Final Research Project Report (Italy, Japan, Romania)

The Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede identified six dimensions of culture that can be used to analyze how values in society (and workplace) are influenced by culture. This system is called Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Model and it's used for understanding and comparing 

national cultures. During our classes we went through every one of these six dimensions and we compared them with regards to Japan and our country of origins. In my case it has always been a comparison between Japan and Italy, but for this assignment I will also consider my other country, Romania. I will use the website theculturefactor.com for consulting how high these 3 countries score in each category (with the 6th one, Masculinity vs Femininity not being adressed in the website). 

The first dimension we observed is called Power Distance and it is the extent to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. On this dimension Italy scores the lowest (50) with control and formal supervision being generally disliked among the younger generation, who demonstrate a preference for teamwork and an open management style (however because of history, politics and economy often the results between Northern and Southern Italy are opposite to each other). Japan scores almost the same and even though being hierarchycal, Japan has always been a meritocratic society. There is a strong notion in the Japanese education system that everybody is born equal and anyone can get ahead and become anything if he (he, because misogyny is still a reality) works hard enough. Romania scores the highest on this dimension (90) which means that people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. And this last sentence echoes so much with Romania's recent history of harsh communist regime (in which my parents have grown) making the "90" make so much more sense.

The second dimension is the Individualism (vs. Collectivism) one and it describes "the degree to which people in a society are integrated into groups." The regional divide between north and south makes Italy's score very balanced (53).

The Northern and Central parts of Italy have an individualistic culture, especially in the big cities where people can feel alone even in a busy crowd. Southern Italy is on the collectivistic side of the scale: traditions, the family network and the group one belongs to are important social aspects. Japan scores 62 on the website's scale but I find myself in disagreement with it. In collectivist cultures such as Japan, the group’s needs come before individual desires. People are more likely to act in ways that benefit their family, workplace, or community, so this scale doesn't make much sense in my head. Romania, with a score of 46 is considered a collectivistic society. This again makes me think of the commitment to the member ‘group’, be that a family, extended family, or extended relationships that molded social interactions during the communism era.

After that, we analyzed the dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance which refers to the degree to which members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. Italians are not comfortable in ambiguous situations (score of 75) and formality in Italian society is important, with the Italian penal and civil code being complicated with clauses etc. However there is a clear contradiction between all the existing norms and procedures and the fact that Italians don’t always comply with them. At 92 Japan is one of the most uncertainty avoiding countries and this is often attributed to the fact that Japan is constantly threatened by natural disasters. Because of that, Japanese learned to prepare themselves for any uncertain situation. This can be seen very clearly in corporate environments where a lot of time is put into feasibility studies. Romania scores 90, with a constant need for rules (even if the rules never seem to work), high consideration for time, punctuality, hard work and traditions. And once again this makes sense to me when I think how 1984esque life was during Ceausescu's regime (in terms of society control and life rythm).

As for the Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation dimension we adddess the extent to which a culture encourages or discourages delaying gratification and adapting to changing circumstances for future benefits, versus upholding traditions and seeking immediate results. With a score of 39 and 32, Italy and Romania exhibit great respect for traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future, and a focus on achieving quick results. Especially when we think of how politician (of both countries) work to elevate the legacy of their terms instead of laying down stable bricks for future politicians to build on (thus helping the country). Instead, at 100 Japan is among the most Long Term Orientation oriented societies. Japanese see their life as a very short moment in the long history of mankind and the companies work to serve the generations to come. 

Lastly we talked about Indulgence vs. Restraint and societies' approach to human desires and gratification. Indulgent societies tend to be more permissive, allowing individuals to satisfy their impulses, while estrained societies emphasize control and regulation of desires based on social norms. I completely disagree with Italy and Romania scoring 30 and 20 and being called societies of restraint. Yes pessimism is the norm but this doesn't mean their people don't let passions dominate them. Quite the opposite. Leisure time is vital to italian culture and both italians and romanians express emotions openly and see spending time with family and friends as an essential part of life. Them scoring lower than Japan is very confusing to me, since here self-control, discipline, and social expectations play a strong role in daily behavior. People are often expected to put work, responsibility, and group harmony before personal pleasure.

Overall Italy, Japan and Romania have many differences being Italy and Romania yes 2 european, latin language speaking countries but with differences in geography and political history. But they also share some cultural similarities between themselves because sometimes different paths lead to similar outcomes. And both of them share both differences and similarities with Japan.

Reference:

https://www.theculturefactor.com/country-comparison-tool   (2026)