Received 11.02.2026, Revised 28.07.2026, Accepted 01.09.2026 Published 29.09.2026
Ukrainian management, which emerged as an independent phenomenon relatively recently, is currently transitioning from outdated practices of the Soviet era and actively adopting managerial methods from well-established foreign models, creating the need to analyse the validity of such adoptions. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of following foreign management styles in the Ukrainian IT sector based on cultural characteristics. A mixed-methods approach, which includes comparative analysis, generalisation, and synthesis of the theoretical information and case studies of Netflix, Ubisoft, SAP, Spotify, Rakuten, and Kakao, was employed. As a result of this study, the influence of cultural characteristics on the formation of national management models in the modern context was confirmed. Long-term orientation and a focus on innovation were found to be present in each of the investigated models regardless of cultural characteristics. Calculations of Euclidean distances revealed that Ukraine shares the greatest cultural proximity with South Korea and France, while having the fewest similarities with Sweden and the USA. The Ukrainian managerial style was identified by analysing SoftServe’s practices and was compared to other models. The findings indicated that the Ukrainian management approaches generally correspond to the cultural characteristics, highlighting a strong potential for their effective implementation. However, some features were adopted as a result of following foreign managerial practices without taking into account the national mentality. Consequently, recommendations for the adoption of managerial practices that correspond to cultural characteristics were formulated. The practical value of this research lies in the possibility for managers of Ukrainian IT companies and management specialists to utilise these proposals for improving the efficiency of organisational processes and identifying managerial tools that will encounter the least resistance from personnel
adaptation of managerial approaches; managerial efficiency; Ukrainian leadership style; management methods; Hofstede’s theory