Abstract
The relationship between personal managerial values and a range of important organisational variables has increasingly been recognised. Personal values are shaped by the wider cultural milieu in which the individual is socialised. Managers from different cultural contexts may therefore be expected to possess different work and business-related values. However, exposure to a more universalistic managerial ethos may also generate a degree of similarity in managerial values across cultural contexts. In order to examine these issues, the values and expectations of managers in Hong Kong (N = 653), Australia (N = 505) and the United States (N = 1,060) were compared. Both differences and similarities were revealed, leading to speculations about the relative impact of culture versus roles on managerial values.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Abbott, K.A. 1970. Harmony and Individualism, Taipei: Oriental Cultural Service.
Abbott, K.A. 1974. Psychological functioning, delinquency and family in San Francisco and Taipei. In W.P. Lebra (ed.) Mental Health Research in Asia and the Pacific. Vol. 1, Youth Socialisation and Mental Health. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Adler, N.J. 1991. International Dimensions of Organisational Behaviour. 2d. ed. Boston, MA: Kent.
Allport, G.W., Vernon, P.E. and Lindzey, G. 1951. Study of Values. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Andres, T.D. 1985. Management by Filipino Values. Quezon City, Manila: New Day Publishers.
Apter, D. 1965. The Politics of Modernisation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Barnett, J.H. and Carson, M.J. 1987. Personal values and business decisions: an exploratory investigation. Journal of Business Ethics, July: 371–382.
Bendix, R. 1964. Nation Building and Citizenship. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Berger, P.L. and Hsiao, H-H.M., eds. 1988. In Search of an East Asian Development Model. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Beyer, J. 1981. Ideologies, values and decision making in organisations. In P.C. Nystrom and W.H. Starbuck (eds) Handbook of Organisation Design, 2. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bond, M.H. ed. 1986. The Psychology of the Chinese People. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Bond, M.H. 1996. Chinese values. In M.H. Bond (ed) The Handbook of Chinese Psychology. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Bond, M.H. and Hofstede, G. 1989. The cash value of Confucian values. Human Systems Management, 8: 199–200.
Brown, M.A. 1976. Values — a necessary but neglected ingredient of motivation on the job. The Academy of Management Review, 1:4, 15–23.
Chen, M. 1995. Asian Management Systems. London/New York: Routledge.
Chung, C.H. Shephard, J.M. and Dollinger, M.J. 1990. Max Weber, revisited: some lessons from East Asian capitalist development. Asia-Pacific Journal of Management, 6:2, 307–321.
Clegg, S. 1990. Modern Organisations. London: Sage.
Clegg, S. and Redding, S. G. (eds) 1990. Capitalism in Contrasting Cultures. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Conner, P.E. and Becker, B.W. 1975. Values and organisations: suggestions for further research. Academy of Management Journal, 18: 550–561.
Davis, H.J. and Rasool, S.A. 1988. Values research and managerial behaviour: implications for devising culturally consistent managerial styles. Management International Review, 28:3, 11–20.
Deal, E. and Kennedy, A.A. 1982. Corporate Culture. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Dowling, P.J. and Nagel, T.W. 1986. Nationality and work attitudes: a study of Australian and American business majors. Journal of Management, 12:1, 121–128.
Drucker, P.F. 1988. Management and the world's work. Harvard Business Review, 66, 65–76.
Durkheim, E. 1964. The Division of Labour in Society. New York: Free Press.
Eisenstadt, S.N. 1966. Problems of integration and modernisation breakdowns. In J.L. Finkle and R.W. Gable (eds) Political Development and Social Change. New York: John Wiley.
Elizur, D. 1980. Facets of work values: a structural analysis of work outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69: 379–389.
Elizur, D., Borg, I., Hunt, R. and Magyaribeck, I. 1991. The structure of work values: a cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Organisational Behaviour 12, 21–38.
England, G.W. 1967. Personal value systems of American managers. Academy of Management Journal, 10: 53–68.
England, G.W. 1975. The Manager and His Values. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Co.
England, G.W. 1978. Managers and their value systems: a five country comparative study. Columbia Journal of World Business, 13:2, 33–44.
England, G.W., Dhingra, O.P. and Agarwal, C.N. 1974. The manager and the man: a cross-cultural study of personal values. Organisation and Administrative Sciences, 5: 1–97.
England, G.W. and Lee, R. 1974. The relationship between managerial values and managerial success in the United States, Japan, India and Australia. Journal of Applied Psychology, 59:4, 411–419.
Everett, J.E., Stening, B.W. and Longton, P.A. 1982. Some evidence for an international management culture. Journal of Management, 19:2, 153–162
Feather, N.T. 1986. Value systems across cultures: Australia and China. International Journal of Psychology 21: 697–715.
Graham, R. and Leung, K. 1987. Management and motivation in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Manager, 23:2, 17–24.
Graves, C.W. 1970. Levels of existence: an open systems theory of values. Journal of Humanistic Psychology Fall, 131–155.
Guth, W.D. and Taguiri, R. 1965. Personal values and corporate strategy. Harvard Business Review 65:3, 123–132.
Haire, M., Ghiselli, E.E. and Porter, L.W. 1966. Managerial Thinking: An International Study. New York: John Wiley.
Hall, E.T. 1976. Beyond Culture. New York: Doubleday.
Hamilton, G. and Biggart, N.W. 1988. Market, culture and authority: a comparative analysis of management and organisation in the Far East. American Journal of Sociology, 94,Supplement: 552–594.
Hampden-Turner, C. and Trompenaars, F. 1993. The Seven Cultures of Capitalism, New York: Currency/Doubleday.
Harbison, F. and Myers, C.A. 1959. Management in the Industrial World. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Harris, P.R. and Moran, R.T. 1991 Managing Cultural Differences 3d. ed. Houston, Texas: Gulf.
Ho, D.Y.F. 1986. Chinese patterns of socialisation: a critical review. In M.H. Bond (ed.) The Psychology of the Chinese People. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Hodgetts, R. and Luthans, F. 1991. International Management. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hofstede, G. 1980. Culture's Consequences. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Hofstede, G. 1984. Motivation, leadership and motivation: do American theories apply abroad?. The Hong Kong Manager, 20:2, 7–18.
Hofstede, G. 1991. Culture and Organisations: Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hofstede, G. and Bond, M.H. 1988. The Confucius connection: from cultural roots to economic growth. Organisational Dynamics Summer, 42–43.
Howard, R. 1990. Values make the company. Harvard Business Review, 68:5, 132.
Hsu, F.L.K. 1970. Americans and Chinese. New York: Natural History Press.
Inkeles, A. and Smith, D. 1974. On Becoming Modern. London: Heinemann.
Jacob, P.E. and Flink, J.J. 1962. Values and their function in decision-making. Supplement No. 9 to: American Behavioural Scientist, May.
Jenner, S.R. 1982. Analysing cultural stereotypes in multinational business: United States and Australia. Journal of Management Studies, 19: 307–325.
Jou, J.Y.H. 1990. Chinese value system and managerial behaviour. International Journal of Psychology, 25: 619–627.
Kahn, H. 1979. World Economic Development: 1979 and Beyond. London: Croom Helm.
Kao, H.S.R., Sinha, D. and Ng, S.K. (eds). 1994. Effective Organisations and Social Values. London: Sage.
Kelley, L., Whatley, A. and Worthley, R. 1987. Assessing the effects of culture on managerial attitudes: a three culture test. Journal of International Business Studies, 19:2, 17–31.
Kim, U., Triandis, H.C., Kagitcibasi, C., Choi, S-C. and Yoon, G. 1994. Individualism and Collectivism: Theory, Method and Applications. London: Sage.
Kluckhohn, C. 1951. Values and value-orientations in the theory of action. In T. Parsons and E.A. Shils (eds) Toward a General Theory of Action. New York: Harper Row.
Kluckhohn, C. and Strodtbeck, F.L. 1961. Variation in Value Orientations. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.
Komin, S. 1990. Culture and work-related values in Thailand. International Journal of Psychology, 25: 681–704.
Kotter, J.P. and Heskett, J.L. 1992. Corporate Culture and Performance. New York: Free Press.
Lane, H.W. and DiStefano, J.J. 1992. International Management Behaviour. 2d. ed. Boston: PWS-Kent.
Lau, S.K. 1982. Society and Politics in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.
Lau, S.K. and Kuan, H. 1988. The Ethos of the Hong Kong Chinese. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press.
Laurent, C. 1983. The cultural diversity of management conceptions. International Studies of Management and Organisation, 13:1–2, 75–96.
Levy, D. 1966. Modernisation and the structure of societies, 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Liedtka, J. 1989. Managerial values and corporate decision making: an empirical analysis of value congruence in two organisations. In J. Post (ed) Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy. Greenwich, Conn: JAI Press, 51–92.
Mann, L. et al. 1990. Cross-cultural and gender differences in self-reported decision-making style and confidence. Unpublished manuscript.
Maznevski, M.L., Nason, S.W. and DiStefano, J.J. 1993. Fourteen faces of culture: A new instrument for understanding cultural differences. Paper presented at the Academy of International Business Conference, Hawaii.
Maznevski, M.L. and DiStefano, J.J. 1995. Measuring culture in international management: The Cultural Perspectives Questionnaire. Paper presented at the Academy of International Business Conference.
McClelland, D.C. 1961. The Achieving Society. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
McCoy, C.S. 1985. Management of Values. Marshfield, MA: Pitman.
McNeely, R.L. 1987. Job satisfaction and other characteristics of Asian-American human service workers. Social Work Research and Abstracts, 23: 7–9.
Meglino, J.R., Ravlin, E.C. and Adkins, C.L. 1989. A work-values approach to corporate culture: a field test of the value congruence process and its relationship to individual outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74: 424–432.
Meindl, J.R., Hunt, R.G. and Lee, W. 1989. Individualism-collectivism and work values: data from the United States, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Supplement 1, 59–77.
Morris, C. 1956. Varieties of Human Values. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Munson, J.M. and Posner, B.Z. 1980. Concurrent validation of two value inventories in predicting job classification and success for organisational personnel. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65:5, 536–542.
Needham, J. 1956. Science and Civilisation in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oliver, N. 1990. Work rewards, work values, and organizational commitment in an employee-owned firm: evidence from the U.K.. Human Relations, 43: 513–526.
O'Reilly, C.A., Chatham, J.A. and Caldwell, D.F. 1991. People and organisational culture: a profile comparison approach to assessing person-organisation fit. Academy of Management Journal, 34:3, 487–516.
Parsons, T. 1951. The Social System. Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Parsons, T. and Shils, E.A. (eds) 1951. Toward a General Theory of Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Posner, B.Z. 1992. Person-organisation values congruence: No support for individual differences as a moderating influence. Human Relations, 45:2, 351–361.
Posner, B.Z. and Low, P.S. 1990. Australian and American managerial values: subtle differences. International Journal of Management, 7:1, 89–97.
Posner, B.Z. and Munson, J.M. 1979. The importance of values in understanding organisational behaviour. Human Resource Management, 18: 9–14.
Posner, B.Z. and Munson, J.M. 1981a. Factorial validity of England's personal values questionnaire. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 41: 1242–1254.
Posner, B.Z. and Munson, J.M. 1981b. Psychometric note on England's Personal Values Questionnaire. Psychological Reports, 49: 50.
Posner, B.Z., Randolph, W.A. and Schmidt, W.H. 1987. Managerial values across functions. Group and Organisation Studies, 12:4, 373–385.
Posner, B.Z. and Schmidt, W.H. 1984. Values and the American manager: an update. California Management Review, 26:3, 202–216.
Posner, B.Z. and Schmidt, W.H. 1986. Values and expectations of federal service executives. Public Administration Review, 46:5, 447–454.
Posner, B.Z. and Schmidt, W.H. 1992. The values of American managers: an update. California Management Review, 34:3, 80–94.
Putti, J.M. (ed) 1991. Management: Asian Context. Singapore: McGraw-Hill.
Pye, L. 1985. Asian Power and Politics: The Cultural Dimensions of Authority. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. 1952. Structure and Function in Primitive Society. NY: Cohen and West.
Redding, S.G. 1980. Cognition as an aspect of culture and its relation to management processes: an exploratory view of the Chinese case. Journal of Management Studies, 17:2, 127–148.
Redding, S.G. 1990. The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Redding, S.G. and Martyn-Johns, T.A. 1979. Paradigm differences and their relation to management, with reference to Southeast Asia. In G.W. England, A.R. Negandhi and B. Wilpert (eds) Organisational Functioning in Cross-cultural Perspective. Kent, OH: Kent University Press.
Redding, S.G. and Wong, G.Y.Y. 1986. The psychology of Chinese organisational behaviour. In M.H. Bond (ed.) The Psychology of the Chinese People. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Revlin, E.C. and Meglino, B.M. 1987. Effects of values on perception and decision making: a study of alternative work values measures. Journal of Applied Psychology, Nov: 666–673.
Rokeach, M.R. 1973. The Nature of Human Values. New York: Free Press.
Ronen, S. 1986. Comparative and Multinational Management. New York: Wiley.
Ronen, S. and Kraut, A.I. 1977. Similarities among countries based on employee work values and attitudes. Columbia Journal of World Business, Summer, 87–98.
Ronen, S. and Shenkar, O. 1985. Clustering countries on attitudinal dimensions: a review and synthesis. Academy of Management Journal, 10: 435–454.
Schein, E.H. 1985. Organisational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schmidt, W.A. and Posner, B.Z. 1982. Managerial Values: The Silent Power in Personal and Organisational Life. New York: AMACOM.
Schmidt, W.A. and Posner, B.Z. 1983. Managerial Values in Perspective. New York: AMACOM.
Schneider, B. 1987. The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40: 437–53.
Schwartz, S.H. 1992. Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 25. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Schwartz, S.H. and Bilsky, W. 1987. Towards a universal psychological structure of human values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53: 550–562.
Schwartz, S.H. and Bilsky, W. 1990. Toward a theory of the universal content and structure of values: extensions and cross-cultural replications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58: 878–891.
Seibert, D.V. and Proctor, W. 1982. The Ethical Executive. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Sikula, A.F. 1971. Values and values systems: importance and relation to managerial and organisational behaviour. Journal of Psychology, 78: 277–286.
Tayeb, M. 1988. Organisations and National Culture: A Comparative Analysis. London: Sage.
Triandis, H.C. 1982–3. Dimensions of cultural variation as parameters of organisational theories. International Studies of Management and Organisation, 12:4, 139–169.
Trompenaars, F. 1993. Riding the Waves of Culture. London: Nicholas Brearley.
Wanous, J.P. 1977. Organizational entry: Newcomers moving from outside to inside. Psychological Bulletin, 87: 601–618.
Webber, R.A. 1969. Convergence or divergence? Columbia Journal of World Business, 4:3, 75–83.
Westwood, R.I. (ed.) 1992. Organisational Behaviour: Southeast Asian Perspectives. Hong Kong: Longman.
Westwood, R.I. and Chan, A. 1995. The transferability of leadership training in the East Asian context. Asia Pacific Business Review, 2:1, 68–92.
Westwood, R.I. and Everett, J. 1987. Cultures Consequences: a methodology for comparative management in Southeast Asia? Asia-Pacific Journal of Management, 4:3, 187–202.
Whitley, R. 1993. Business Systems in East Asia. London: Sage.
Whitely, W. and England, G.W. 1977. Managerial values as a reflection of culture and the process of industrialization. Academy of Management Journal, 20: 439–453.
Yang, K.S. 1986. Chinese personality and its change. In M.H. Bond (ed.) The Psychology of the Chinese People. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Yoshihara, K. 1988. The Rise of Ersatz Capitalism in South-East Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Yu, E.S.H. 1974. Achievement motive, familism and hsiao: a replication of McClelland-Winter-bottom studies. Dissertation Abstracts International, 35: 593A, University Microfilms No, 74-14, 942.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Westwood, R.I., Posner, B.Z. Managerial Values Across Cultures: Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. Asia Pacific Journal of Management 14, 31–66 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015481028914
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015481028914