SUSTAINABILITY - WHY CULTURE MATTERS - A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN MOLDAVIAN AND ROMANIAN APPROACH ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

This paper aims to assess if the perception and understanding of Sustainable Development is linked to the cultural background, namely the Cultural Dimensions established by Geert Hofstede or not. This research aims to evaluate if there are differences between Romanian and Moldavian civil servants concerning the way that sustainable development is being implemented. Considering the fact that the territory of today's Republic of Moldova was once part of Romania, the study tries first to identify if the Scores for the cultural dimensions of Geert Hofstede are similar or not and, further, to seek out if there are any correlations between these scores and the way sustainability is being adopted. For this, an extensive questionnaire has been submitted to Civil Servants from the City Halls in Moldova and Romania. Additionally, interviews with decision makers have been carried out. This Study is part of a post-doctoral fellowship and the findings will hopefully contribute to a better understanding of the concept of Sustainability, in general and, in particular of its motto: "Think globally, act locally!" Additionally we hope it will provide some considerations on the "footprint" culture leaves on every aspect of "the way people communicate, perpetuate and develop knowledge about and attitudes towards life" (Clifford Geertz, 1973). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]