On the misuse and misinterpretation of dimensions of national culture

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to respond to the article by Brewer and Venaik (IMR Design/methodology/approach – Based on experience in the study of consumer behavior, a critical analysis of applications of dimensional models of national culture in the existing marketing literature is presented. Findings – Differences between models are caused by confusing value types, design and type of questions used. Practical implications – Researchers tend to select one of several models for analyzing cross-cultural variables in consumer behavior, marketing and advertising without understanding the basic differences between the models. Ignorance of the fundamental and conceptual differences may cause the formulating of wrong hypotheses. Originality/value – Next to highlighting the misuse of dimensions to individuals, this paper focuses on the origin of the differences between the models from a marketing point of view.