Culture in Angola: insights for human resources management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the cultural values – how things should be – and the cultural practices – how things are – of Angolan society. The authors expected to find: a gap between practices and values; high levels of power distance, institutional and in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, future and humane orientation; and low to medium levels of performance orientation, gender equality and assertiveness. Design/methodology/approach – In all, 235 employees in Angola responded to a questionnaire using GLOBE’s cultural scales. Findings – There is a gap between cultural practices and values. Within Angola, humane and performance orientations are the most valued cultural dimensions. Power distance and in-group collectivism are the most prevailing cultural practices. Compared to other countries, Angola has high levels of humane orientation, institutional collectivism and uncertainty avoidance values and high levels of assertiveness and performance orientation practices. Practical implications – Higher than desired levels of assertiveness and power distance, on the one hand, and lower than desired levels of humane orientation and uncertainty avoidance on the other, are key aspects that should be taken into account by HRM in this context. Originality/value – These results may have important implications for HRM in Angola. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first analysis of Angola’s culture from a business research perspective.