Information Systems Research and Hofstede's Culture's Consequences: an Uneasy and Incomplete Partnership

Information systems (IS) researchers have begun to investigate how national culture, as articulated by Hofstede, affects a wide variety of issues. A citation analysis of IS articles that cite Hofstede's research on national culture suggests that most research is focused on issues related to IS management and to IS, while issues related to IS development and operations and to IS usage remain relatively unexamined. Within the dominant categories, research is concentrated in the IS management and types of information systems subcategories. Furthermore, the dimensions of national culture outlined by Hofstede have not been frequently used to develop and to build theory. Research opportunities and approaches to develop a stronger cumulative tradition and theory for international IS issues are proposed.