Confucian dynamism, culture and ethical changes in Chinesesocieties - a comparative study of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong

摘要

Confucian ethics, as the essence of the Chinese traditional culture, have been widelyapplied to social sciences from economics to business. Confucian dynamism, a conceptproposed by researchers during the 1980s, was understood to boost Asian economies.According to the previous studies, the rankings of Chinese societies in terms ofConfucian dynamism followed the order China > Hong Kong > Taiwan. Based on anempirical investigation of 504 individuals in these areas, this study finds that thisranking has changed owing to rapid economic and political transformations of recentdecades. Occidentalized Hong Kong and communist China have environmentsunfavorable for maintaining Chinese traditions. This transformation also influences theethical cultures of different Chinese societies. The understanding of Confucian ethicscan not merely help Western managers to understand business people, companies andhuman resources in China better, but it can also help explain the cultural and ethicalchanges in Chinese societies. Further, this study also addresses managerial implicationsof Confucian ethics for business organizations and human resource management.