Hofstede’s Indulgence vs. Restraint

 Hofstede’s sixth dimension is basically about whether a society gives people free rein to enjoy life (Indulgence) or pushes them to suppress desires through strong social rules (Restraint).

I’d suggest that both Lithuania and Japan sit closer to the restraint side: people tend to prioritise duty, save more, and keep emotions fairly controlled. That shows up in everyday stuff, restrained cultures often associate professionalism with seriousness, as an example.

If we were to analyse deeper, we could notice some differences. For one, Japan pairs restraint with highly ritualised customer service and polished public behaviors (as we mentioned in our previous classes - omotenashi and obsessively neat packaging) - a structured, service-oriented restraint.  Lithuania, as part of Eastern Europe, reflects restraint through frugal spending habits and stronger social norms shaped by history and economic caution, that being more plainspoken and less performance-driven than Japanese public polish.

While looking for extra research, I stumbled upon a “cultural tightness–looseness” which in my opinion complements Hofstede: tight cultures have “many strong norms and a low tolerance of deviant behavior,” which helps explain why both Japan and Lithuania favor predictable social order (Deckert et al., 2022).

To conclude, it’s safe to say that both Japan and Lithuania use the same map (restraint) but different roads - Japan’s route is highly ritualised and service-heavy, meanwhile Lithuania’s is more reserved, pragmatic.

Reference:

  1. Deckert, C., Schomaker, R.M. Cultural tightness–looseness and national innovativeness: impacts of tolerance and diversity of opinion. J Innov Entrep11, 29 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-022-00219-2

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