The Image of United Arab Emirates Culture among the Non-Arab Expatriates in the UAE
The Image of United Arab Emirates Culture among the Non-Arab Expatriates in the UAE

Summary/Abstract: The main goal of the research is to explore the image of UAE culture among the non-Arab expatriates who live and work in UAE. A structured survey has been developed to measure the variables and answer the research questions. A convenient sample of 121 non-Arab expatriates has been interviewed. 18 Likert scale statements have been developed to measure the image of UAE culture according to Hofstede’s dimensions. According to the responses of the participants, we may conclude that UAE culture is perceived as high in the Power Distance Index PDI. The non-Arab expatriates strongly perceive that the UAE culture is collective. “Masculinity” of UAE society is a stereotype more than an image among non-Arab expatriates. The respondents perceive Emiratis as they have a high preference for avoiding uncertainty; and that UAE has a long-term orientation. The respondents tend to see the UAE society as allowing people to freely enjoy life and have fun. The majority of the respondents agreed that adjusting to UAE culture is easy. The information gained about UAE culture has been obtained from different sources as suggested by Information Integration Theory. In general, age, education, nationality, Emirate of residence, and “number of working years in UAE” have created some differences among varied groups of respondents in all Hofstede’s dimensions. It seems that the most influential demographic is the number of working years in UAE which makes sense as the variance of living experience in UAE causes a variance in the answers of respondents. The only demographic characteristic that did not have any correlations with any of the dimensions is the marital status. In conclusion, we confirm that there is a significant correlation between the demographic variables (except marital status) and the image non-Arab expatriate have about the UAE culture.

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