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comparative value priorities of chinese and new zealand

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aggressive <strong>and</strong> entrepreneurial behaviour by businesspeople in Guangzhou compared to<br />

New Zeal<strong>and</strong>.<br />

REFLECTING ON STIMULATION, IMPULSIVENESS, AND NEEDS FOR NOVELTY AND<br />

SENSATION IN NEW ZEALAND: SHE’LL BE RIGHT, YEAH RIGHT<br />

An extremely important issue revealed in this study is the <strong>comparative</strong>ly low rankings<br />

<strong>of</strong> the leader behaviour dimensions related to planning, forecasting, <strong>and</strong> improving<br />

productivity. Tolerance <strong>of</strong> Uncertainty, Production Emphasis, <strong>and</strong> Dem<strong>and</strong><br />

Reconciliation, are the three lowest ranked for the New Zeal<strong>and</strong> sample. The<br />

implications are that New Zeal<strong>and</strong> businesspeople are relatively unconcerned about<br />

planning, forecasting, <strong>and</strong> enhancing productivity <strong>and</strong> the production system, a set <strong>of</strong><br />

attitudes that are destructively counter-productive to international business success. I<br />

note this in the discussions <strong>of</strong> the relative economic performance for New Zeal<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />

Guangzhou.<br />

In the Smallest Space Analysis for <strong>value</strong> dimensions for New Zeal<strong>and</strong>, the Hedonism<br />

space was along the same vector as Security, <strong>and</strong> in the Self-Enhancement region <strong>of</strong> the<br />

circumplex. Additionally, the Stimulation items are intermixed with the Security items.<br />

These placements indicate some sort <strong>of</strong> relationship amongst these <strong>value</strong>s. From a<br />

psychological national character point <strong>of</strong> view this arrangement implies a need for or<br />

acceptance <strong>of</strong> impulsiveness <strong>and</strong> a need for novelty <strong>and</strong> sensation. Searching the<br />

literature for studies for New Zeal<strong>and</strong> related to the psychological traits <strong>of</strong><br />

impulsiveness <strong>and</strong> the need for novelty <strong>and</strong> sensation, there is not a large body <strong>of</strong> work.<br />

The most informative article is by New Zeal<strong>and</strong> psychologist Braun (2008), who<br />

discusses the national character syndrome <strong>of</strong> the “She’ll be right” attitude in terms <strong>of</strong><br />

sexual promiscuity <strong>and</strong> high rates <strong>of</strong> sexually transmitted infections. Braun’s results can<br />

be interpreted as indicating that, if Conformity <strong>and</strong> Security are related to behaving<br />

according to group norms <strong>and</strong> engaging in Stimulation-seeking behaviours is the norm<br />

in New Zeal<strong>and</strong>, issues arise concerning the importance <strong>of</strong> Stimulation seeking in order<br />

to fit in. Her findings concerning tendencies toward impulsive behaviour as opposed to<br />

planed behaviour also have implications for the debilitating acceptance <strong>of</strong> absence <strong>of</strong><br />

planning processes in organisations. Braun’s study results also provide insight into<br />

attributions <strong>of</strong> causes <strong>of</strong> behaviour, which in her study indicate a tendency for subjects<br />

307

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