comparative value priorities of chinese and new zealand

Chinese businesspeople in Guangzhou tend to have value priorities different from other
regions in China, with the indications of difference supported by Tung, Worm and Fang
(2008). GZ values tend to be more similar to those of New Zealand businesspeople than
to a traditional Confucian definition of values. Schwartz (2008) proposes that in a
capitalist market system we tend to find high Mastery values rather than high Harmony
and Egalitarianism values when the system produces wealth and distributes it fairly.
Fair distribution of wealth is likely to be culturally defined. We can expect societies
with high Power Distance tendencies, as defined by Hofstede and the GLOBE project,
to accept that distribution of a larger proportion of wealth to individuals in higher
positions to be fair. In high Egalitarian, low Power Distance cultures such as New
Zealand, Northern European, and other Anglo cultures acceptance of highly unequal
distribution of wealth is less acceptable, particularly if the distribution is based upon
work production.
Schwartz proposes that as wealth increases Mastery values will become stronger in the
culture and Harmony and Egalitarianism values will become weaker. If such a market
system fails, the culture may shift in the opposite directions, with members of a society
adopting more cooperative behaviour. This is indicated by Trompenaars findings that
individualist capitalist societies that fell under rule by the Soviet Union after World War
II, such as Romania, scored very high on measures of Collectivism after the dissolution
of the Soviet Union (see Littrell and Valentin, 2005).
We may be seeing changing economic conditions leading to changes in value priorities
in the two sample regions, perhaps converging for businesspeople. New Zealand ranks
more highly in the OECD on quality of life indicators than it does on economic
measures (New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development, n.d.). New Zealand’s
relative GDP per capita is about 14 percent below the OECD average. The NZ OECD
ranking of GDP per capita has declined from 9th highest in the OECD in 1975 to 18 th by
1985, and fell to 20 th in the OECD in 1999, to 21 st in 2004, and 22 nd in 2006-2008, of
thirty or so countries; the number of OECD countries has varied (Statistics New
Zealand, 2009). According to the Guangzhou Municipal Statistics Bureau
(NEWSGD.com, 2008), Guangzhou’s economic growth rate is about 12 percent
Guangdong Province about 10 percent. In 2008 the average income for employees in
296