Hofstede Revisited: Is Making the Ecological Fallacy when Using Hofstede’s Instrument on Individual Behavior Really Unavoidable?

This paper suggests that avoiding the ecological fallacy is - under certain circumstances - possible. One problemin (cross-cultural) research is that there are often two levels of theorizing (individual and country) that needs tobe taken into account when data are being analyzed and conclusions are drawn. Typically, as is the case withHofstede's (1980) well-known research, cultural values are measured on country level. Consequently, researcherswho make causal inferences from such group data to individual behaviors are making the ecological fallacy, i.ethey (most often) wrongly assume that relationships observed for groups necessarily hold for individuals. If,however, a method could be found that could help determining how individuals behave from the study ofaggregated data, the usefulness of Hofstede's research (and research on aggregated data in general) from amanager's point of view would definitely increase.In this paper the problem of the ecological fallacy, as well as different methods of avoiding it is discussed, and aparticular solution of the problem is suggested.