Culture’s consequences for purchasing: comparing purchasing job ad requirements from different European countries with cultural models

Abstract

This research analyses the cultural differences in purchasing and supply management (PSM) job requirements from three European countries. The PSM job requirements in job advertisements have been compared with two cultural models: GLOBE and Hofstede. The universalism claim is tested based on comparing requirements in job advertisements for purchasers from Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. According to Hofstede, these three belong in different cultural clusters but just to one cultural area according to the GLOBE model. Results reveal that about 20% of the observed requirements were shared and about 80% were dissimilar. Cultural differences exist in job requirements and have important implications for research and education practice. The neglect to take cultural differences into account needs to be overcome, so that accurate and practically fitting results can be obtained since a universal purchaser does not to exist; country-specific cultural circumstances influence PSM job requirements.