Do Hofstede's National Culture Impact on Public Sector Budgeting Practices?

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor in Accounting, Faculty of Economic, University of Sistan & Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran.

2 M.A. in Accounting, Faculty of Economic, University of Sistan & Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran.

Abstract

Differences in cultural philosophy at the national level have been theorized to affect business practices, legal systems, social behavior norms, educational achievements and even the rate of economic growth. This literature is extended to investigate whether public sector budgeting procedure associate to national economic culture.
Current paper addresses the shortcoming by using data from Hofstede's research and OECD database to test the relation between cultural dimensions and budgeting procedure. Present study is fundamental and classified as semi-experimental with regression approach. Public sector budgeting procedures are classified regarding to the extent to which the legislative body controls public sector expenditures (Legislative “Power of the Purse”), and also the extent to which the budgets are transparent to both the legislature and the individuals (Budget Transparency).
The followings has been achieved: Hofstede's Power of distance index has a negative relation with Legislative Power of the Purse measure while Individualism, Masculinity and Uncertainty Avoidance indices are remarkably and positively related to; Individualism and Masculinity indices are significantly and positively related to Budgeting Transparency. There is a significant relationship between Hofstede's national culture and public sector budgeting.

Keywords


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