ethnicities his respondents were, there is a tendency that he presents ethnic Javanese in explaining Indonesia Perdhana 2014. Hofstede also admits his scores might be
misleading in a multiethnic country like Indonesia Hofstede et al., 2010; p. 158. The need for understanding the complexity of Ind
onesia’ culture, however, is not matched by the availability of the empirical study findings in the country.
Most studies discussing Indonesia’s culture disregarded the cultural variations in
the country e.g. Liddle 1996; Goodfellow 1997; Irawanto 2009; Irawanto et al. 2012. In response to this problem, recent studies have tried to bridge the gap.
Perdhana 2014 underlines that in order to understand Indonesia’s culture, more careful approach should be taken. In this case, he proposes to draw comparisons
among ethnic groups in Indonesia. Given the dearth of literature available for foreign managers and possibly
local managers managing Indonesian employees from various subcultures and values, this study aims to bridge the gap by extending Hofstede’s work on
Indonesian employees originating from five major ethnic groups: Javanese, Sundanese, Batak, Minangkabau, and Chinese Indonesian.
1.2 Problem Statement
In Hofstede’s findings, Indonesia was reported to have large power distance PDI score 78, collectivistic value IDV score 14, low masculine MAS score 46,
and low preference for avoiding uncertainty UAI score 48. Although all respondents satisfied Hofstede’s matched-sample requirements in terms of
occupations, there is a possibility that he overlooked the vast variation of cultures of Indonesia: almost all of the respondents were of Javanese ethnic Perdhana
2014. Hofstede himself admits that his score may be misleading in a multiethnic country like Indonesia Hofstede et al. 2010; pp. 158.
This leaves a question whether it is still relevant to rely on Hofstede’s findings to un
derstand Indonesia’s cultural values. By comparing the cultural values of major ethnic groups in Indonesia, this study aims to show that there are cultural
variations that need to be acknowledged and provide a better explanation to the cultural variations that exist in Indonesia.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
Given the tendency to present Javanese culture as the culture of Indonesia and worsen by the lack of studies which discuss I
ndonesia’s cultural variations, there may be confusion and generalization toward Indon
esia’s cultural values. In response to the danger of generalizations, a more focused research is
needed to investigate to what extent the differences among ethnic groups in Indonesia exists. The purpose of the present study was to assess whether a national
cultural framework would be able to describe cultural differences among ethnic groups in Indonesia by studying Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau, Batak, and
Chinese-Indonesian employees.
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The objectives of this study are: 1. to investigate the cultural values of Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau,
Batak, and Chinese-Indonesian employees; 2. to assess whether Hofstede’s national cultural framework will be able to
describe in-country cultural differences;
1.5 Research Questions
