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Is there an association between countries’ culture and runners’ performance?

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Abstract

Background

It is widely accepted that countries’ characteristics influence sports performance. However, there is a missing link regarding the association between cultural dimensions and runners’ performance. Our purpose was to verify if the six cultural dimensions of Hofstede are related to performance in non-elite runners and to investigate whether cultural factors remain as predictors when individual factors are considered.

Methods

We used a cross-sectional design, sampling 279 runners from Brazil, Spain, Kenya, Portugal, and Poland. We used a web survey to collect data from runners, while countries’ cultural dimensions were obtained through the six dimensions of Hofstede’s theory (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence). A robust regression analysis was performed considering three different models (crude, adjusted by cultural dimensions, adjusted by runners’ characteristics). For all analyses, running pace was considered as performance indicator. Analysis was performed in STATA (version 14), adopting a 95% confidence interval.

Results

The crude model showed that power distance and indulgence were associated with running pace. The culture-adjusted model showed that higher scores of masculinity in a country leads to lower performance (β = 3.9; p < 0.001), while higher scores of individualism is associated with to higher performance (β = −3.3; p < 0.001). When the model was adjusted for runners’ variables, individualism remained as a significant predictor (β = −1.4; p = 0.035). The last model explains 41% of the runner’s performance variance.

Conclusion

Runners, coaches, and policymakers can better understand the drivers and barriers to performance and running practice across different countries.

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Data availability

The datasets used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

CI:

Confidence interval

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Funding

Mabliny Thuany is founded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, with a PhD scholarship (grant number 2023.04886.BD).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport (CIFI2D), Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Mabliny Thuany & Ramiro Rolim

  2. Post-Graduation Program of Physical Education, Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Sergipe, Brazil

    Thayse Natacha Gomes

  3. Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Thayse Natacha Gomes

  4. Physical Activity for Health Research Cluster, Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Thayse Natacha Gomes

  5. Department of Physical Education, Exercise and Sport Science, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    Kevin Kipchumba & Lucy-Joy Wachira

  6. Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Sport Tourism, Poznan University of Physical Education, Poznan, Poland

    Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko & Mateusz Rozmiarek

  7. Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Beat Knechtle

  8. Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Beat Knechtle

  9. Associated Postgraduate Program in Physical Education, University of Pernambuco and Federal University of Paraiba, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Marcos André Moura dos Santos

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  1. Mabliny Thuany
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  4. Lucy-Joy Wachira
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Mabliny Thuany, Thayse Natacha Gomes, Kevin Kipchumba, Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, Mateusz Rozmiarek and Marcos André Moura dos Santos. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Mabliny Thuany and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mabliny Thuany.

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Conflict of interest

Mabliny Thuany, Thayse Natacha Gomes, Kevin Kipchumba, Lucy-Joy Wachira, Ewa Malchrowicz-Mośko, Mateusz Rozmiarek, Beat Knecthle, Ramiro Rolim, and Marcos André Moura dos Santos declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

All participants received information about the study’s purposes. The study was approved by the ethics committee in Brazil (the Federal University of Sergipe, protocol nº 5.286.914), Kenya (Kenyatta University Ethics Review Committee–Center for Research Ethics and Safety, PKU/2521/11648 and research permit by the National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation, NACOSTI/P/22/18904), and Portugal (Faculty of Sports, University of Porto—CEFADE 12/2022), and complies with the recommendations for the 7th Revision of the Declaration of Helsinki. In Poland, the study did not require any formal ethical approval, because following the rules, the Bioethics Committee does not consider applications for surveys involving the use of standardized surveys that are used for their intended purpose.

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Thuany, M., Gomes, T.N., Kipchumba, K. et al. Is there an association between countries’ culture and runners’ performance?. Sport Sci Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-024-01177-w

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