Cultural Influence on IS Practices in China: A Literature Analysis

Abstract

There are many published papers dealing with the impacts of Chinese culture on IS practices. Although these papers contributed to a higher level of awareness of the influence of culture, their findings arefiagmented and dificult to build on. The aim of this paper is to address this inadequacy and to contribute to a fuller picture via an exhaustive literature review of published refereed papers in this area. We develop the culture analysis framework along the dimensions of harmony maintenance, individualistic collectivism, hierarchical power structure and high context based on the prior studies. We use these four dimensions to structure the findings of our literature review and analyze their influences on three types of IS practices. We conclude with a discussion of the practical and research implications of our study.

Research on IT in China: A Call for Greater Contextualization

“…For example, Zuo et al found that 74% of CIOs were positioned at the functional head level beyond the executive circle, and they were usually more than one level lower than top management, which severely limited their impact in a high power distance society such as China (Zuo et al, 2008). Similarly, what determines the success or failure of IS implementation and use in China may differ substantially from the generally accepted success factors in highly developed economies (Roztocki and Weistroffer, 2011), because of the contextual differences between Western organizations and Chinese ones, such as cultures, government regulations, environmental turbulence, and organizational readiness for IS (Ping and Grimshaw, 1992;Lu and Heng, 2009;Roztocki and Weistroffer, 2011). It is expected that more research on such Chinese-specific IS management phenomena will be published in the leading IS journals in the near future.…”

Understanding the Chinese information culture and its impact on IT perceptions

“…Choo et al, 2008;Choo, 2013) and Chinese business and information management practices (e.g. Martinsons and Westwood, 1997;Martinsons et al, 2009;Lu and Heng, 2009;Huang et al, 2011;Yan and Davison, 2011;…”

“…Their explanatory theory has also been widely used as a taxonomy for categorizing the body of research work on IT in China (e.g. Lu and Heng, 2009;Li et al, 2014). Even though the setting is modernizing, the Confucian doctrines that serve as the basis for Martinson and Westwoods' explanatory theory remain ingrained in the mindset of Chinese people and govern all social behaviors including technology adoption and use (Davison, 2002;Shin et al, 2007;Lu and Heng, 2009;Tams, 2013).…”

“…Lu and Heng, 2009;Li et al, 2014). Even though the setting is modernizing, the Confucian doctrines that serve as the basis for Martinson and Westwoods' explanatory theory remain ingrained in the mindset of Chinese people and govern all social behaviors including technology adoption and use (Davison, 2002;Shin et al, 2007;Lu and Heng, 2009;Tams, 2013). For examples, Confucian principals such as abasement, Chinese information management values (adapted from Martinsons and Westwood, 1997) Information behaviors (adapted from Marchand et al, 2001;Choo et al, 2008) Information culture types (Choo, 2013) (Noronha, 2003).…”

Editorial Preface

“…Processes are managed differently, people work differently and IT practices may unfold differently from one culture to another (Lu and Heng, 2009). …”