Capturing blended subcultures through individual-level cultural vectors: a new method for competing values framework-driven organizational culture assessment instrument

Organizational culture (OC) research has long relied on the competing values framework (CVF) and its associated organizational culture assessment instrument (OCAI) to map cultural dimensions. However, the original analytical methods—especially clustering based on ipsative scales—pose methodological limitations, such as distortion of individual-level data and loss of competitive value structure. This study responds to Hofstede’s early call for methodological refinement by introducing a novel analytical approach that better aligns with the CVF’s theoretical foundations. The aim of this research is to develop and validate a new methodology that identifies latent subcultures more accurately, preserves the ipsative character of the data, and enhances comparability across independent samples. To this end, the study proposes a centroid-based geometric method that calculates individual-level cultural vectors in a two-dimensional space. This approach avoids the subjectivity of traditional clustering, eliminates averaging distortions, and facilitates objective grouping into up to nine distinct (including blended and balanced) subcultures. The methodology was empirically tested using two organizational samples (n = 332 and n = 348), drawn five years apart from the same institution. Results show that while both the new and traditional methods yield similar subcultural compositions in ~60% of cases, the centroid method offers significantly deeper insight into cultural dominance, internal homogeneity, and change dynamics. The method also introduces new indicators for subcultural homogeneity and visual tools—such as vector diagrams—to assess discrepancies between perceived and desired culture. By improving OC measurement, increasing subcultural differentiation, and providing a clear, replicable approach fit for research and consultancy, this paper offers both theoretical and pragmatic contributions. The method is flexible enough for any ipsative scale-based tool in the CVF paradigm, like orthogonal quadrants.