Doing business in Nigeria: the influence of societal culture

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 30th of June 2014

1.      Introduction

In this research, an examination of a country’s societal culture will be conducted with reference to Hofstede’s online analysis to understand the facets that makes up the country’s culture and why it is important to conduct such analysis.

2.      Chosen country

Nigeria.

3.      What the results reveal about societal culture in Nigeria

3.1. Power distance – with a score of 80%, Nigeria is high in power distance and this implies that people accept hierarchical order in which everybody is accorded a place and such place doesn’t need further justifications (Gert-hofstede.com, 2014).

Personally I would have agreed to this if the rating is about 60%, but a rating of 80% is something I believe needs further justifications and supporting evidence. This is because westernization has influenced Nigerian culture a lot and it is now common for people to question orders. Hierarchy is not fully accepted. For instance, in my current company, staffs can easily work to the CEO for complaints and other issues – thus bypassing managers, supervisors and etc. This is definitely not a sign of complete acceptance to hierarchy.

3.2. Individualism – with a score of 30%, Nigeria is considered to be a collectivist society. Thus results to a close long-term commitment to member groups (whether it is the family, extended relationships, or extended relations). Loyalty in this kind of culture is paramount and it does overrule other societal rules and regulations (Gert-hofstede.com, 2014).

I also disagree with this rating. I think Nigeria is increasingly becoming an individualistic nation or let’s say a shared mix of both individualism and collectivism. For instance, I work in Lagos (hundreds of miles away from where my parents and family leaves in Enugu) and live alone. My siblings are also not at home (studying and working in different states and living alone). Individualism now a pattern of living and association in Nigeria and a review of the rating is needed with new and supporting survey.

3.3. Masculinity – Nigeria is described as a masculine society because it scored 60 in the dimension. This means that people in Nigeria “live in order to work.” It is expected of managers to be decisive and assertive, there is emphasis on equity, competition and performance, as well as resolution of conflicts by directly fighting it out (Gert-hofstede.com, 2014).

This is where Hofstede got it right so far. For instance, staffs in my company don’t accept any work after 4pm (which is the closing hour) else there is a paid overtime to accompany such.

3.4. Uncertainty avoidance – the analysis shows that with a score of 55, Nigeria doesn’t have a clear preference for uncertainty avoidance (Gert-hofstede.com, 2014). This is true to my best of understanding because some tribes (such as the Igbos) are low on uncertainty avoidance and will take the risk to get desired goals, while others (such as the Hausas) are high on uncertainty avoidance and are cautious of the outcome of their decisions.

3.5. Pragmatism – with a score of 13, Nigeria is a normative society. People in this country do value the need to establish the absolute truth. Traditions are greatly respected, they have relatively small propensity to save for the future, and high focus is on achieving quick results (Gert-hofstede.com, 2014). This is another variable that can be viewed to be completely true.

3.6. Indulgence – Nigeria has a score of 84 and this means that it is high in indulgence. This implies that they do desire to enjoy life and have fun. There is high level of positive attitude and tendency for optimism. There is high degree of importance on leisure time, they act as they please and spend money as they wish (Gert-hofstede.com, 2014).

This variable is true and I can testify from my own personal ground. I don’t want to be restricted to things I do as I want to enjoy positive outcomes of my sweats. In the past years, it is not uncommon to see my in hotels across the nation with my friends on holiday or just hanging out. I have been to many tourist attractions such as Obudu Cattle Range (Cross River, Nigeria), Deep Sea diving (Sabah, Malaysia), Island holiday (Fiji Island) etc. I have also regretted some of these holidays as I came back financially down.

4.      Importance of leaders to understand these elements

In the management sense, the importance of understanding cultural elements of any given society has bene described in literatures (Varner, 2000; Kale and Barnes, 1992). Such importance include:

4.1. It highlights what is obtainable in the leadership setting of such society – by understanding that Nigeria is high in hierarchy, an American expatriate will know that he or she can’t just work direct to the CEO or managers without passing through other hierarchies.

4.2. It helps to determine the right workforce structure – by understanding the Nigerian cultural value, a leader will see that team works will work better than independent work settings.

4.3. It helps to determine right salary packages as employees’ working styles – from the Nigerian setting for instance, a leader will see that overtime payment is mandatory and workers live in order to work instead of the opposites obtainable in other countries like Japan and China.

5.      References

Gertz-Hofstede.com (2014), “What about Nigeria?” Available at: http://geert-hofstede.com/nigeria.html [Accessed on: 27^th of June, 2014].

Kale, S. and Barned, J. (1992), "Understanding the domain of cross-national buyer-seller interactions", Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 23 No1, pp. 101-32.

Varner, I. (2000), "The theoretical foundation for intercultural business communication: a conceptual model", The Journal of Business Communication, Vols. 37 No. 1, pp. 39-58.