On societal culture and leadership in Greece

Abstract

The GLOBE Study is the foremost international effort in the comparative study of societal cultures. Professor Nancy Papalexandris participated in GLOBE as the principal country-investigator for Greece and authored the chapter assessing the research findings, which relate to the GLOBE's nine fundamental dimensions of societal culture in the Greek context. Professor Papalexandris’ work constitutes a pioneering endeavor, given that Greek academics have shown on the whole remarkably little interest in the scientific study of the Greek character and societal culture. The present article is a critical commentary on her chapter, aiming to further the investigation of this foremost question for Greek society’s self-knowledge. In particular and most importantly, it points to the relative neglect and underestimation of an inflated ego in the interpretation of the research findings. A fitting interpretation requires that proper attention is given to the inflated ego, as this is a central trait of the Greek character largely accounting for the special nature of the Greek societal culture.