Where West Meets East: Culture and Preferred Leader Behavior in Poland A and Poland B

Geographically and politically, Poland is a Central European country traditionally divided into two regions located to the west and east of the Vistula River. This division has come to be known as Poland A and Poland B. Despite ongoing debates over the past decade regarding the political and economic disparities between these regions, there has been a notable absence of research exploring their cultural distinctions. To address this gap, this study analyzed the cultural variances between these regions, as well as differences in preferred leadership behaviors among individuals born before and after the transition year of 1989. Through multivariate analyses of variances (MANOVA) tests conducted on a sample of 266 respondents, our research unveiled significant differences in several cultural dimensions and leadership styles, partially confirming our initial hypotheses. We discuss these findings in the context of existing research on Polish culture within cross-cultural and international business literature.