Thailand Culture: Dimensions and Communication

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Thailand culture
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Introduction
According to AlHogail and Mirza (2014), a culture is people’s beliefs, values and
personal interests. Culture is important in a society as it allows people to maintain a unique
identity. Furthermore, cultures have customs that differ from one another although many cultures
have a common interest. In the hospitality industry, Culture plays a significant role in
communication and negotiations although it differs from time to time and from place to place.
For instance, when Americans visit Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui in Thailand, the culture
changes abruptly with the concept of face-to-face communication being more considerate in
Thailand as compared to the USA. For example, during a conversation between a Thailand’s
chef and American, the chef may believe an American intends to despise her because of his
frequent direct eye- contact. On another hand, an America believes eye contact is a way of
paying attention to the chef and he does not intend to offend her (Brown, 2011). Therefore, the
paper examines how the dimensions of Thailand cultures play a significant role in effective
cross-cultural communication.
Dimensions of culture in Thailand
Hofstede’s cultural theory is defined as a framework for cross-cultural communication
that describes the effect of the culture of a society on the values of its members and how
behaviors relate to values using factor analysis (Taras, Kirkman and Steel, 2010 p. 409). The
demission of culture that provides analysis of cultural value includes power distance (strengths
of social hierarchy), uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, indulgence, individual-
collectivism and masculinity-feminist (personal oriented vs. task-oriented). Power distance
dimension explains the cultural attitudes that exist towards the inequalities in society. The power

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distance in Thailand scores 64 on PDI index emphasizing that society has inequalities in terms of
power and social classes and therefore a strict chain of command and protocol is observed and
valued.
Individualism cultural dimension defines the degree of interdependence a society
maintains among its members. Thailand has a score of 20 percent in individualism clearly
emphasizing that the country is highly collectivism. Furthermore, the low percentage is also an
indication that society fosters a strong relationship between groups. For examples, people from
Thailand are not confrontational and when they are communicating, a “yes” may not mean an
agreement or an acceptance. Moreover, an offense may lead to consequences because people
from Thailand are not ashamed in front of their group. Therefore, when doing business or
negotiating in Thailand, a personal relationship is key to consider although it may take longer to
build. Thus, patient and open discussion on first occasions is necessary for Thailand cultures.
In terms of masculinity cultural dimension, Thailand scores 34 and therefore it is
considered as a “feminine society”. With the country having low levels of masculinity, it is an
indication that Thailand people are less assertive and competitive. Uncertainty avoidance in
Thailand is very high having ranked as “64” on the PDI index (Hofstede, 2019. “Uncertainty
avoidance” defines an extent at which members of a culture are threatened by unknown
situations. After being threatened by an unknown situation, members created a belief that they
should try anything to prevent the occurrence of risks. Therefore, in Thailand, there are strict
rules, laws and policies that are adopted and implemented in the workplaces. For example, being
late to attend a meeting or to report to a job, it can lead to a contract termination in the hospitality
industry. In long-term orientation cultural dimension, Thailand score “32” as per PDI index
indicating that the society has strong concerns when establishing the truth and they focus on