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Abstract
In this article, results from a study of 189 managers from Chile, Australia, and the United States are presented. The managers were surveyed to explore their unique perceptions of Hofstede and Bond's cultural values, with a primary emphasis on Confucian Dynamism.
Confucian Dynamism has been related historically to the inherent values of traditional Asian societies such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. The personality traits associated with this cultural dimension - scholarship, hard-work, and perseverance - seem to have been instrumental in the recent economic success of many Asian nations. As the world approaches a global economy, an understanding of how Confucian Dynamism relates to other traditional cultural measures in non-Asian countries will become increasingly important.
Key Results
The results indicate that Confucian Dynamism exists at the individual level of analysis in the sampled nations, and is related positively to the sub-constructs of past/present and future Confucian values. Differences across the queried national groups are identified, and organizational applications for personnel selection and placement are suggested.
Manuscript received January 1998, revised January 1999, revised September 1999
Due to the increased globalization of markets and production in recent years, a number of managers have become interested in differences that exist across diverse cultures (Adler 1983, Hofstede 1980, Husted/Dozier/McMahon/Katten 1996, Schlegelmilch/Robertson 1995, Trompenaars 1994). The work of Hofstede (1980, 1984, 1991, 1997) and his four cultural dimensions of individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and power distance has been well documented in the literature (e.g., Abratt/Nel/Higgs 1992, Vitell/Nwachukwu/ Barnes 1993). Hofstede and Bond (1988) developed a fifth dimension, labeled Confucian Dynamism, that purportedly assesses a culture's tendency toward certain Confucian traits such as hard work ethic, thrift, and concept of time (The Chinese Culture Connection 1987). Research by Yeung and Tung ( 1996) also has revealed the importance of a Confucian trait, "Guanxi," or making connections, in the achievement of successful business dealings in East and Southeast Asia.
While many economists have projected that the Chinese economy will be one of the world's largest in the next decade, the Western understanding of traditional Chinese work values still has much room for improvement. Interestingly, although there has been a recent economic slump in Asia, much of the long-term industrial success of Japan...