Human orientation
Human orientation is defined as the extent to which a society encourages and rewards individuals in their behavior with regard to fairness, altruism , kindness, generosity, care and kindness towards others. Human orientation is not represented equally in every culture. This is borne out by the results of the GLOBE study (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Program).
As part of the GLOBE study, more than 17,000 middle managers from 62 countries took part in a questionnaire survey. GLOBE differentiates between practices (current state) and values (target state). A total of five different items on the topic of human orientation were used: concern for others, sensitivity, friendliness towards other people, tolerance of mistakes and generosity. An example of an item on the current situation is: "In our society, people are generally: 1 (very friendly) to 7 (very unfriendly)".
Eight of the ten countries with the lowest human orientation (current situation) are European countries. The countries with the highest human orientation (current state) are Zambia, Ireland, the Philippines and Egypt. The relationship between the “actual state” and the “target state” was negative (r = -.32, n = 61, p <.05). So countries with a low human orientation strive for higher values and vice versa. The human orientation (target state) was generally very high and the variance across the countries was small. Accordingly, people want their society to be highly human.
The results of the GLOBE study also show that in economically more developed countries the human orientation (current situation) is less pronounced than in countries with more difficult economic conditions. In less developed countries, people need more help from each other because the state can provide little support for them. Members of such societies share their material possessions and other resources with their fellow human beings. In contrast, the state is involved in social protection in economically more developed countries. It offers social security systems such as health insurance or social assistance. Social protection is provided directly by the state and people are less dependent on each other.