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Understanding Cambodia's Cultural Dimensions

Cambodia has a cultural environment characterized by high power distance and a collectivist society. Cambodians highly value maintaining personal relationships and avoiding conflict. Their culture emphasizes status, protection of face, and gift-giving which indicates a long-term orientation. The dominant ethnic group is Khmer who largely practice Buddhism and speak the Khmer language as the official language. Non-verbal communication also plays an important role in their daily interactions.

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72 views3 pages

Understanding Cambodia's Cultural Dimensions

Cambodia has a cultural environment characterized by high power distance and a collectivist society. Cambodians highly value maintaining personal relationships and avoiding conflict. Their culture emphasizes status, protection of face, and gift-giving which indicates a long-term orientation. The dominant ethnic group is Khmer who largely practice Buddhism and speak the Khmer language as the official language. Non-verbal communication also plays an important role in their daily interactions.

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Ashley
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Cultural Environment Assignment- Cambodia

Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions aids us in analyzing the background, history, and

daily life of the people of Cambodia. The first dimension, power distance, displays the degree of

social inequality considered normal by the people of a country. Cambodians consider titles to be

relatively important, especially in business. They refer to superiors using their professional title,

and even have their own words to address them, “Lok” for males and “Lok Srey” for females

(“Culture Crossing Guide”). In addition, hierarchy is important to the people of Cambodia, and

the eldest person usually retains the position of power, meaning that disrespect or talking back to

authority is looked down upon. This suggests that Cambodia has a relatively large power

distance. The country has a total dependency ratio of 55.7 (“The World Factbook: Cambodia”).

This is an indication of Hofstede’s second cultural dimension, a collectivist society, rather than

an individualistic one. A ratio of over 50% stipulates that Cambodians tend to be more

interdependent, rather than independent.

Cambodians highly value the sustenance and growth of personal relationships. It is

imperative for them to maintain face and always keep up the appearance of dignity and cohesion

in front of friends, family, and/or colleagues (“Culture Crossing Guide”). In addition, they would

rather stay out of conflicts and avoid being pressured or negative confrontations. This suggests a

more feminine society, in accordance with Hofstede’s fourth dimension. Lastly, as

aforementioned, ordering by status and protection/maintenance of face are both significant

aspects of Cambodia’s culture. Gift-giving is common to their culture, especially during first-

time meetings or upon entering a Cambodian’s house for the first time. (“Culture Crossing

Guide”). This is indicative of a long-term oriented culture.


There only exists one main ethnic group in Cambodia, the Khmer, who makes up 97.6%

of Cambodia’s population. The other ethnic groups of the country are considered minorities, and

include 1.2% Cham, 0.1% Chinese, 0.1% Vietnamese, and 0.9% other ethnic groups. (“The

World Factbook: Cambodia”). The official religion of Cambodia is Buddhism, which 97.9% of

the religion-adhering population practice. Also, 1.1% of this population are Muslim, 0.5% are

Christian, and 0.6% practice other religions (“The World Factbook: Cambodia”). As for

language, the official language of Cambodia is Khmer, and about 96.3% of the population speak

this language. The remaining 3.7% speak other languages. In addition, their verbal

communication tends to be non-confrontational and indirect, conveying a high context culture.

Rather than appearing offending, Cambodians would rather just tell you what you want to hear.

Additionally, non-verbal communication plays a large role in daily communication, as they

utilize a variety of gestures, in addition to speaking.

References

Cambodia. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2020, from


[Link]
The World Factbook: Cambodia. (2018, February 1). Retrieved from
[Link]

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