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Chinese cultural values and Chinese cultural

values and the
the Asian meltdown Asian meltdown
Steven Ward
School of Business, Murdoch University, Murdoch, 205
Perth, Australia
Cecil Pearson and Lanny Entrekin
Murdoch University, Murdoch, Perth, Australia
Keywords Managerial values, Southeast Asian values, Chinese cultural values
Abstract Despite the continuing interest in a concern for relationships between culture,
management values and economic activity, there is a lack of empirical evidence about these
relationships during the unprecedented economic transformations in Asian nations in the 1990s.
This study evaluated variations in values that tapped concerns fundamental to the Chinese world
view during the period of the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Data were provided by ethnic Chinese
managers from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore prior to and after the meltdown. The study
findings demonstrate a number of the values changed significantly, which questions assumptions
of the longevity of these values, which were identified in earlier periods of relative economic
stability. These findings suggest the emergence of distinct managerial styles in each country,
rather than the continuance of more common ``Asian'' or a Chinese way of doing business.

Introduction
The intensity and complexity of today's global marketplace is reshaping
managerial values. In the competitive landscape facilitated by unrelenting
technological revolution and increasing globalisation, managers are
encountering major strategic discontinuities (Hitt et al., 1999; Thomas et al.,
1999) as traditional processes and procedures are dismantled and managerial
mindsets undergo a total transformation to promote new competencies in
innovation, risk taking and problem solving (Pearson and Chatterjee, 1999).
Acquiring mindset change and strategic vision is a profound challenge that
confronts managers in several countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and a
number of Asian nations (Autenrieth, 1993; Brewster, 1992; Chatterjee and
Pearson, 1996) as these societies undertake political and economic transitions
from centrally administered production cultures to more market-based systems
(Koubek and Brewster, 1995; Luo and Peng, 1998). More recently, a number of
South East Asian (SEA) communities have experienced an unexpected
economic downturn (The Economist, 1998a) and the subsequent social
dislocation has generated considerable rethinking of regional managerial
values and assumptions (Gill, 1998; Gough, 1998; Lim, 1997; The Economist,
1998b) that influence the changing organisational, individual, societal and
global interfaces. Against a backdrop of increasing international structural
reforms there is considerable interest, particularly in the context of International Journal of Social
Economics, Vol. 29 No. 3, 2002,
pp. 205-217. # MCB UP Limited,
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the Asian Business Research Group at 0306-8293
Murdoch University. DOI 10.1108/03068290210417098
International intercultural management (Autenrieth, 1993; Lasserre and SchuÈtte, 1995;
Journal of Social Westwood and Posner, 1997), in understanding how economic, cultural and
Economics social forces influence work-related managerial values.
Interest in relationships between economic activity, culture and managerial
29,3 values provides the underpinning for this study. Specifically, the focus of the
study was to assess if the catastrophic event of the Asian financial crisis of
206 1997 was associated with shifts in managerial values. Responses were obtained
from managers, prior to and after the collapse of the Asian miracle, who were
working in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore which are three countries that
were directly involved in the crisis. In addition to each of these three countries
being besieged by this unprecedented economic event, all are uniquely
represented by the overseas Chinese (Chen, 1995; Seagrave, 1997). Hong Kong
is a Chinese monoculture, Malaysia is a multicultural society with a minority of
Chinese who have low political, but high economic influence; while Singapore is
a multicultural republic in which the Chinese population virtually controls
government and business. The extent of stability of managerial values during
this period of economic turbulence was assessed with a shortened version of
the Chinese Values Survey (CVS), (The Chinese Culture Connection, 1987).
Globalisation has exacerbated the need for business executives to clarify their
own values as well as those of other managers. In the reality of a global
neighbourhood, managers who better understand the values and beliefs of their
counterparts are more likely to be able to conduct business in a country where
the traditions and methods are less well known (Alavi et al., 1999). This
contention is of particular relevance in the domestic as well as international
business operations of the SEA nations. Despite the ongoing debate about
which reforms to adopt to arrest and reduce the vulnerability of the SEA region
to future economic crises (Das, 1999; Ichimura et al., 1998; Lim, 1997) there is
emerging evidence that the installed schemes will be underpinned by decision
making that is impacted by culturally related values (Lubatkin et al., 1997;
Mueller and Clarke, 1998; Tsang, 1998).
Prompted by the pragmatic interest in terms of enhancing understanding of
differences and similarities (Westwood and Posner, 1997), as well as the
liberalisation of markets and global linkages, managers are confronted with a
new set of challenges in the area of values and competencies that were never
before needed in their organisational roles and strategies (AragoÂn-Correa, 1998;
Berry and Rondinelli, 1998). For instance, there is evidence to support the
notion that differences in perceptions of equity, decision making, conflict
resolution and leadership exists across nationalities, cultures and other social
context objectives (Brett and Okumura, 1998; Chen et al., 1998; Cook and
Herche, 1994). An understanding of the member values that underpin these
systems will facilitate the development of taxonomies of fit and flexibility of
strategic human resource management systems, which should lead to better
interactions between organisational members, and particularly managers of
the global business community. This study compares responses from three
industrialised Asian communities that were impacted by the regional financial
meltdown (namely, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore) to investigate Chinese cultural
similarities and differences of managerial values. values and the
Asian meltdown
Literature review
Even before the SEA currency crisis the convergence or divergence of
managerial work values attracted considerable interest. With the expansion of
an intensely complex international marketplace, researchers and practitioners 207
have debated the factors that shape the nature of managerial work and the
values of organisational members. Three broad perspectives have been
proposed to explain the extent to which managers hold similar or dissimilar
work-related business values. One dominant view, the convergence
perspective, is that exposure to western technology, education and the best
administrative practices will lead to homogenising of business processes and
managerial values (Child, 1981; Negandhi, 1985). A counter viewpoint, the
divergence perspective, proposes that organisational members will retain
their culturally based values in spite of unified business approaches,
industrialisation or the integration of multi-domestic operations. This
paradigm has been endorsed by Hofstede (1980, 1991) who demonstrated with
cultural maps that management and organisational practices are culturally
dependant. A most recent challenge to the polar extremes of convergence-
divergence has been the integrative alternative of cross-vergence (Ralston et al.,
1993). However, there has been limited evaluation of this concept (Entrekin and
Pearson, 1999; Pearson and Entrekin, 1996, 1999; Ralston et al., 1997).
The important debate about the convergence-divergence of work values has
been exacerbated by a plethora of cross-cultural research. In a massive project
Hofstede (1980) endeavoured to capture the fundamental essence of culture in a
classical study with some 116,000 respondents from 53 countries. Although
this seminal work provided a set of assumptions and frameworks for
contrasting and interpreting prevalent national cultural values, the research
was criticised for its potential to be western biased. To address this issue, Bond
and colleagues (The Chinese Culture Connection, 1987) conducted a lesser scope
investigation by surveying 100 respondents (50 per cent women), each in 22
countries on five continents. A pivotal element of their study design was a new
questionnaire that was developed with input from a number of Chinese social
scientists, with the aim of creating an instrument that tapped concerns
fundamental to the Chinese world view. This instrument was termed the
Chinese Value Survey. Both this study and Hofstede's findings identified four
primary dimensions with three of them closely aligned, but Bond and
colleagues found a unique dimension that appeared to suggest an addition to
the then currently accepted cultural variations, yet balancing out western
egocentrism.
There is strong evidence that the distinctiveness of ancient beliefs, traditions
and nuances are enshrined in workplace values. The seminal work of Hofstede
(1980) has widely popularised that values are relatively stable over time and
that nations consistently clustered together (Dowling and Nagel, 1986; Ronen,
International 1986) according to four main constructs he labelled collectivism
Journal of Social (individualism), femininity (masculinity), uncertainty avoidance and power
Economics distance. Further, that these four dimensions provide a basis for explaining
organisational arrangement and structures, as well as workplace behaviours
29,3
and relevant work attitudes (Hofstede, 1991). Subsequently, Bond and
colleagues (The Chinese Culture Connection, 1987) identified an additional
208 value indigenous to the Chinese people, which they termed ``Confucian work
dynamism'' as the principle attributes reflect the teachings of Confucius and the
social continuity of an extant civilisation of over 2,500 years. It is important to
acknowledge that Hofstede employed a traditional quantitative design, while
Bond and colleagues employed an idiographic design which is recognised as
more appropriate in cross-cultural research. Nevertheless, there is a dominant
view that each society has a unique set of stable cultural values which guide
managerial belief and actions which is illustrated in workplace practices and
relationships (Adler et al., 1989).
The economic and financial transformation of the Asia Pacific region has
expanded interest in Chinese managerial values. The extraordinary growth of
the SEA nations was believed to be influenced by Chinese heritage and in
particular Confucian ideals that had been successfully adapted over thousands
of years to meet the exigencies of the modern marketplace (Hickson and Pugh,
1995; Seagrave, 1997). In the aftermath of the June 1997 financial meltdown
there is renewed focus on and widening concerns about the management styles,
corporate systems and idigenous Chinese values of the South East Asian
business environment.
This study examines the longevity of work-relevant values in a sample of
South East Asian managers. Until recently work values have been treated
almost exclusively as static states, but in a world of advancing technology, the
emergence of global markets and the transition of many command societies to
free enterprise systems, there is some evidence that business workplaces are
being exposed to profoundly different philosophies, ideas and values
(Abdullah, 1997; Chatterjee, 1998; Pearson and Chatterjee, 1999, Pearson and
Entrekin, 1999; Ralston et al., 1993, 1997). This paper contributes to a better
understanding of the formulation of managerial values, as well as the extent of
their differences within an economic seachange. The approach will be to
examine the personal work-related values of managers from three different
countries that have both convergent and divergent cultural contexts and the
communities are undergoing a significant socio-economic transition.
Specifically, two aspects were assessed.
(1) To examine whether Chinese cultural values as measured by the CVS in
the SEA region were effected by the recent economic downturn.
(2) To examine whether there was a change in the CVS factors in each
respective country (Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore) in the SEA
region.
Method Chinese cultural
Site and respondents values and the
The study data were obtained in three Asian countries: Malaysia; Hong-Kong Asian meltdown
(now part of China); and Singapore. In each of these countries structural
reforms are taking place as the economies are in the process of transformation
to a global market culture. Malaysia is a country that has been caught up in the
Asian economic meltdown and this is expected to have a tremendous impact on 209
managerial practices and enterprise systems as the nation is realigned toward
the government's vision of fully industrialising the country by 2020. Malaysia
has a socio-economic system between those frameworks of Hong Kong and
Singapore. Hong Kong is ethnically a monoculture with strong multinational
and expatriate influences. In addition to the economic meltdown, Hong Kong
managers were also impacted by the reversion to Chinese sovereignty in the
middle of 1997. Singapore, on the other hand, is more multicultural than Hong
Kong and government policies endorse not only the integration of the three
main cultural groups (Chinese, Malays and Indians), but the government has
encouraged foreign direct investment and strategic development and
utilisation of the workforce (Sharma and Chew, 1992; Wan, 1996). Singapore, a
nation with very limited resources, is a most celebrated case of economic
development and competitive success in the international marketplace that has
recently been embroiled in the aftermath of the Asian currency crisis. As world
economies adopt the free enterprise system there is an expectation that
exposure to different ways of doing business will reshape managerial value
systems. The diversity of large-scale economic transition in these three
countries provides a domain for examining extremes of respondent workplace
values.
The study respondents had substantial variations in cultural traditions.
Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong have common roots, as all countries were
British colonies and their legal, economic and educational systems have grown
out of English traditions. Malaysia and Singapore have three main races ±
Chinese, Malays and Indians, but the mixes are different. For instance, in
Malaysia the Chinese comprise a relatively small ethnic group (30 percent)
whereas in Singapore ethnic Chinese are 76 percent of the republic's population.
Each ethnic group has its own rich, distinctive culture and values, which come
from their traditions, beliefs and practices. Malaysia, however, has the most
culturally diverse workforce of the three study sites, and fundamentally the
population has extensive indigenous racial, religious, linguistic and cultural
diversity. All three countries have launched an aggressive overhaul of
economic policies to woo foreign investors and this has attracted western and
Japanese multinational corporations and expatriates from numerous countries.
Within the three study sites there is a common cultural heritage of the overseas
Chinese (Chen, 1995; Seagrave, 1997).
The sample consisted of 1,114 fully employed managers who volunteered to
participate in the study. Almost all of these managers were ethnic Chinese.
This was a deliberately chosen strategy as it is widely reported (Chen, 1995;
International Hickson and Pugh, 1995; Seagrave, 1997) that the overseas Chinese, although a
Journal of Social minority in many of the SEA nations, are the dominant force of business
Economics throughout the region. A total of 377 managers were surveyed before the
economic meltdown of 1997 and 737 subjects were surveyed during 1998 in the
29,3 early stages of the aftermath of the regional economic crisis. In Malaysia there
were 93 managers surveyed before the crisis and 160 managers during the
210 crisis, whilst in Singapore there were 165 people surveyed before and 376
managers surveyed during the crisis. Finally, in Hong Kong there were 119
people surveyed before the crisis and 201 respondents during the crisis. The
response rate was exceedingly high (+95 percent) as trust relationships were
developed with the researchers (who administered the questionnaire) and the
study participants.
This high response rate was achieved by developing relationships between
the respondents and the researchers. Indeed, this is a feature of idiographic
studies that incorporate extensive fieldwork and enhance the sharing of
information between the principals. Bond and colleagues employed an
idiographic design when they developed the CVS, which ensured the Chinese
social scientists adopted ownership of the final instrument. A normal mail
questionnaire in these countries can expect a 1 to 10 percent response rate due to
traditional secrecy and the fact that many of these organisations are privately
owned and see no reason to reveal sensetive information (Entrekin and Pearson,
1999). Hence the importance of managing relationships between the respondents
and the researchers was realised in this study by adopting a two-step process.
This process consisted of using practicing managers who were studying
towards business degrees in ten off-shore programs run by Murdoch
University in the three countries. The purpose of the research was explained to
these managers who in turn administered and collected questionnaires from
work colleagues in their organisations. The results of the research data were
analysed and explained to the study managers as feedback on how to conduct
organisational research. The two-step process thus circumvents the lack of
trust and secrecy and resulted in a high response rate.

The instrument
The CVS was the instrument that was used to evaluate managerial cultural
variances in this study. This instrument was developed from the seminal work of
Bond and colleagues (The Chinese Culture Connection, 1987), which has 40 items.
When Bond and colleagues administered their instrument in 22 countries to
respondents who were university students, and subjected their data to an
ecological factor analysis, they obtained four values with factor loadings > 0.55
that were believed to be indigenous to Chinese culture. These four values were
identified as Confucian work dynamism (eight items), integration (11 items),
human heartedness (five items), and moral discipline (five items). One factor
loaded equally (0.62) on integration and human heartedness. Confucian work
dynamism reflects the teachings of Confucius as the items included such
fundamental dimensions as ordered relationships, face, respect for tradition and
thrift. Integration focused on social stability, tolerance for others, trustworthiness Chinese cultural
and friendships. Human heartedness measures attributes of compassion, kindness, values and the
patience and a sense of righteousness. Moral discipline has dimensions of control Asian meltdown
in relation to others, the need for few desires, to be prudent and adaptable. Thus,
the CVS focuses on eastern values that are deemed to be of fundamental
importance to Chinese culture (The Chinese Culture Connection, 1987).
The Bond and colleagues analysis, however, used only the mean values of 211
the 22 countries as input into scale development, the assumption being that
these mean values represented the cultural traits of each nation state. Cultural
values of individuals in each country, however, were not considered. While
providing an important benchmark for future research, Bond's study failed to
examine individual cultural values, which may vary within a country (i.e.
subcultures may exist), or these nuances may be similar across countries
(which would show evidence of regionalism or globalisation).
A shortened version of the CVS was employed in this study to evaluate
managerial indigenous values to the Chinese culture. Only 17 items of the
original instrument were used for convenience. Specifically, the items identified
by Bond and colleagues that had the highest factor loadings were used and
they are shown in Table I. The study managers were asked to indicate on a
seven-point Likert scale, with each scale division appropriately worded, how
important each of the four factors were to managerial work (1 = least important
to 7 = most important).

Results
Table II presents key demographic personal and organisational attributes of
the respondents for the pre- and post-periods of the SEA regional financial

Factor Item description

Confucian work dynamism Ordered relationships

Thrift
Protecting your face
Respect for tradition
Integration Tolerance for others
Harmony with others
Non-competitiveness
Trustworthiness
Filial piety
Human heartedness Kindness, forgiveness, compassion
Patience
Courtesy
Patriotism
Moral discipline Moderation following the middle way
Keeping oneself disinterested and pure Table I.
Having few desires CVS factors and
Adaptability questionnaire items
International Hong Kong Malaysia Singapore
Journal of Social Variable Pre Post Pre Post Pre Post
Economics
Age (years)
29,3 Less than 25 6.7 1.0 70.9 28.8 15.2 9.6
25-29 21.8 12.9 10.8 19.4 32.1 32.2
30-49 70.7 85.1 15.1 41.3 48.5 56.9
212 Over 49 0.8 1.0 3.3 10.5 4.2 1.3
Gender
Female 29.4 38.8 65.6 35.0 49.1 35.6
Male 70.6 61.2 34.4 65.0 50.9 64.4
Education level
Primary 14.3 11.0 14.4 23.0 20.7
Secondary 19.3 20.4 41.0 40.6 47.9 31.2
Tertiary 64.7 71.6 48.0 45.0 29.1 48.1
Management level
Owner/CEO 10.0 8.0 10.8 18.8 4.2 6.9
Senior 38.7 36.8 9.7 28.7 11.0 14.6
Middle 38.7 49.2 33.3 35.0 40.6 33.8
Junior 12.6 6.0 46.2 17.5 44.2 44.7
Company size
Less than 100 38.7 34.3 52.7 51.9 33.3 31.6
100-200 31.0 28.4 31.2 30.0 26.7 26.9
Greater than 500 30.3 37.3 16.1 18.1 40.0 41.5
Business type
Service 63.9 63.7 81.7 65.6 76.4 73.7
Manufacturing 36.1 36.3 18.3 34.4 23.6 26.3
Table II. Notes: Respondent numbers pre- and post-economic meltdown for Hong Kong were 199
Demographics (%) and 201, Malaysia 93 and 160, and Singapore 165 and 376

crisis. Generally, across these two periods and within the three countries, the
demographic percentages are reasonably equivalent when allowances are
made for particular local effects. For instance, the Hong Kong pre- and post-
study participants were mainly older males, hence there were more senior-level
managers than in the Malaysian and Singaporean samples, who held fewer
tertiary degrees. In addition, company size was relatively similar between the
three countries and across time. The Malaysian percentages feature a higher
number of small Chinese businesses within a landscape where ethnic Chinese
are a minority in comparison to the ethnicity of the communities of Hong Kong
and Singapore. The dominance of the service industry is evident. The relatively
higher proportions of Hong Kong and Malaysian respondents being employed
in manufacturing are outcomes of many of the Hong Kong managers working
in mainland China, and manufacturing is a part of the strategic development of
Malaysia.
Table III presents the pre- and post-test means, standard deviations and
T-test results for the four CVS constructs. Almost 50 percent of the means
 Hong Kong Malaysia Singapore Chinese cultural
Pre Post T-test Pre Post T-test Pre Post T-test values and the
CVS factor n= 119 201 P< 93 160 P< 165 376 P<
Asian meltdown
Confucian work 4.42 4.60 0.097 4.53 4.35 0.039 4.26 4.23 0.698
dynamism (0.84) (0.97) (0.62) (0.80) (0.75) (0.89)
Integration 4.90 5.02 0.133 5.16 5.03 0.103 5.15 5.29 0.022
(0.57) (0.84) (0.54) (0.75) (0.68) (0.61)
213
Human 4.71 5.00 0.005 5.04 4.98 0.565 4.92 5.14 0.003
heartedness (0.75) (1.05) (0.71) (0.88) (0.85) (0.72)
Moral discipline 4.36 4.41 0.603 4.52 4.38 0.127 4.19 4.43 0.000 Table III.
(0.75) (0.92) (0.66) (0.76) (0.71) (0.72) Pre- and post-means,
standard deviations
Note: Values in parentheses are the standard deviations of the means and contrasts

contrasts were significant at the p < 0.05 level. The Hong Kong managers
reported a significant increase in perceived human heartedness. Interestingly,
the Malaysian managers experienced a substantial decline in Confucian work
dynamism. The greatest changes were recorded in the Singapore sample where
the managers expressed a substantial increase in integration, human
heartedness and moral discipline. These results bring into question earlier
assumptions that managerial values are stable over time, and suggest
environmental economic turbulence has the potential to impact value
orientations.

Discussion
The focus of this study was to examine the stability of CVS factors over time
and across cultural boundaries. The time periods were pre- and post-financial
crisis and the cultural boundaries were those of three significant South East
Asian communities, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Theory about
Chinese values would suggest that these deeply held values would be relatively
stable even in the face of substantial change and turbulence. For example,
Confucian values have survived over 2,000 years, in many dynasties and
through catastrophic events such as the cultural revolution. History suggests
that people of Chinese ethnicity are highly adaptable and the Chinese dyaspora,
which largely took place in South East Asia, is testimony to this. Thus, there is
a suggestion that these durable values may be interpreted differently by
Chinese populations at different times and in different circumstances. The data
presented in this study seems to support that contention.
In the case of Hong Kong this appears to be evident in the relatively
seamless transition from laissez-faire capitalism of an autonomous colony to a
workable relationship with the command-and-control society of the mother
country, China. Hong Kong business leaders interpreted the inevitable
circumstances and adapted accordingly. In the data presented, only the CVS
factor ``human heartedness'' significantly differed between the pre- and post-
periods, during which the actual transition occurred. The items in this factor
International (see Table I) are clearly those which would aid in the transition to a workable
Journal of Social partnership with a more powerful, but less sophisticated (in business terms)
Economics partner.
In Malaysia the circumstances are different again. The Chinese minority (30
29,3 percent of the population) are powerful economically and weak politically.
They would be acutely aware of the treatment of fellow Chinese minorities in
214 neighbouring Indonesia where Chinese affluence become a target of the
frustration of less affluent indigenous populations. Many of these Chinese
Malaysians would be connected with Indonesian Chinese through dialect and
clan associations as well as business connections. They would also collectively
remember being in that position in Malaysia in 1969. In these circumstances it
pays to be as inconspicuous as possible. The data presented in this study show
a substantial decline in Confucian dynamism for the Malaysian sample
population. An examination of the items comprising this factor (see Table I) are
those that call attention to the ``Chineseness'' of this minority group where it is
desirable not to attract attention.
The greatest changes in the pre- and post-periods were recorded in
Singapore where the factors of human heartedness, integration and moral
discipline increased significantly and Confucian dynamism declined slightly.
Singapore, as the only country in South East Asia to be declared a ``developed
country'' by the United Nations, was one of first in the region to prosper, and
has suffered the least in terms of the financial crisis. As a small city state with
no natural resources, Singapore's leaders recognised early after separation
from Malaysia that it (Singapore) could only prosper with a well educated,
adaptable workforce. Through astute government intervention and initiatives
it operates more like a ``well-oiled'' corporation than a ``broad spectrum
economy'' that takes time to adapt to change. The CVS factors that increased
significantly in the pre- and post-periods in this study suggest the subjecation
of personal desires and gains for the good of the team (state). Again, changing
times and circumstances seem to moderate and reinterpret, rather than change,
traditional cultural values.
Overall, the study findings suggest that a major change in the business
environment may have produced particular changes in managerial values in
different countries. The increase in human heartedness values in Hong Kong,
for instance, may have been influenced by the impending reunification of Hong
Kong and China in 1997. This may have created a greater feeling of security for
the managers in Hong Kong, who now would feel more a part of the world's
third's biggest economy and one of its few remaining superpowers. Singapore,
on the other hand, being a city-state would have at the direction of government,
business and the unions pulled together and emphasised the cohesive values of
the CVS. Across the Johor Straight in Malaysia the situation is quite different.
Malaysia, of all the countries, experienced the worst fallout of the ``Asian flu''.
The Chinese in this country do not have the political power in government as
with other countries in the region, but are known to have a dominant economic
influence. They of all people would have felt the least secure in their ability to
cope with the economic downturn. The decline in the values of human Chinese cultural
heartedness probably reflects a move towards more individual values since the values and the
benefits of cooperation without government support would have been more Asian meltdown
prevalent for those people.

Conclusion
This study set out to examine the stability of work-relevant values of a sample 215
SEA managers in a time of substantial economic turbulence known as the
financial crisis which effected counties in the region between 1997-1999. The
specific focus was on Chinese managers in the countries of China (Hong Kong),
Malaysia and Singapore. These three countries represent significant
destinations for ``overseas Chinese'' during and since the Chinese diaspora of
the last 2,000 years. The CVS was used to assess whether a change occurred in
values which can impact work orientations with measurements taken before
and during the economic crisis. These three countries, while being
representative of significant populations of ``overseas Chinese'', have different
patterns of government control and intervention and influence by people of
Chinese ethnicity.
The significant differences noted in the data for the three countries across
the two time periods probably do not represent fundamental value shifts, as the
time lapse is too short for shifts in values that took up to 2,000 years to develop.
Rather, they can be reasonably explained in light of conditions that cause
managers to moderate and reinterpret values according to times and
circumstances. This is in keeping with the known ability of the ``overseas
Chinese'' to adapt and change as necessary.

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