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Concept of culture in layers
To understand Trompenaars’ concept as expounded in Riding the Waves of 
Culture, one has to think of an onion and to ‘unpeel it layer by layer’. This is 
similar to Hofstede’s concept, as seen in Chapter 2. The outer layer is explicit 
and includes aspects of culture which we can see, feel, hear, eat and com-
municate with, even if we are only visiting as a tourist. We should, however, 
realize that these are observable manifestations of a deeper level of culture. 
Prejudices mostly begin at this symbolic and observable layer. Each opinion 
we utter about explicit culture says more about where we come from than 
about the country or people we are judging. The middle layer is concerned 
with our norms and values, our sense of what is ‘right and wrong’, ‘good and 
bad’, as seen in a society’s laws, system of government and institutions. At 
the core are our basic assumptions about our existence and our relationship 
with the environment. These are so deeply embedded that they are truly 
basic and unconscious. In the latest edition of Riding the Waves of Culture 

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Key Thinkers in Cross- Cultural Communication (2) 53
published in 2012, Trompenaars describes the model of culture as ‘a series of 
nested spheres’, which is very much the same concept.
Critique of Trompenaars’ research
Hofstede and Trompenaars both remain acknowledged pioneers in cross-
cultural communication theory. Hofstede’s value dimensions have clearly 
influenced Trompenaars’ research. Universalism versus particularism can 
be relatively associated with Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance, while 
Trompenaars’ individualism versus collectivism reflects Hofstede’s indivi-
dualism and collectivism dimension.
Although Hofstede and Trompenaars share more similarities than diffe r-
ences, Trompenaars has extended his focus on culture by covering people’s 
relationship with time and the environment, areas not researched by 
Hofstede, and these can be seen as innovative and unique to Trompenaars, 
as he places particular emphasis on these factors.
Overall, Trompenaars’ research is more recent than Hofstede’s and thus 
it reflects some of the important world changes, particularly the growth of 
globalization and concern for the environment.
However, Trompenaars’ work can be criticized as there are a relatively 
limited number of responses from many of the countries surveyed, except 
from the UK and the Netherlands. Europe accounts for 57.3 per cent of 
respondents, whereas Africa provides only 4.5 per cent, with nine countries 
having so few respondents that they are statistically insufficient to develop a 
multidimensional model. In addition, 65 per cent of respondents are male and 
most are managers. Moreover, neither Hofstede nor Trompenaars deals in 
sufficient detail with the part gender plays in their examination of culture.
In addition, some of Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions are more difficult 
to understand than those of Hofstede and appear to overlap each other. 
However, his use of continua rather than scored dimensions allows him 
greater flexibility in describing cultural differences as orientations rather 
than absolutes.
Trompenaars himself maintains that he has aimed to produce his research 
findings in a way that is easily understandable and of practical use in the 
training of staff for work in the international environment. In this he has 
been very successful. It can be argued that real- life cultures very often do 
not have strict physical boundaries like nation states. As a result, values and 
beliefs can assume different forms outside these artificial boundaries.
Therefore, the findings of both Hofstede and Trompenaars can be criti-
cized on several grounds. However, it is important to realize that although 
they have generated controversy, this has been the spur for further research 
into attempts to evaluate differences in culture and their effect on interna-
tional management. In both cases, the increasing effects of the contribution 
of globalization to cultural change had not been fully recognized at the time 
when they carried out their main research.

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54 Cross-Cultural Communication