Cultural roots of economic performance: A research noteA

Abstract

Cultural values, measured from Western and Eastern perspectives, are factors in economic performance which explain more than half the cross-national variance in economic growth over two periods for samples of 18 and 20 nations. Performance seems facilitated by ‘Confucian dynamism’—stressing thrift, perseverance, and hierarchical relatedness, but not traditions impeding innovation. Cultural ‘individualism’ seems a liability, while the propensity for work in cohesive groups is an asset for economic performance. With business becoming more international, effective strategic management requires accounting for fundamental national differences such as those of culture identified in this study.