Hofstede Centre is a website that helps one compare and contrast the cultures of different nations to understand the diverse cultural practices that define a country. This site has designed six unique dimensions in which each state is to be analyzed. These dimensions are power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation and, indulgence. This paper will, therefore, use these dimensions to determine the similarities between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to Hofstede Centre, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have similar scores in both individuality and uncertainty avoidance. The two countries have a score of 25 on individualism. This means that the two countries are considered a collective society. The societies in the two countries, therefore, have a long term commitment to a specific group. This could be an extended family, the family, or extended relationships. These societies, thus, are characterized by strong relationships, and everyone has a responsibility of taking care of one another in the group. In Saudi Arabia for instance, the family is a very crucial social institution that unites families (“Saudi Arabia – Cultural Homogeneity and Values”, n.d.). This is deeply rooted in the Islamic religion. The fact that both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates being Islamic states, is thus a manifestation of the values that they associate with family.

Uncertainty avoidance is one of the Hofstede cultural dimensions that the two countries have in common. With a high score of 80, these countries have portrayed that they have a high preference for avoiding uncertainty. Countries that characterize these levels of uncertainty avoidance exhibit rigid codes of beliefs and behaviors and are not tolerant of nonconformist ideas and practices. Both being Arab countries, they share similar cultures. With Islam being the state religion in the two countries, there are religious rules that are set and the people are supposed to follow. For instance, women are expected to dress in a certain way to protect their decency. Until recently, women in Saudi Arabia were not allowed to drive cars due to firm cultural beliefs (“Saudi Arabia: Why weren’t women allowed to drive? – CBBC Newsround”, 2018). This was the same in the United Arab Emirates too.

Despite the two countries sharing very close scores on almost all the Hofstede cultural dimensions, there are two dimensions in which these countries have a huge contrast. These are long term orientation and indulgence. While Saudi Arabia has a score of 36 in long term orientation, the United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, have a score of zero. This means that the Saudi Arabian people are highly concerned with establishing the truth and have great respect for traditions. The United Arab Emirates, however, have no value on this dimension. Saudi Arabia also has a score of 52 on indulgence with the United Arab Emirates scoring a zero. This means that there is relative socialization in the country while the United Arab Emirates have very little or no socialization.

If two organizations were to do business with each other, it would be easy to handle its communications simply because these two countries have almost similar scores in the cultural dimensions. Both being Arab countries and sharing the same religion where sharia laws apply, and the two companies will only have a little problem especially on the long term orientation and indulgence dimensions. This, therefore, means that the management of these companies will take a critical look at the way that they will approach the countries on these dimensions.

 
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