Explaining Poland's development using uncertainty avoidance: An examination of the role of national culture

There is increasing evidence that a nation's culture influences its development both politically and economically. Even so, there are no widely accepted measures by which to ascertain what cultural factors are most important or how this influence takes place. This dissertation examines the possible role of uncertainty avoidance, one of Hofstede's dimensions of national culture, to help to explain why Poland, a large and progressive country at the middle of the eighteenth century, became part of an area characterized by its "backwardness" in the twentieth century. Although Hofstede's original work has been labeled paradigm-shifting, based on its impact among business and management researchers, this is little evidence to support the reliability of his Uncertainty Avoidance Index or other dimensions of national culture (Power Distance, Masculinity, and Individualism indexes). This dissertation used values and attitude data from the Polish, U.S. and German General Social Surveys to create indexes based on Hofstede's descriptions of uncertainty avoidance. None of the resulting indexes achieved an internal reliability sufficient to conclude that the values inherent within Hofstede Uncertainty Avoidance dimension create a valid index.