculinity
Index (MAS).
Research findings
revealed a striking
resemblance between
Provincial and National
culture
when an average of
the provincial data was
taken. However, actual
provincial similarities
and
dissimilarities with
National Culture are
given below:
7.3 Similarities &
Dissimilarities between
provincial and National
Culture
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab showed a close
similarity with
National Culture on
Power Distance Index
(PDI) as compared to
Province Sindh and
Balochistan.
• Province Punjab and
Sindh were more close
to National culture on
IDV than
Balochistan and KPK.
• All the provinces
showed a close
resemblance with
National culture on
Masculinity Index
(MAS), Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI),
and Indulgence Vs
Restraint (IVR).
• All provinces except
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) showed a close
similarity on Long
Term Orientation (LTO).
• All provinces except
Balochistan showed a
close similarity with
National culture on
MON.
The distinctive provincial
culture of Pakistan,
despite its similarities
and differences across
other
provinces makes a
unique national culture.
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1
Cultural Diversity In
Pakistan: National Vs
Provincial
Syed Afzal Moshadi
Shah*
Dr. Shehla Amjad*
*COMSATS Institute of
Information, Technology,
Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Email address:
afzalshah@ciit.net.pk
Abstract
The purpose of the research
was to investigate the
cultural dimensions of the
four provinces of Pakistan
i.e. Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan of Pakistan and
their comparison with national
culture. The research
capitalizes upon the
methodology devised by
Hofstede et. al (2008) in order
to investigate the cultural
dimensions. A total 557
questionnaires were used in
order to reach the final
analysis by using descriptive
statistics and test of
significance. Research
findings show an existence of
a cultural
diversity among different
provinces of Pakistan, where
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)
possessing the most
distinctive culture. Beside
provincial disparity with
national culture on one to one
basis, it does not affect the
results on aggregate basis.
Hence the national culture
remains a true
representation of the
country. The nature of
subcultures within provinces
and the level of their impact
was the major
limitation of the research.
The research would benefit
businesses in Pakistan at
large both local and Multi-
national organizations.
VSM-08 is the latest version
of all the methodologies
devised by Hofstede. No
study has yet been
conducted in Pakistan to
identify
cultural dimensions on
province level using the
parameters defined in this
model. Future research on
different management and
marketing
aspects in Pakistani culture
can be conducted in the light
of this research.
Keywords: Cultural
dimensions, Provincial culture,
National Culture, Hofstede.
1. Introduction
Pakistan came into
existence on August, 14,
1947 from British Rule.
Its population in 2009
is about 174.58 million
with an area of 340, 499
sq mi (Britannica.com,
2010). Islam is the major
religion of the people of
Pakistan. It is a Muslim
dominated country with
95 percent Muslim and
only 5 percent others.
However, being a
pathway to many military
conquests in the history,
it has
given birth to several
ethnic groups. The
interaction between
invaders and the locals
had given
birth to a common
language called Urdu;
however the locals kept
their particular ethnic
and
cultural values alive. The
distribution of ethnic
groups in numerical size
and on language basis
include: Punjabis,
Pashtuns, Sindhis,
Seraikis, Muhajirs,
Balochis, Hindkowans,
Chitralis and
other smaller groups.
Table-1: Ethnic group
composition in Pakistan
Ethnic Group Percentage
of the total
population
Punjabis 44.15%
Pushtoons 15.42%
Sindhis 14.1%
Serakis 10.53%
Muhajirs – Urdu Speaking
7.57%
Balocuhis 3.57%
Others 4.66%
Source: Heritage Online
(2010)
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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) is the northernmost
province of Pakistan.
Major languages in the
province are Pashto &
Hindko. Peshawar is the
Provincial capital. Punjab
is situated on eastern
side of Pakistan. Major
languages of the
province are Punjabi &
Seraki. Sindh is on the
south of
Pakistan and by the
Arabian Sea. Sindhi
language is the major
language of the
province. On
westernmost site of
Pakistan is situated the
province of
Balouchistan. Pashtun
(Pathan) and
Baloch make the two
distinct and major ethnic
groups of the province,
while Sindh origin being
on the third.
Despite the fact that
Urdu is the national
language of the country;
still there does not exists
a single language that is
spoken throughout the
country. According to
Britannica.com (2010), all
the principal languages
possess a strong
regional focus, beside
the fact that some of
the
languages may exist in
other regions as well.
However, each of the
four provinces is named
after
their main dominating
sub-culture such as
Sindhi in Sindh, Balochi
in Balochistan, Pushton
in
Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa
and Punjabi in Punjab.
The purpose of this study
is to investigate the
cultural differences
between the provinces of
Pakistan using Hofstede
Framework for Cultural
Differences as a tool. The
study was conducted
on the university
students of all the four
provinces. The limitation
in Hofstede’s work is
beyond
the scope of this study.
1.1 Statement of the
problem
Pakistan is a multi-
cultural country that
comprises of different
sub-cultures. Employees
encounter these
differences several
times a day while
dealing with colleagues,
customers,
suppliers etc. The
dealing solely relies on
the cultural orientation
of that employee.
There is a
need to devise a
proper training
procedure that equips
employees with cross
cultural
understanding and ways
to effectively manage
these relationships.
Hence unfolding the
cultural
differences within the
country would be the first
step to start the journey.
1.2 Objectives of the
study:
The overall objective of
the research is to
investigate the cultural
dimensions of Pakistan.
More specifically:
1. To assess the nature
of National and Provincial
culture.
2. To assess the cultural
diversity among
provinces.
3. To assess the
relationship between
National and Provincial
culture.
1.3 Hypotheses:
In the light of the above
mentioned objectives,
following hypotheses
have been defined for
empirical testing:
1. There exists a cultural
diversity among different
provinces of Pakistan.
2. There exists a
difference between
National culture and
Provincial culture.
3. There exists a
disparity between
National culture and an
average of total
Provincial
culture.
4. There exists parity
between different
provinces on the basis of
certain cultural variables.
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Figure1. Conceptual
Framework
2. Literature Review
Culture as per Oxford
dictionary is an
“Intellectual and artistic
achievements or
expression
or refined appreciation of
the arts etc., or customs,
achievements etc. of a
particular civilization
or group”.
Hodgetts et. al. (2006)
defined culture as an
acquired knowledge
that people use to
interpret experiences and
generate social behavior.
This acquired knowledge
further form values,
creates attitude and
influence behavior.
Tayeb (2001) defines
culture as an outcome
of a
relationship between two
or three people over a
length of time, which
may be their own unique
culture.
Cultural differences may
be examined in several
ways to understand
their impact on
international businesses.
The best way probably
would be to investigate
its impacts on how
people think and behave
(Hodgetts, 2006).
Another way to depict
culture is through
concentric
circles that are
demonstrated in figure-2.
Provinces
Individulism vs
Collectivism (IDV)
Uncertainty
Avoidance (UAI)
Power distance (PDI)
Masculinity vs.
Femininity (MAS)
Long term orientation
(LTO)
Monumentalism
(MON)
Indulgence vs.
Restraint (IVR)
Punjab Sindh
National
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Figure 2 - A model of
Culture
The explicit
artifacts and
products of the
society
The norms and values
that guide the society
The implicit, basic
assumptions. That guide
people’s behavior
Source: Hodgetts et al (2006,
p97)
The importance of
understanding the
cultures for organization
increases many folds
when
it has a highly
diversified workforce. In
order to develop cross
cultural awareness, an
organization can mainly
use four elements,
raising the awareness of
cultural differences,
focusing
on ways attitudes are
shaped, providing factual
information about each
culture and building skills
in the areas of language,
nonverbal
communication, cultural
stress management, and
adjustment
adaptation skills”
(Challahan, 1989:632).
Hofstede (1980)
identified cultural
variable that may be
used to measure
different cultures and are
widely recognized as
study of cultures
(Dickson et al.,
2003). Other popular
studies on cultures that
are similar to Hofstede’s
work are Trompenaars’s
cultural dimension and
GLOBE project (Hodgetts,
2006).
Beside a lot of
appreciation and
acknowledgement on
the work done by
Hofstede, still
there are many social
scientists who criticize
his work. Hofstede’s
initial work on IBM
employees
working in 70 countries
around the world was
also criticized for
focusing on only one
company
(Hodgetts, 2006:101).
Hofstede acknowledged
their view point and
addressed this issue by
stressing upon the fact
that beside their similar
nature of work,
educational attainments
etc. the
only thing different would
be their national
differences which was
the core of the study.
Clark (2003) argued upon
the existence of several
distinct cultures within a
national culture
buttressing with
different social
scientists view point for
Hofstede’s using the
Nation as a
Culture. Study
conducted by Blodgett
et al (2008) has also
found some
inconsistency in
Hofstede’s work
regarding the reliability
of different variables
used in the study.
In a recent study
conducted by
Terracciano et al (2005)
on 49 different
countries of the
world in order to
understand the
relationship between
National Character and
the mean
personality trait. The
study involved 65
researchers around the
world and concluded
that
National Character of the
countries does not
indicate mean
personality trait levels.
3. Methodology
The target respondents
were university
students from 20
universities of Pakistan
taking 5
universities per province
selected on systematic
random approach, where
as students were
selected
through simple random
sampling. Choosing
university students as
target respondents on
one hand
allows rigorous test of
the applicability of the
scale (Durvasula et al,
1993) while on other
hand
serves as a platform to
minimize random error
as the sample of
university students is
more
homogenous than
general public (Calder et
al , 1981). A total of 600
questionnaires were
circulated
amongst 20 universities
of all the four provinces.
Out of which 557 were
collected, 23 were not
properly completed and
hence were removed out.
Questionnaires received
from Khyber Pakhtoon
Khawa (KPK) were 129,
Punjab 135, Sindh 123
and Balochistan 147.
The male / female of the
respondents of the
questionnaire for Khyber
Pakhtoon Khawa (KPK)
were 80/49, Punjab was
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85/50, Sindh 70/53 and
Balochistan was 67/80.
The gender wise
respondents’ composition
was
Male 53% and female
47%.
Capitalizing upon
Hofstede et al (2008)
latest work on cultural
dimensions, in this
research
we have used Value
Survey model-08 called
VSM-08. The model is
based on investigating
seven (7)
cultural dimensions
through 34 different
questions. Each cultural
dimension is measure
through 4
different questions
while the remaining 6
questions enquire
general demographics
of the
respondents ie. age,
gender, educational
achievements, nature of
the job, province of
birth, and
current province of
residence. VSM 08
model beside
amendments in
questions used in priors
models (VSM 94 & VSM
82) also incorporates two
new variables proposed
by Michael Minkov
(2007) in his work “What
Makes Us Different and
Similar”. A
comprehensive detail of
each variable is
given below: Different
cultural dimensions that
have been used in this
study are i) Power
distance
ii) Individualism (IDV) iii)
Masculinity Index (MAS)
iv) Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI), v)
Long Term Orientation
Index (LTO) vi)
Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR) &
vii)
Monumentalism Index
(MON).
Power Distance Index
(PDI) is the expectation
and acceptance of
unequal distribution of
power
by less powerful or less
influential members of
an organization and
institution within a
society.
Individualism Index
(IDV) refers to a type
of society that allows a
loose interaction
between
individuals. In such a
society people normally
look after for themselves
and their immediate
family
members. Individualism
is an opposite of
Collectivism. Whereas a
collectivist society
strongly
integrated in groups
and protect them with
unquestionable loyalty.
Masculinity Index (MAS)
represents a society in
which there exists a clear
difference in social
genders. Males are
assumed to
be tough, assertive, and
inclined towards material
success, while females
being tender, modest
and
inclined towards quality
of life. Opposite to
Masculinity is
Femininity, in which
there exist an
overlap between social
gender roles.
Uncertainty Avoidance
Index (UAI) represents
to a society in which
the members of the
organization or
institutions feel
threatened by unknown,
ambiguous, uncertain or
unstructured
situations. Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO)
refers to a society that
is oriented towards
future
rewards, in particular
adaptation, theft and
perseverance. The
opposite of this is called
Short Term
Orientation. Indulgence
versus Restraint Index
(IVR) represents a
society that all free
gratification of
feelings and desires
particularly that has to
do with leisure, spending,
consuming, marry
making and
sex. However, Restraint
represents opposite to
this. Monumentalism
Index (MON) represents a
society that rewards
figurative speaking, likes
monuments being proud
and unchangeable. The
opposite to this is called
Self-Effacement.
Cronbach Alfa has been
used to measure the
reliability of the survey
results. It was carried
out in two steps. In first
step the reliability of the
whole survey instruments
(total sample) was
measure which came a=
0.78, well above the
acceptable range of
0.700.
Table 2: Reliability test on
survey outcome
Cronbach's Alpha N of
Items
Total Sample 0.781 28
PDI 0.754 4
IDV 0.872 4
UAI 0.720 4
MAS 0.779 4
LTO 0.752 4
MON 0.788 4
IVR 0.723 4
In second step Cronbach
Alfa was measured on all
the seven summated
scaled instrument
developed through 4
different questions in
order to measure their
internal consistency or
average
correlation. The resultant
values are all above
0.700, which is again
above the acceptable
range.
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4. Research Findings
4.1. Power Distance
Index (PDI)
Research findings on
Power distance index
(PDI) illustrates that
Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa
(KPK) province is the
highly power distanced
province with 79.62,
followed by Punjab
province
by 76.13, Sindh by 43.08
and Balochistan by
32.50. The result findings
suggest that the
tendency of
expecting or accepting
unequal distribution of
power by less powerful
members is high KPK and
Punjab provinces is
higher than Sindh and
Balochistan provinces.
Power Distance Index (PDI)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-3. Power distance
Index for provinces of
Pakistan
4.2 Individualism Index
(IDV)
The data obtained on
comparison of
Individualism vs
Collectivism, indicate
that all the four
provinces of Pakistan
possess a strong index
on Collectivism over
Individualism. Their
respective
scores on individualism
are Punjab=31.94,
Sindh=40.77,
Balochistan=3.75, and
KPK=18.08. The
findings indicate that
Collectivism is a national
culture and the people
living in the country
possess
a strong urge towards in
group cohesiveness and
expect loyalty.
Individualism Index (IDV)
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
40.00
45.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-4. Individualism
Index for provinces of
Pakistan (IDV)
4.3 Masculinity Index
(MAS)
Uniformity between
provincial and national
culture is observed while
studying the data on
Masculinity vs Feminity.
The data indicates a
strong cultural behavior
towards strong
masculinity
for KPK and Punjab
province with 80.38 and
74.84 respectively while
Sindh and Balochistan
provinces show a
relatively low masculinity
tendency by 67.69 and
62.50. In the other
words, KPK
and Punjab provinces are
weak in femininity, as
compared to Sindh and
Balochistan.
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Masculinity Index (MAS)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-5. Masculinity Index
for provinces of Pakistan
(MAS)
4.4 Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
The data on Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
suggests that the society
by and large don’t
feel threatened by
uncertainty, unknown,
ambiguous or
unstructured situation.
The findings of
such data amidst
terrorist attacks being
going on around the
country, high level of
political
instability, ever
increasing inflation etc is
very interesting. This
phenomenon can be
understood by
two variable that affect
severely “Locus of
Control” and “Faith in
Religion”.
4.4.1 Locus of control
Trompenaars, in his on
cultures have given an
importance to the
Environment. He
believes a
specific attention should
be given to the aspect
that how much people
assume having control of
the outcomes. People
who believe that they
control their outcome
are called “Inner-
directed”
while the one who
consider that let the
things happen and they
posses no control over
them are
called “Outer-directed”.
Outward directed
people, who consider
that the locus of
control lies
outside in the
environment, don’t take
the responsibility of the
affairs and believe that
what so ever
happened was beyond
their control. (Hodgetts
et al, 2006)
Table 3: Inner-directed
countries
United States 89%
Switzerland 85%
Singapore 58%
Japan 56%
China 35%
Source: Hodgetts, R.M et al
(2006) pp. 115
From above table all the
three Asian Countries
(Singapore, Japan &
China) are outer-directed
nations. Pakistan being a
neighboring country to
China also carries the
same attribute on Locos
of
Control.
4.4.2 Faith in Religion
A clear majority of people
living in Pakistan (95%)
are Muslims and they
have a firm believe in
God Almighty. They
firmly believe in every
thing happening around
them by the will of Al-
might
God and they possess no
power and control over
them. Therefore the
people living in different
provinces of Pakistan
don’t feel threatened by
uncertainty, unknown,
ambiguous or
unstructured
situation.
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Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI)
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-6. Uncertainty
Avoidance Index for
provinces of Pakistan (UAI)
4.5 Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO)
KPK province is having
the highest index on
Long term orientation
(LTO) while province
Punjab being the lowest
on the scale. Sindh and
Balochistan are relatively
on medium on LTO.
The findings indicate that
the people living in
province KPK have
nurtured strong desires
towards
future rewards etc. as
compared to Sindh,
Balochistan and Punjab.
There is a common
perception
among the people of
Pakistan that Punjabis
are lively people who
enjoy their life at best
they spend
their time in leisure,
merrymaking with
friends, spending and
consuming. By this we
may deduce
that by and large
Punjabis want to live in
present instead of
thinking about the future.
Long Term Orientation Index (LTO)
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-7. Long term
orientation Index for
provinces of Pakistan (LTO)
4.6 Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR)
Punjabi, KPK, and Sindhis
have show healthy sings
on Indulgence and the
data suggests that
people belonging to
these societies would
show free gratification
of their desires and
feelings,
during leisure time pass,
consumption, spending
and merrymaking with
friends. Balochistan
people
show a weak index value
on IVR indicating that
there exits a strong
Restraint Culture.
However,
we have to take into
account that the
meaning of Indulgence
and Restraint would be
slightly
different than what it
may apply in West.
Pakistan is basically
wrapped into three
strong layers that
control the emotions of
the individuals regarding
IVR. i) Country’s religion
ii) Cultural bindings iii)
Class consciousness.
4.6.1 Country’s religion
Islam being the major
religion of the country
plays a vital role in
deciding about the
activities
regarding IVR. Like the
consumption of Alcohol
is strongly forbidden
and is called “Umm-ul-
Khabais” meaning
“Mother of all evils”. An
open display of love
between husband & wife
is strongly
forbidden. A relationship
between male and
female with proper
marriage is strongly
condemned.
Islam not only
discourages over
spending but also under-
spending. Islam
encourages leisure time
pass to be spent in praise
of Al-mighty Allah and for
the welfare of the
society. Country’s rules
and
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regulations are also
devised in such a way
that they buttress Islamic
rules and any
contradiction
found is eradicated or
amended.
4.6.2 Cultural bindings
People in Pakistan by and
large are closely tied in
cultural boundaries. They
prefer to opt for IVR
that is culturally
acceptable. Fried theory
of ID, Ego and Super Ego
is quite relevant in this
case.
Wearing typical dresses,
offering particular food
& drinks on weddings
and funerals is a good
example of cultural
influence on IVR.
4.6.3 Class
consciousness
There exits a strong
class consciousness
among the people of
Pakistan which directly
affect on
IVR. People preferences
on the choice of locality
for building their houses,
type of the cars they
require to maintain,
cloths they should wear
etc. are some of the
influences made by
class
consciousness.
Indulgence versus Restraint Index (IVR)
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure-8. Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IDV) for
provinces of Pakistan
4.7 Monumentalism
Index (MON)
The data on MON
indicate that people of
Pakistan by and large
are Monumentalism in
nature. They not only
like and praise their
heroes and their
ideologies but also at
times don’t
hesitate to sacrifice their
lives for them. Some of
them are common while
others may be termed as
local heroes. Most of
the common heroes are
either from religious
inspirations or from the
struggle of country’s
Independence. However
we can divide the over
all heroes into four broad
categories i) Religious
Heroes (RH) ii) Fighter
Heroes (FH) iii) Political
Heroes (PH) iv) Trend
Heroes (TH).
4.7.1 Religious Heroes
In Religious Heroes (RH),
Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon Him) is
unquestioned Hero for all
the Muslims around the
world. Muslim strongly
wishes to follow his
teaching and His way of
life.
Beside Him, Muslim ranks
his companions, followers
and many spiritual
leaders down the line as
a
role model to live a life.
4.7.2 Fighter Heroes (FH)
Fighter Heroes (FH) can
further sub-divided into
two broader categories a)
Intellectual Front
Fighter Heroes (IFFH) b)
War Zone Fighter Heroes
(WZFH). Quaid-e-Azam
Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
Dr. Allama Iqbal,
Muhallana Muhammad Ali
Johar, Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan and many others
are the
IFFH who pursued the
case for an
Independent State for
Muslims and ultimately
won it
successfully in the shape
of Pakistan. Maj. Azeez
Bhatti Shaheed, Rashid
Minhas and many others
who fought bravely in
different wars mostly
defending homeland are
considered as WZFH.
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4.7.3 Political Heroes
(PH)
Political Heroes (PH), the
people of Pakistan mostly
have a strong &
unquestioned loyalty
towards their political
leaders regardless of
their deeds. Political
parties earn the vote of
sympathy,
religion, contribution in
country’s independence,
voice of youth or being
ethnic minority. A good
majority of the followers
never question the
policies and the actions
of their leaders rather
they
consider it a part of their
duty to defend their
actions at every cost.
4.7.4 Trend Heroes (TH)
Trend Heroes (TH) are
the ones that affect the
life style mostly followed
by the youth. Even
though the affiliation with
them is not as strong one
as in the case of other
heroes, however they
do inspire the way of
life. These heroes are
from music, movies,
dramas etc appearing
in
Hollywood, Bollywood,
Lollywood, local
television channels etc.
Monumentalism Index (MON)
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
Punjab Sindh Balouchistan KPK
Provinces
Values
Series1
Figure 9. Monumentalism
Index (MON) for the
provinces of Pakistan
5. Comparison of
provincial and National
Culture
An attempt has been
made to measure the
differences of different
provinces with the
national culture. National
culture has been
measured on the overall
sample prior to
segregating
on Provincial basis.
Table-I below enlists all
the findings on Provincial
Culture and on National
culture. Punjab and KPK
provinces show a close
similarity with National
culture on Power
Distance Index (PDI),
hence indicating an
existence of Power
distance culture, whereas
province
Sindh and Balochistan
show lower on the
scale. The research
findings on
Individualism Index
(IDV) show a
remarkable similarity
between provincial and
National Culture. Both
findings
indicate and existence of
strong collectivism as
they rank low on
Individualism scale.
National culture also
remains true
representation of
Provincial culture in
case of
Masculinity Index (MAS)
as they indicate an
existence of strong
Masculinity. Another
close
resemblance is
witnessed we when
compare Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI)
as both the
provinces and National
culture indicate a society
that does not feel any
threats and uncertainty
regarding futures.
Another parity is found
between national
culture and provincial
culture on
Long Term Orientation
Index (LTO) as both
results indicate a
society that is Long
term
oriented, Punjab being
the least while KPK
Province being highest on
the scale. Indulgence vs
Restraint Index (IVR)
shows a remarkable
resemblance as they are
close to the average of
65.3,
which shows an
existence of a society
that show free
gratification of their
desires and feelings,
during leisure time pass,
consumption, spending
and merrymaking with
friends while staying in
their religious, cultural,
and class boundaries.
Both Provicial and
National Cultures
indicate an
existence of strong
Monumentalism Index
(MON) within the country.
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Table 4: Provincial and
National Culture Data
Punjab Sindh
Balochistan
Khyber
Pakhtonkhawa
(KPK)
National
Culture
PDI 76.13 43.08 32.50
79.62 69.74
IDV 31.94 40.77 03.75
18.08 30.09
MAS 74.84 67.69 62.50
80.38 74.74
UAI 13.06 06.54 05.00
18.08 11.38
LTO 47.19 66.54 65.00
94.23 68.92
IVR 68.39 64.62 53.75
69.62 69.83
MON 110.65 127.31
70.00 122.69 120.26
On taking an average of
all the provincial findings
and comparing the
results with National
culture gives us a better
view of the identicalness
of both cultures.
Table 5: Provincial average
and National Culture results
Provincial
Average
National
Culture
PDI 57.83 69.74
IDV 23.63 30.09
MAS 71.35 74.74
UAI 10.67 11.38
LTO 68.24 68.92
IVR 64.09 69.83
MON 107.66 120.26
As shown in the table-6,
Chi Square values are
larger than the alpha
value which indicates
that it is not statistically
significant. This means
that the proportion of
Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan,
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) cultures are not
significantly different
from the proportion of
the
national culture.
Table 6: Chi Square values
National Punjab Sindh
Balochistan
KPK
National n/a 0.227
0.227 0.227 0.243
Punjab 0.227 n/a 0.227
0.227 0.243
Sindh 0.227 0.227 n/a
0.227 0.243
Balochistan
0.227 0.227 0.227 n/a
0.243
KPK 0.243 0.243 0.243
0.243 n/a
6. Comparison of results
on National Culture:
A comparison of
Hofstede et al (2010)
findings on Pakistan
has been made with
our
findings. In order to find
out the National culture
values we measured the
responses of all 557
respondents on VSM 08
methodology regardless.
The data such obtained
is presented in the
table below against
Hofstede’s findings.
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Table-7: Hofstede and our
findings on National Culture
Hofstede findings * Our
Findings
PDI 55.00 69.74
IDV 14.00 30.09
MAS 50.00 74.74
UAI 70.00 11.38
LTO 00.00 68.92
IVR n/a 69.83
MON n/a 120.26
Source: *Hofstede (2010, p1)
and our findings.
The findings on Power
Distance (PDI),
Individualism (IDV) and
Masculinity (MAS)
represent the same
phenomena, as both
indicate a society that
accepts power distance,
is
collectivist, and the roles
are defined on gender
basis. However our
research findings are on
the
higher side. We have
observed a disparity on
our findings with
Hofstede’s while
comparing the
results on Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI).
Hofstede’s findings
indicate an existence of
a
society that strongly
avoids Uncertainty,
while our findings
indicate the other way
around.
Another disparity is
observed on Long Term
Orientation Index (LTO).
Our results indicate an
existence of a society
that is strongly Long
Term Oriented while
Hofstede’s results
indicate an
existence of a strongly
Short Term Oriented
Society. A comparison
on Indulgence versus
Restraint Index (IVR) &
Monumentalism Index
(MON) can not be
reached as the data
from
Hofstede analysis in not
available.
7. Conclusion
The study helped us to
understand the nature of
diversity among different
provinces along
with some insights into
these differences. All
provinces showed similar
cultural nature with slight
differences in the
severity of their
closeness except:
• Punjab and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)
showed high score on
Power Distance Index
(PDI) while Province
Sindh and Balochistan
showed low score. This
indicated that the
Punjab and KPK
societies greatly accept
and except unequal
distribution of power as
compared to Sindh and
Balochistan where the
index was very low.
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) showed high value
on Long Term Orientation
as compared
to rest of the provinces
which indicate great
desire among people of
KPK towards future
rewards etc. as
compared to other
provinces.
Despite a general
homogeneity across
provincial cultures, we
have traced down
following
similarities and
dissimilarities among the
provinces of Pakistan
7.1 Similarities among
provinces
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab on Power
Distance Index (PDI).
• Province Sindh and
Balochistan on Power
Distance Index (PDI).
• Province Punjab,
Sindh and KPK on
Individualism Index (IDV).
• All the four provinces
on Masculinity Index
(MAS) as well as on
Uncertainty Avoidance
Index (UAI).
• Province Punjab,
Sindh and Balochistan
on Long Term
Orientation Index, with
Sindh
and Balochistan being
remarkably close to each
other.
• All four provinces on
Indulgence Vs Restraint
Index (IVR).
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• Province Punjab,
Sindh and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) on
Monomentlism Index
(MON).
7.2 Differences among
provinces
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab different than
Province Sindh and
Balochistan on Power
Distance Scale (PDI).
• Province Balochistan
different than the rest
of the provinces on
Individualism Index
(IDV).
• Province Balochistan
different than rest of the
provinces on Masculinity
Index (MAS).
Research findings
revealed a striking
resemblance between
Provincial and National
culture
when an average of
the provincial data was
taken. However, actual
provincial similarities
and
dissimilarities with
National Culture are
given below:
7.3 Similarities &
Dissimilarities between
provincial and National
Culture
• Province Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and
Punjab showed a close
similarity with
National Culture on
Power Distance Index
(PDI) as compared to
Province Sindh and
Balochistan.
• Province Punjab and
Sindh were more close
to National culture on
IDV than
Balochistan and KPK.
• All the provinces
showed a close
resemblance with
National culture on
Masculinity Index
(MAS), Uncertainty
Avoidance Index (UAI),
and Indulgence Vs
Restraint (IVR).
• All provinces except
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
(KPK) showed a close
similarity on Long
Term Orientation (LTO).
• All provinces except
Balochistan showed a
close similarity with
National culture on
MON.
The distinctive provincial
culture of Pakistan,
despite its similarities
and differences across
other
provinces makes a
unique national culture.
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