4.11 Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation

Long-term orientation focuses on the future and not the present or the past. As such, there is a focus on both persistence and thrift. The emphasis on endurance is vital because being persistent today will help you in the future. The goal is to work hard now, so you can have the payoff later. The same is true of thrift. We want to conserve our resources and under-spend to build that financial cushion for the future. Short-term oriented cultures, on the other hand, tend to focus on both the past and the present. In these cultures, there tends to be high respect for the past and the various traditions that have made that culture great. Additionally, there is a strong emphasis on “saving face,” (or a person’s public image), fulfilling one’s obligations today, and enjoying one’s leisure time.

At the long-term end of the spectrum are countries like China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, whereas countries like Pakistan, Czech Republic, Nigeria, Spain, and the Philippines are examples of short-term. The United States ranked 31 out of 39, with Pakistan being number 39.

The values prevalent in business and the focus of business are different in long-term and short-term orientation. Hofstede et al. (2010) report the values of freedom, rights, achievement, and thinking for oneself are important in short-term orientation. In long-term orientation, the values of learning, honesty, adaptiveness, accountability, and self-discipline are key. While a business’ “bottom line” with a focus on “this year’s profits” is important for short-term orientation, the focus is on the market position and importance of profits ten years from now for long-term orientation (Hofstede et al., p.251).

This section is adapted from Cultural Characteristics and Communication in Interpersonal Communication Copyright © by Jason S. Wrench; Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter; and Katherine S. Thweatt available at Interpersonal Communication – Simple Book Publishing licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.