Cultural value differences among ethnic groups in Indonesia: Are Hofstede’s Indonesian findings still relevant?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess whether a national cultural framework can describe cultural differences among ethnic groups in Indonesia. We argue that to understand Indonesia’s culture, the cultures of its ethnic groups must first be characterised. In this study, Hofstede’s cultural framework was applied to explore cultural values of Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau, Batak and Chinese-Indonesian employees, and to investigate whether Hofstede’s Indonesian findings are still relevant. A sample of 699 respondents was obtained and drawn from paid employees representing the five ethnic groups in Indonesia. The evidence suggests that Hofstede’s Indonesian findings are only able to explain Javanese’s cultural characteristics. Moreover, the overall findings show that there are significant differences among the ethnic groups studied.