comparative value priorities of chinese and new zealand

Holt (1997) investigated how culture affects entrepreneurial outcomes in the southern
coastal region of Guangdong Province. Holt’s sample population included 237
interviews of executives of either Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or domestic
joint venture companies, and Chinese entrepreneurs who were founders and active
managers of private enterprises.
Holt concluded that the Chinese entrepreneurs were clearly nonconformist in their
views. He stated they were Confucian in their high regards for family security (this is
actually a Collectivist rather than a Confucian trait). They scored lowest in Conformity
whilst placing a high value on Security. Apparently, China can abide the accumulation
of wealth by having in mind the family and society as a whole. The combined values of
managers and entrepreneurs convinced Holt that despite fifty years of socialism,
Confucianism is alive and well.
According to Holt (1997), Maoist communism (1947-1976) had dramatically altered the
economic and social fabric of China. Chinese entrepreneurs, he argued, adapted to these
changes, being almost complete suppression of their older, Confucian modes of
business operation, which were decentralized from the state. After Deng Xiao Ping’s
1986 campaign that to a degree opened China’s economic markets to the world,
Guangdong became an entrepreneurial region once again. Holt’s critical research
questions explored the links between the suppressed Confucian values in the communist
society and the modern re-emergence of entrepreneurial markets.
Samples Available in Schwartz’ Public Data Base
Schwartz’ public database 8 provides access to several samples from China and New
Zealand, listed in Figure 3.3. Whilst Schwartz in the few studies employing data from
China proposes those samples as conforming to the ten values model, calculating and
comparing dimension means from the dimension items leads to within-country
inconsistencies. The comparability of all the samples for China and New Zealand is
problematic. Those that are comparable are 1988 Shanghai Teachers and Students, and
New Zealand South Island Teachers and Christchurch students. These were the original
8 Database of SVS Study Results: The following website has all the data from teachers and students that
Prof. Schwartz gathered through 2005 in the HUJI Social Science Data Archives site, Data Set Name:
Schwartz Value Survey (SVS), data set number 0789: http://isdc.huji.ac.il/ehold10.shtml# E2
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