Do all Chinese employees have the same cultural values? An exploratory investigation on differences in Chinese cultural values among state-, privately-, and US-owned firms

Abstract

Purpose – Using Hofstede’s cultural value model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how Chinese employees’ cultural values differ according to firm ownership type such as state-, privately, and US-owned firms. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 367 Chinese employees working at firms located in Beijing. Findings – Results showed that while Chinese employees in state-owned firms scored the highest in collectivism, those working at privately and US-owned firms scored higher for individualism. The score for long-term orientation was also higher in state-owned firms than in privately and US-owned firms. However, contrary to the expectation, the scores for Chinese employees for power distance in state-owned firms were lower than in the others, while the scores for masculinity in state-owned firms were higher than for the others. Chinese employees in all three types of firms showed lower scores than reported in previous studies for uncertainty avoidance. Practical implications – This study contributes to a deepened understanding of how the cultural values of Chinese employees differ depending on firms’ ownership types, with significant implications for managers, who do business in China as they seek to establish management practices more closely aligned with the cultural values of Chinese employees. Originality/value – This study may be the first attempt to examine how Chinese cultural values differ according to various ownership types. It suggests that Chinese employees at privately and US-owned firms have different cultural values from employees at state-owned firms, even though all three groups of employees are Chinese.