Moral Judgment and Market Negotiations: A Comparison of Chinese and American Managers

Abstract

Given the potential of the trading relationship between the People's Republic of China and the United States, insight into the Sino-American market negotiation process has never been more important. This exploratory study compares the Cognitive Moral Development (CMD) and negotiation style of international business people from mainland China with their direct American counterparts. In so doing, insight is gained concerning the cultural underpinnings of the market negotiation process with this very important, yet very foreign, Asian trading partner.

Competitive Irrationality: The Influence of Moral Philosophy

“…French, and Carlin's (1993) study on the level of CMD of marketing researchers indicates that they have at least the same level of moral development as the general population. Ford et al (1997) find that American managers, at least in their sample, tend to have higher levels of CMD than their Chinese counterparts, and Wimalasiri et al (1996) find no significant differences between the level of CMD of business students and business managers.…”

Ethical judgments and intentions: a multinational study of marketing professionals

“…This continued divergence in ethical behavior across cultures could be due, in part, to fundamental perceptual differences regarding the importance of ethics and social responsibility relative to the effectiveness of the organization. However, only a few 'ad hoc' studies have examined assorted ethical issues without clear patterns emerging regarding ethical behavior (e.g., Lee 1981, Ford et al, 1997, Lu, Rose and Blodgett 1999. Thus, little is currently known about global ethics, exhibiting a need for programmatic research in this important field.…”

Business Ethics - Evidence from Korea

“…Regarding the difference between Japan and Korea, prior studies document that Korea is a highly collectivistic culture which is even more collectivistic than in Japan (Hofstede, 1980(Hofstede, , 2004 . Furthermore, as Vitell et al (1993) and Ford et al (1997) point out, Japanese and Korean form of collectivism differ, which has impact on managers' ethical decision making.…”