Christ and Business Culture: A Study of Christian Executives in Hong Kong

Author(s): Kam-hon Lee, Dennis P. McCann and MaryAnn Ching

Source: Journal of Business Ethics , Mar., 2003, Vol. 43, No. 1/2, Business Ethics in the
Global Knowledge Economy (Mar., 2003), pp. 103-110
Published by: Springer

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25074979

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Christ and Business Culture:
A Study of Christian
Executives in Hong Kong
ABSTRACT. Does Christian faith matter in business?
If so, how does it affect the way executives handle
managerial issues, especially the ones that are ethically
controversial? This paper reports a study of Chinese
Christian executives in Hong Kong. The researchers
followed an approach known as the Critical Incident
Technique and conducted in-depth interviews with
119 Chinese Christian executives over a two year
period from 1999 to 2001. Each interview covered
four broad areas consisting of the interviewee's
description of his or her Christian faith, business
experience, reported critical incidents and general
remarks on faith and work. For each reported critical
incident, the interviewee deliberated on the incident
and its background, his or her response, the rationale
Kam-hon Lee is Professor of Marketing at The Chinese
University of Hong Kong. His research areas include
business negotiation, cross-cultural marketing, marketing
ethics, social marketing and tourism marketing. He
obtained his Ph.D. in Marketing at Northwestern
University. Professor Lee has published in Journal of
Marketing, Journal of Management, Journal of
Business Ethics, and other refereed journals. He also
serves on the editorial boards of various international and
regional journals.
Dennis P. McCann is the Wallace M. Alston Professor of
Bible and Religion at Agnes Scott College in Decatur,
Georgia. McCann's research interests include compar
ative religious ethics, business and economic ethics, and
Christian social thought. McCann received his Ph.D.
from the University of Chicago Divinity School in
1976. The author of several books and numerous
articles, he is a former member of the Editorial Board
o/The Journal of Religious Ethics (1981-1996).
Mary Ann Ching is Special Project Staff of Hong Kong
Professional & Educational Service, Ltd., a non-profit
organization that sponsors business ethics projects among
other professional and educational programs in Asia. She
obtained her MBA in Management at California State
University, Sacramento.
?4 Journal of Business Ethics 43: 103-110, 2003.
r ? 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
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Kam-hon Lee
Dennis P. McCann
MaryAnn Ching
behind the response and its consequences. Each
interview was tape recorded for transcription and
analysis. The major contribution of this study is to
propose and document a typology of the executives'
responses to ethical challenges in business. The
typology is based on earlier work on Christ and
culture (Niebuhr, 1951; Siker, 1989) and styles of
negotiation (Lewicki et al., 2001; Rubin et al, 1994).
Preliminary research findings indicate that the
proposed typology is an effective paradigm. It has the
promise of enabling Christian executives to reflect
critically on their ethical behavior and to guide their
thought towards more effective responses to ethical
challenges.
KEY WORDS: business culture, Christ, Christian
executives, Hong Kong
Introduction
This paper reports a study of Chinese Christian
executives in Hong Kong. The purpose of the
study is to determine the effectiveness of
Christian witness in the marketplace. It is an
exploratory study that adopts an inductive
approach to understanding some of what has
been happening in the marketplace. The reflec
tion is based on interviews with 119 Chinese
Christian executives who provided their personal
experiences as a database for reflection and
theorizing. There were two criteria for inclusion.
First, those invited to participate are known to
uphold a serious Christian commitment. This
qualifies them as "Christian." Secondly, those
participating have in-depth business and man
agement experience. This qualifies them as
"executives."
The research methodology is the Critical
 104 Kam-hon Lee et al.
Incident Technique. It is a proven methodology
in several rigorous research projects in marketing
(e.g. Bitner et al., 1990, 1994). A typical critical
incident has two characteristics. First, it is critical
because it recalls significant behavior that the
interviewee thinks made a difference in achieving
his or her designated objectives. Second, it counts
as an incident because the behavior is sufficiently
complete for observation and interpretation, and
its results are clear and predictable.
This paper makes use of data collected from
Christian executives through the Critical
Incident Technique to develop a conceptual
framework for reflection on the effectiveness of
Christian witness in the marketplace. While the
data was collected in Hong Kong, Christian
executives in other business communities may
find the results equally instructive. In addition,
executives of other religious convictions may use
this framework to develop a corresponding
paradigm for handling their own ethical chal
lenges in the marketplace.
Research method
Hong Kong Professional and Educational
Services, Ltd. (HKPES), a non-profit organiza
tion sponsoring various professional and educa
tional programs in Asia, was the sponsor of this
study. MaryAnn Ching identified prospective
interviewees, secured their consent for inter
views, and enlisted the help of Kam-hon Lee and
Dennis McCann to conduct the interviews.
An interview would cover four topics. They
include the interviewees' conversion and church
life, their business and management experience,
their general remarks on faith and work, and the
critical incidents in their experience that featured
significant encounters between their faith and
work. For each critical incident, the interviewees
would deliberate on the background of that
challenge, their response to it, the rationale
behind their response, and the consequences of
their response. All interviews were tape recorded
for subsequent analysis.
Nine executives were identified as initial cases
for testing the research methodology. Kam-hon
Lee interviewed them in Chinese. Dennis
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McCann interviewed them in English. Based on
the interview results, it was concluded that while
the interviews were conducted under different
situations (Chinese vs. American interviewer,
Chinese vs. English as communication medium,
Protestant vs. Catholic interviewer, applied social
science vs. religious studies background, etc.), the
interview results remained virtually the same.
Only Kam-hon Lee or only Dennis McCann,
but not both, conducted the interviews for all
subsequent interviewees. Kam-hon Lee did 82
more interviews. Dennis McCann did 28 more
interviews.
In preparing the interview transcripts, Kam
hon Lee and MaryAnn Ching handled together
the 82 cases Kam-hon Lee interviewed alone.
Dennis McCann and MaryAnn Ching handled
together the other 37 cases. For the first 82 cases,
Kam-hon Lee prepared the drafts for 64 cases
based on his interview tapes and MaryAnn Ching
did the validation work after listening to the tapes
independently. MaryAnn Ching prepared the
drafts for 18 cases based on the remainder of
Kam-hon Lee's interview tapes and Kam-hon
Lee listened to the tapes independently and did
the validation work. For the 37 cases Dennis
McCann and MaryAnn Ching worked together,
Dennis McCann prepared all the drafts and
MaryAnn Ching did all the validation work.
Altogether, 119 interview records were validated
as data for reflection and theorizing.
Theoretical framework
An important priority was to develop a theoret
ical framework to capture the meaning for
business ethics of the critical incidents we had
collected in our interviews. The critical incidents
reveal a basic pattern that we understand, gener
ically, as an encounter between Christ and
business culture. The executive who identifies
himself as a Christian represents Christ in this
encounter. The challenge the executive faces is
to resolve conflicts between his or her Christian
discipleship and certain practices characteristic of
the prevalent business culture. The Christian
executive thus takes a critical stand toward the
business culture, with respect to either certain
 Christ and Business Culture 105
practices normally accepted within it, or the
culture as a whole. Otherwise, the executive
cannot be qualified as a Christian executive. In
the meantime, the business culture in which the
executive operates does not coincide with the
norms and ideals implicit in Christian disciple
ship. Otherwise, the encounter would have to be
regarded as occurring between Christ and Christ
instead of between Christ and business culture.
Nevertheless, the critical incidents that we col
lected suggest a range of responses on the part
of Christian executives participating in this
encounter. We thus needed to formulate a
typology that would allow us to interpret the
significance of the full range of their responses.
H. Richard Niebuhr's treatment of Christ and
culture proved to be especially promising for
developing such a typology. He identified five
types of strategies by which Christianity coped
with the practical challenges emergent in the
history of Western civilization. Niebuhr's book,
Christ and Culture (1951), thus is one major
source of literature for this research project.
However, careful study of the critical incidents
reported to us also allowed us to conceive this
encounter as an issue of conflict resolution.
Conflict resolution has been an important
research area in business. In the business negoti
ation literature, Rubin et al. (1994), focusing on
contrasting the interests of two opposing parties,
developed a research area called styles of negoti
ation. They also proposed a typology for
mapping the range of negotiating styles that is
consistent with the broadest paradigms of human
interaction. Their work thus also serves as one
major source of literature for this research
project. Our own hypothesis is that interpreting
the data we have collected requires constructing
a new typological framework that integrates both
these sources of literature. Within that new
typological framework we hope to capture and
understand what our data indicate concerning
Christian witness in the marketplace.
Niebuhr's Christ and culture
Following the work of H. Richard Niebuhr, van
Wensveen Siker (1989) extrapolated five types for
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understanding the Christian encounter with
business culture. These are based in Niebuhr's
original five types: Christ against culture, Christ
of culture, Christ above culture, Christ and
culture in paradox, and Christ the transformer of
culture. Following Niebuhr, van Wensveen Siker
sees the theme of Christ against culture as
opposition, and uses it to anchor one pole in the
typology. The theme of Christ of culture is
agreement, and it is used to anchor the other
pole. The other three types belong to the realm
between these two extremes. They seek to
respect the great differences between the two
principles, Christian discipleship and business
culture, while also holding them together in
some unity. They differ in the way each attempts
to combine the two principles. The theme of
Christ above culture is synthesis. It features a
pattern in which Christian discipleship assimi
lates some elements of culture while maintaining
its own distinctive agenda. The theme of Christ
and culture in paradox is polarity and tension. It
features a pattern in which Christian disciple
ship is experienced as living in an uneasy co
existence of two powerful conflicting forces. The
theme of Christ the transformer of culture is
conversion. It features a pattern in which
Christian discipleship intends a systematic trans
formation of culture towards Christian norms
and ideals. Niebuhr's typological framework and
the five types of encounters with business culture
can be presented graphically, as in Figure 1.
Christ the
Transformer of
Business Culture
Christ above
Business Culture
Christ and
Business Culture
in Paradox
Christof Christ
Business !?amst Business
Culture
Culture
Figure 1. Richard Niebuhr's typological framework.
 106 Kam-hon Lee et al.
Negotiation styles
Lewicki et al. (2001) also identified five types in
their proposed framework of negotiation styles.
Their five types are dominating (also known as
competing or contending), yielding (also known
as accommodating or obliging), avoiding (also
known as inaction), integrating (also known as
collaborating or problem solving), and compro
mising. Dominating, compromising and yielding
represent three positions along the path of
distributive bargaining, understood as the win
lose mode in negotiation. On the other hand,
avoiding, compromising and integrating repre
sent the three positions along the path of inte
grative negotiation, understood as a path towards
win-win. The five negotiation styles may be pre
sented graphically, as in Figure 2.
Yielding Integrating
Other Compromising
Avoiding Dominating
Self
Figure 2. Negotiation styles.
While the new typological framework will still
A new typological framework
If we position the five types featured in the
Niebuhrian Christ and culture paradigm within
the Lewicki, Saunders and Minton framework of
negotiation styles, Christ against culture corre
sponds to avoiding. Christ of culture corresponds
to yielding. Christ above culture corresponds to
integrating. Christ and culture in paradox cor
responds to compromising. Christ the trans
former of culture corresponds to dominating. As
a result, the Niebuhrian Christ and culture
paradigm can be positioned in the negotiation
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Christof Christ aboye
Business Culture Business Culture
Yielding Integrating
Other Christ and Business
Business Culture in Paradox
Culture Compromising
Christ against christ ^ Transformer
Business Culture of Business Culture
AvoldinS Dominating
Self-Christ
Figure 3. A new typological framework.
styles framework. In a way, the two paradigms
are integrated into one framework. The new
typological framework may be presented graph
ically, as in Figure 3.
The new typological framework will still
feature five types. They include Christ against
business culture, Christ of business culture, Christ
above business culture, Christ and business
culture in paradox, and Christ the transformer of
business culture. If it happens that a Christian
executive is dealing with another Christian exec
utive in business, and the other Christian exec
utive is also a practicing Christian, more likely
than not, the Christian executive is going to
encounter a business culture that is compatible
with Christian faith. This may be regarded as a
special case of the type Christ of business culture.
feature five types, when these five types are posi
tioned in the context of the negotiation styles
framework, the implication becomes different. In
the new typological framework, it becomes
possible to understand explicitly the interrela
tionships among these five types. It also becomes
possible to trace the possible strategies to switch
one's response from one type to another.
Five representative critical incidents
When we use the above typological framework
to interpret the interview materials, it is appro
 Christ and Business Culture 107
priate to use a critical incident, not an inter
viewee, as a unit of analysis. H. Richard Niebuhr
observes, "When one returns from the hypo
thetical scheme to the rich complexity of
individual events, it is evident at once that no
person or group ever conforms completely to a
type." (Niebuhr, 1951, pp. 43-44) The negotia
tion between Christ and business culture may be
observed as something carried on publicly by
opposing parties, i.e. between the Christian
executive seeking to uphold Christian norms and
ideals and the counterpart upholding the preva
lent business culture. The negotiation may also
be observed as something carried privately in the
conflicts of the Christian executive's own con
science. Once interpreted within the revised
Niebuhrian typological framework, the critical
incidents thus may yield an empirically based
study of Christian ethics in business life. The
following five critical incidents are meant to
demonstrate the usefulness of our proposed
typology. There are five parts under each critical
incident. The first four parts (background,
response, rationale and consequence) are directly
copied from the respective interview transcripts.
The last part (remark for incident classification)
presents the justification to classify an incident in
a particular category.
Christ against business culture
Background. My father moved the company from
Hong Kong to Taiwan and I then moved the
company to County FGH, China. That was a
natural way to reduce costs and improve effi
ciency. China was close to Hong Kong, a better
location than countries in Southeast Asia. My
firm became probably the biggest operation in
this industry in Asia. I ran the firm for five to
six years. Two to three years ago, I faced a tough
decision whether I should close down the firm
completely because the way of conducting
business in China was just intolerable.
Response. Eventually, I decided to close down the
firm although it meant that I would lose a lot of
money.
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Rationale. Corruption was the issue that led to
my decision. When handling simple customs
matters, my colleagues had to face numerous
challenges regularly. While we were doing
nothing wrong, we would have problems from
customs officials, who accused us on different
issues. If we did not bribe, we could not settle
the disputes. However, I could not tolerate that.
Consequence. After closing down that firm, I set
up a new firm, the current firm, and together
with my daughter I run it at a much smaller scale.
Remark for incident classification. This incident
demonstrates a case in which the Christian exec
utive chooses to stay away from a prevalent
business culture. There is avoidance, and there is
no more encounter.
Christ of business culture
Background. My observation of faith and work
was more on the positive side. According to my
observation, in most cases in business, there were
no black and white issues. They were not moral
choices. I could see integrity most of the time.
However, in Hong Kong, one could see a
problem of failing to serve the customer, the
target for rendering service. This was especially
serious in the public sector, the not-for-profit
sector. When we planned to plant a church in
Area IJK, one hundred brothers and sisters
assembled our energy trying to do something
beneficial for that area. We took the initiative to
work out a detailed proposal. We were also
prepared to do all the work ourselves. Yet, when
we discussed that with the manager in charge of
the housing area in Area IJK, he gave us the
impression that he just did not care.
Response. This problem might be very common
for Christians as well. The problem in the public
sector would be more serious than the profit
pressure problem in the private sector.
Rationale. The mandate from Biblical teaching
was asking us to serve our master as if we were
serving Christ. In a modern society, the customer
 108
was the master. There must be a drive to serve
the customer to the extent of exceeding his
expectations. Failing to do this would be failing
to observe the most critical ethical principle.
Consequence. This observation made me quite dis
appointed. They just did not bother to think on
behalf of the customers. When I reviewed the
China enterprises, while there were not so good
performers, the top 10% of those enterprises in
China could also have a mindset to serve the
customers well. They were actually performing
at a higher level than the Hong Kong firms.
Remark for incident classification. This executive
affirms that the prevalent business culture is
compatible with Christian values. As a result,
yielding to the prevalent business culture (for
example, exceeding customer's expectations) is
Christian.
Christ above business culture
Background. I joined the company in 1987. The
motto of this company, Glorify God and Benefit
People, had a lot of attraction to me. When I
took over the company, I tried very hard to work
out the company motto. As a first step, I asked
the founder the way to work out the motto in
the company. However, he did not have an
answer for me. I had to figure it out myself.
Around that time, a friend also asked me what
was the mission of my company. Also, there was
a challenge for me to turn a small company
(US$300 000 to US$400 000 business a month)
into a big company. After trying very hard for
one to two years, in late 1989, I became quite
tired. There was not much progress although I
worked very hard. Business per month stayed at
about the same level. Around that time, I met
some brothers and heard their testimonies. They
were working in the business community and
they had previously faced sexual and monetary
temptation. But, since they followed Jesus, they
now had good relationships with their wives and
their families. They also experienced miracles of
healing and physical rescue even in their business.
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Kam-hon Lee et al.
My faith in God became renewed. I saw that
God not only did miracle in the past, he also
did it nowadays. Then, I got a message from God
that he could magnify and glorify Himself in my
business if I obeyed and trusted him in my
business.
Response. I suddenly saw the way to lead a
business that could glorify God and benefit
people. When we obeyed God, followed his way
and depended on God to run a business, a great
result would be glorifying God. When a business
had profits and used the profits to help others, it
would be a blessing bringing benefits to people.
Rationale. This illumination was what I had been
seeking. It answered my question.
Consequence. While I was already a Christian
before and I prayed to God for my business, in
a way, previously, it was I who was the master.
God took up the role of an assistant. From then
on, God became the master and I served as the
assistant. When I shared this illumination with
my boss and other directors, since they were all
Christians, they accepted that perspective gladly.
Remark for incident classification. This Christian
executive upholds a total commitment to Christ.
When he took this position to run the business,
he put the business before the Lord and regarded
it as a prayer item. In ten years, this company
became the biggest graphic card company in
Hong Kong and one of the three biggest com
panies in Asia in that industry. Business volume
grew from US$5 million to US$95 million a year.
This Christian executive was convinced that he
did a good job in business because of God's work.
Christ and business culture in paradox
Background. In one incident, the Customs Office
had a record showing that we had brought in
several thousand tons of certain materials to
China, and there was no record showing that we
used the materials to produce products and then
send them out. According to our record, we did
 Christ and Business Culture 109
not bring in such materials. We wanted to check
with the Customs Office. However, it was in
vain. When we enlisted the help of a government
official in County DEF, he could only spend
money to smooth out the situation for us.
(Whatever money he paid on our behalf, we had
to pay him back.) In the meantime, the Customs
Office already stopped us from bringing in mate
rials to the factory. The production in the factory
was thus put on hold.
Response. We decided that if it could not be
resolved properly, we were forced to file a com
plaint to Beijing. In the meantime, we had to
allow the government official in County DEF
to clear things up for us.
Rationale. Situations like this became a fact of life
in the China operation. The Customs Office
would impose a penalty for no reasons. They
were accountable only to the central government.
However, based on others' experiences, while the
Customs Office would impose a penalty for no
reason, they knew clearly whether a factory was
actually violating regulations. Thus, while
imposing a penalty, they would have differential
treatments towards those factories that were
innocent and those violating regulations.
Consequence. The case was later settled by paying
a penalty for no reason.
Remark for incident classification. This incident
shows an uneasy co-existence of two powerful
conflicting forces. A Christian executive oper
ating in this situation will suffer for no reason,
because there is injustice in the prevalent business
culture. Yet, there is still a differential treatment
between those who are innocent and those
actually violating regulations. Justice, in a relative
sense, is still there.
Christ the transformer of business culture
Background. In Hong Kong, subcontractors were
receptive to the demand for rebates. They could
read the minds of those who have authority to
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sign off on their work. Under the table arrange
ments can easily get off the hook. Subcontractors
would usually ask, "How many percentages do
you want?"
Response. For me, I stick to the "no rebate"
policy although allowing rebates is quite
common in Hong Kong.
Rationale. I look for quality service and reason
able prices, but not for rebates. I want to nurture
professionalism.
Consequence. When subcontractors knew my
philosophy they would comply with it. As a
matter of fact, birds of the same feather flock
together. Over time, those subcontractors who
work for us tend to be clean ones.
Remark for incident classification. The Christian
executive here transforms the way the subcon
tractors deal with him. There is a conversion
process.
Conclusion
Thus, it seems that a typological framework con
sisting of five logically distinct types for mapping
the Christ and business culture relationship in the
negotiation context has the potential to capture
the critical incidents that we have collected. It is
also hoped that this approach will enable
Christian executives to understand the possible
routes they may take in response to ethical chal
lenges in business.
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