- Title
- A comparison of Chinese and Hong Kong business students’ attitudes towards business ethics
- Creator
- Chow, Po Kin
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Professional Doctorate - Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
- Description
- Following notable corporate disasters involving breaches of ethics, such as Enron, the Global Financial Crisis, Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and GSK bribery scandal, there is an increasing interest in business ethics as an important research direction for international business. As potential future managers, business students and their early attitudes to business ethics are an important indicator of behaviour within and across countries. Research on students’ attitudes to business ethics is substantial but predominantly in developed western nations with few studies in an Asian context. Research on differences in ethics between developed and developing nations is divided in its findings. The aim of the research is to compare the attitudes of business students in China and Hong Kong, specifically to test for different moral philosophies that produce different ethical behaviours including gender differences. Although on the surface both regions might appear similar, China remains a developing country with per capita income much lower than advanced economies while Hong Kong represents an economically developed region. Hong Kong’s history and culture is strongly influenced by British colonialism, including a Western capitalist business mentality and so differs from China with its very different socialist history (Phau & Kea, 2007). The research replicates the Bageac, Furrer & Reynaud (2011) study of differences between business students in France and Romania. It is based on a total sample of 306 undergraduate business students from two Business Schools, one in China and one in Hong Kong. Data was collected through the Attitudes Towards Business Ethics Questionnaire (ATBEQ) which measures three main business philosophies: Social Darwinism; Machiavellianism; and Moral Objectivism. The results indicate significant differences between Chinese and Hong Kong business students in their attitudes towards business ethics, with Chinese business students rating higher in Machiavellianism and Hong Kong business students rating higher in Social Darwinism and Moral Objectivism. There were not significant gender differences. These findings reflect the importance of different economic, educational and historical backgrounds of the two regions and their effects on ethical attitudes. The contribution of the study lies indicating the importance of national economic, political and historical differences among people of seemingly similar cultures and their effects on ethics. The study prompts further research into the influence on ethics of cultural differences within country and between countries with similar cultural heritage.
- Subject
- business ethics; ATBEQ; business students; China; Hong Kong
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1392663
- Identifier
- uon:33442
- Rights
- Copyright 2018 Po Kin Chow
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 191 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |