Examining the Use of Hofstede’s Uncertainty Avoidance Construct in International Research: A 25-Year Review

The goal of this research was to determine the extent and the nature of the use of Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance in international research. During data gathering, we identified 118 articles in the Journal of International Business Studies (i.e., the outlet for his initial article) that used Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance. Three articles mentioned uncertainty avoidance in the research notes and 15 used uncertainty avoidance to support positions taken in the literature review. Forty-one articles used uncertainty avoidance while explaining their research hypotheses. Of the remaining 59 articles, 29 used Hofstede’s data to compare countries using composite indices, and 30 used uncertainty avoidance as an independent or control variable.