engleski

Analysis of the role of national culture in financial product and entrepreneurial preferences of young graduates – a comparative analysis between Germany and Croatia

Culture is an important factor of influence on the society as a whole, as well as on the decisions of the individuals in that society (Hofstede, 2001). This means that entrepreneurial, as well as financial product preferences could be influenced by the cultural dimensions of a nation. Culture is defined in this thesis through Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture: power distance, masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and long/short-term orientation (Hofstede, 2001). This thesis examined the relationship between Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture with entrepreneurial and financial product preferences. For this purpose, two hypotheses were formed and tested, one being that there is a relationship between national culture and entrepreneurial preferences, and the other being that there is a relationship between national culture and financial product preferences.To test these hypotheses, a survey was conducted on German students from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and Technical University Illmenau, as well as on the Croatian students from the Faculty of Economics and Business Zagreb. The results of the survey takers from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and Technical University Illmenau were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test, and it was concluded that in five of the 10 main researched statements there was a significant statistical difference, meaning that the two universities could not be taken as a representation for Germany. As such, the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management was taken for analysing Germany in the hypothesis tests. After this, the Mann-Whitney U test was conducted for the German nationality students and the Croatian nationality students to test the hypotheses. Overall, this thesis found a relationship between certain Hofstede’s’ dimensions of culture and entrepreneurial, as well as financial product preferences. With this, it can be seen that the culture does affect decisions in entrepreneurship and investing in financial products. This can be valuable information for countries and institutions on how to further develop entrepreneurship in their countries, as well as insight for financial institutions on how to better develop and market their financial products. In future research, a more detailed analysis on the relationship and its nature between culture and entrepreneurial, as well as financial product preferences, should be researched. In addition, the relationship between culture and entrepreneurial, as well as financial product preferences should be tested on a wider scope and more countries for the purpose of making better conclusions with regard to those relationships.

national culture, entrepreneurship, financial products, Germany, Croatia

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