Factors Affecting Ethical Attitudes in Mainland China and Hong Kong

Abstract

China, ethical attitudes, gender, Hong Kong, moral judgment, religion,

A Comparative Study of Ethical Perceptions of Managers and Non-Managers

“…As has been seen in previous studies (e.g. Lam and Shi, 2008), higher education did not seem to raise ethical standards. In fact, the estimated coefficients of the education dummies were never negative, and were in some cases positive, indicating that individuals with more education were more willing to express an acceptance of questionable practices.…”

“…Market competition also limited the workers' security of employment and their risks in the event of sickness and old age. In another China study, Lam and Shi (2008) examine the ethical perceptions of working people and concluded that competitive pressure has not been conducive to ethical behavior. In contrast with these findings, Dubinsky and Ingram failed to find such relationship in their study (1984).…”

“…First, since the findings in previous studies indicated that ethical perceptions of individuals are sensitive to the kind of ethical issues they are facing (Conroy and Emerson, 2004;Lam and Shi, 2008), factor analysis was first used to define several dimensions corresponding with different ethical issues. Having found the factors, the mean ethical perceptions of managers and individuals in other occupations were then compared in terms of these factors.…”

Corporate Governance and Voluntary Disclosure of Interim Financial Reporting in Jordan

“…However, a study by Lam and Shi (2008) in China found that the ethical attitudes of the employees are not impacted by them being employed by foreign-investment firms. The proposed explanation for this phenomenon is that, the ethical standards imposed by the multinational companies operating in countries that are less developed may not be similar with the standards imposed in their headquarters located in the developed countries.…”

Historical Antecedents of Chinese Business Ethics

“…While Daoism takes a passive approach to ethical questions, it and the Chinese Community Traditions are not insignificant in shaping ethical behavior in China. Lam and Shi (2007) found that religion played an important role in determining ethical orientation in Chinese culture. While Christianity correlated more closely with higher educational standards, followers of the traditional Chinese religious tradition showed a greater concern for ethical behavior than individuals with no religious orientation.…”