4.10 Low vs. High Uncertainty Avoidance

Life is full of uncertainty, and we cannot escape it; however, some people are more prone to becoming fearful in situations that are ambiguous or unknown. Uncertainty avoidance then involves the extent to which cultures are fearful of ambiguous and unknown situations. People in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance can view this ambiguity and lack of knowledge as threatening, which is one reason why people in these cultures tend to have higher levels of anxiety.

Cultures at the high end of uncertainty avoidance include Greece, Portugal, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Belgium Flemish, whereas cultures at the low end of uncertainty avoidance include Singapore, Jamaica, Denmark, Sweden, and Hong Kong. The United States ranks 64th out of 76 countries analyzed (Singapore was number 76). From an interpersonal perspective, people from high uncertainty avoidant cultures are going to have a lot more anxiety associated with interactions involving people from other cultures. Furthermore, there tend to be higher levels of prejudice and higher levels of ideological, political, and religious fundamentalism, which does not allow for any kind of debate.

To understand the differences between the high-end uncertainty avoidance and low end of uncertainty avoidance, we look at length of employment, work ethic, managerial focus, and motivation drivers. Hofstede et al. (2010, p. 217) report in low end uncertainty avoidance, employees change jobs frequently, the ethic of “work hard only when needed” is prevalent, high-level managers focus on strategy, and employees are motivated by achievement and belonging. This is different from high end uncertainty avoidance, where employees tend to be in service with an employer longer, the ethic of working hard and the appearance of being busy is prevalent, high-level managers focus on daily operations, and employees are motivated by security and belonging.

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.