Date/Horaire
27/09/2025
10 h 00 - 17 h 00 Europe/Paris
The workshop will take place in Lille at IESEG School of Management, 3 rue de la Digue
In collaboration with 
Program Description:
Introduced as a measure by Geert Hofstede in 1980, the cultural dimension of Individualism-Collectivism (“I-C”) has dominated the field of cross-cultural research and guided intercultural trainers, educators, and other practitioners up to the present. In 2023, The Culture Factor, the global cultural analytics and strategy advisor company associated with Hofstede’s framework, updated their I-C scores due to mounting concerns with Hofstede’s operationalization and measurement of I-C, specifically over its old and non-representative data, as well as its limited face and content validity. These newer I-C scores are derived from the work of Hofstede’s former collaborator, Michael Minkov, and they include a substantial departure from the past. For instance, East Asian cultures’ scores have shifted toward the midpoint or even closer to the Individualism end of the continuum, close to the US’s new score. Rather than an East-West dimension, as it is sometimes perceived, the new scores represent I-C as a North-South dimension, with Northwestern Europe as the most individualist and African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian countries as the most collectivist.
The presenter will discuss three major sources of country scores—including the source of their differences—that use Hofstede’s name and pertain to his cultural dimensions: Geert Hofstede’s website, the website of The Culture Factor (formerly known as Hofstede Insights), and the Minkov-Hofstede Model. This substantial 2023 revision of country scores necessitates an analysis to guide scholars and practitioners through the motive for and meaning of such changes. To help participants make sense of abundant and often contradicting literature, the presenter will deliver a synthesized overview of the new developments in understanding and measuring I-C as it pertains to Hofstede’s work. Through guided exercises, participants will examine and clarify their own assumptions about I-C and to what extent these align with both Hofstede’s actual measurement of the concept, as well as those of Minkov. We will also engage in an exploration of which aspects of Hofstede’s and Minkov’s I-C are most relevant for the participants and their students/clients in their work as well as their daily intercultural communication.
The presenter will then examine the suitability of both Hofstede’s original work and Minkov’s subsequent revisions to I-C for academic research, intercultural training, and education, with a focus upon intercultural education and practice. Participants will engage further in guided exercises to critically assess if and how I-C is applicable to their current work in intercultural communication. The presentation will conclude with practical recommendations about how utilize I-C in participants’ work so that they can make informed decisions in their own use of I-C. Participants will share their insights and reflections to build a learning community around Hofstede’s dimensions, particularly that of I-C.
Bio of the speaker:
Adam Komisarof, PhD, is Professor in Keio University’s Faculty of Letters in Tokyo. His research interests are in intercultural communication, acculturation psychology, and intercultural education. He has spent two sabbaticals at the University of Oxford, first as a Visiting Academic at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies (2012-13), and then at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) (2022-23). A widely sought public lecturer, Dr. Komisarof has given over 130 invited lectures and paper presentations around the globe. He is the author of over 50 publications and four books about intercultural communication and acculturation, including the award-winning On the Front Lines of Forging a Global Society: Japanese and American Coworkers in Japan (2011), and most recently The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Communication (Sage, 2025, with Shuang Liu, Zhu Hua, and Levi Obijiofor). Adam has worked as an bicultural (Japanese and English) intercultural trainer since 1997, and he is a Fellow and Past President of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, an academic organization dedicated to advancing research in intercultural studies and intergroup understanding in the world.