Journal of East European Management Studies ...

Journal of East European Management Studies (JEEMS) Editorial Committee: Thomas Steger (Editor-in-chief), University of Regensburg Rainhart Lang, Chemnitz University of Technology Irma Rybnikova, Chemnitz University of Technology Advisory Board: Ed Clark, Royal Holloway University of London Eckhard Dittrich, Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg Miklós Dobák, Corvinus University of Budapest Ivan Nový, University of Economics Prague Anna Soulsby, Nottingham University Business School Dieter Wagner, University of Potsdam Honorary Board: Vince Edwards, Buckinghamshire College Dirk Holtbrügge, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg Fred Luthans, University of Nebraska Lincoln Sheila M. Puffer, Northeastern University Boston Rudi Schmidt, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena Raoul Üksvärav, University of Tallinn Hartmut Wächter, University of Trier  Ingo Winkler, University of Southern Denmark Editorial Board: R. Alas, Estonian Business School G. Bakacsi, Semmelweis University, Budapest K. Balaton, Corvinus University of Budapest G. Belz, Wroclaw University of Economics Y.E. Blagov, St. Petersburg State University S. Blazejewski, Alanus University D.J. Bourne, Queen Mary University of London Z. Buzády, CEU Business School, Budapest D. Catana, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca T. Čater, University of Ljubljana S.-O. Collin, Linnæus University B. Dallago, Università di Trento M. Dowling, University of Regensburg J. Erpenbeck, SIBE Herrenberg J.H. Fisch, University of Economics Vienna A. Geigenmüller, Ilmenau University of Technology M. Gelbuda, ISM University of Manag. and Econ. M. Geppert, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena M. Glowik, Berlin School of Economics and Law V. Golikova, Higher School of Economics, Moscow I. Gurkov, Higher School of Economics, Moscow B. Heidrich, Budapest Business School J. Hentze, Technical University of Braunschweig N. Hermes, University of Groningen

N. Holden, University of Leeds G. Hollinshead, University of Hertfordshire A. Ishikawa, Chuo University A. Jaklič, University of Ljubljana J. Kovac, University of Maribor K. Liuhto, Turku School of Economics S. Llaci, University of Tirana C. Makó, Hungarian Academy of Science Budapest M. Malý, University of Economics Prague W. Mayrhofer, Vienna University of Econ. and Business J.-P. Neveu, Université de Montpellier 2 R. Nurmi, Turku School of Economics A. Panibratov, St. Petersburg State University A. Pocztowski, Cracow University of Economics E. Polyakov, Elliott Group, Ebara Corporation T. Postma, University of Groningen D. Pučko, University of Ljubljana A. Remisova, Comenius University Bratislava A. Schuh, Vienna University of Economics and Business T. Specker, University of Applied Sciences Kiel C. Stojanov, Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg E. Szabo, Johannes-Kepler-University Linz P. Wald, University of Applied Sciences Leipzig A. Wasowska, University of Warsaw

Address: JEEMS, c/o Lehrstuhl Führung und Organisation, Universität Regensburg, Universitätsstr. 31, D- 93053 Regensburg Tel.: +49 941 943 2680, Fax: +49 941 943 4206 E-Mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.hampp-verlag.de/Hampp_JEEMS.html

Journal of East European Management Studies Print: ISSN 0949-6181 Internet: 1862-0019 The Journal of East European Management Journal (JEEMS) is published four times a year. The personal subscription rate is € 80,00, the institutional rate (IP account + print) is € 150,00 including delivery and value added tax. For delivery outside Germany an additional € 12,00 are added. Cancellation is only possible six weeks before the end of each year. Single issues of JEEMS may be obtained at € 24,80. The contributions published in JEEMS are protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission in writing from the publisher. That includes the use in lectures, radio, TV or other forms. Copies are only permitted for private purposes and use and only of single contributions or parts of them. For any copy produced or used in a private corperation serving private purposes (due to §54(2) UrhG) one is obliged to pay a fee to VG Wort, Abteilung Wissenschaft Goethestraße 49, D-80336 München, where one can ask for details. Das Journal of East European Management Studies (JEEMS) erscheint 4x im Jahr. Der jährliche Abonnementpreis für Privatpersonen (Printausgabe) beträgt 80,00 €, für Institutionen (IP-Zugang + Print) € 150,00 inkl. MWSt und Versandkosten. Für den Versand ins Ausland werden jeweils zusätzlich 12,00 € berechnet. Kündigungsmöglichkeit: 6 Wochen vor Jahresende. Einzelhefte von JEEMS sind zum Preis von 24,80 € erhältlich. Die in der Zeitschrift JEEMS veröffentlichten Beiträge sind urheberrechtlich geschützt. Alle Rechte, insbesondere das der Übersetzung in fremde Sprachen, vorbehalten. Kein Teil darf ohne schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages in irgendeiner Form - durch Fotokopie, Mikrofilm oder andere Verfahren reproduziert oder in eine von Maschinen, insbesondere von Datenverarbeitungsanlagen, verwendete Sprache übertragen werden. Auch die Rechte der Weitergabe durch Vortrag, Funk- und Fernsehsendung, im Magnettonverfahren oder ähnlichem Wege bleiben vorbehalten. Fotokopien für den persönlichen und sonstigen eigenen Gebrauch dürfen nur von einzelnen Beiträgen oder Teilen daraus als Einzelkopien hergestellt werden. Jede im Bereich eines gewerblichen Unternehmens hergestellte oder benützte Kopie dient gewerblichen Zwecken gemäß § 54(2) UrhG und verpflichtet zur Gebührenzahlung an die VG Wort, Abteilung Wissenschaft, Goethestraße 49, D-80336 München, von der die einzelnen Zahlungsmodalitäten zu erfragen sind. Journal of East European Management Studies is being indexed by Social Sciences Citation of the Index® and by the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS).

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JEEMS • Volume 20 • Number 2 • 2015 Guest Editorial Maja Makovec, Tony Fang

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Articles Sandra Penger, Vlado Dimovski, Judita Peterlin Rethinking dialogue and education between Slovenia and China: Sustainability – our common language?

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Nada Zupan, Robert Kaše, Matevž Rašković, Kai Yao, Chunyan Wang Getting ready for the young generation to join the workforce: A comparative analysis of the work values of Chinese and Slovenian business students

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Judita Peterlin, Vlado Dimovski, Miha Uhan, Sandra Penger Integrating stakeholders’ multiple intelligences into the leadership development of a cross-cultural entity: Evidence from the CI Ljubljana

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Alison Pearce, Rose Quan International staff mobility in higher education: To what extent could an intra-European entrepreneurial approach be applied to Sino-CEE initiatives?

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Book Review 255

News/Information

Contents

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Editorial Mission of JEEMS The main aim of the Journal of East European Management Studies (JEEMS) is to promote dialogue and cooperation among scholars from all countries who seek to examine, explore and explain the behaviour and practices of management within the transforming societies of Central and Eastern Europe. As such, the theoretical interests of the journal focus on a) organizational and management change; b) Central and East European societies (including those on the fringes of Europe) undergoing processes of transition or transformation; and c) scientific issues of business, management and organisation that arise in such contexts. In this regard, JEEMS particularly welcomes papers that draw on a behavioral perspective. By fostering the exchange of ideas within the academic community and between management academics and management practitioners, JEEMS aims to contribute to the development of knowledge and practice across the Central and East European region. In this way, the journal hopes to cultivate and spread a sophisticated understanding of management trends and tendencies as they emerge through the process of transformation. The concern with management practices and issues is meant in the broadest sense to include the problems of steering politico-economic processes and the management of all types of organized action and their social embeddedness. JEEMS aims to attract social scientific contributions from scholars of any nation and region, but particularly wishes to encourage authors from those countries directly experiencing transformational change. Its potential readership is international, comprising academics and practitioners with an involvement or interest in the management of change in transforming societies in Central and Eastern Europe.

Guest Editorial

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Guest Editorial Dear readers, Research on CEE-China relationships has been largely neglected in mainstream literature. This special issue sheds light on a number of cross-cultural aspects of the CEE managerial research area: how to integrate and develop CEE-China cooperation in research and education; how to address common topics related to different cultures; how to understand both the differences as well as the many similarities the new generations are bringing to the globalised world; or how to find the right answers to the development of management and leadership whether it is being developed in Slovenia or China? There are more topics this special issue is raising which contribute to managerial and educational development. We would like to offer our sincere gratitude to all the contributors to the special issue. Real progresses can be brought to this world when research and education go hand in hand – but they always need champions! There could not be a better topic to start this special issue than “Sustainability – our common language?” by S. Penger, V. Dimovski and J. Peterlin. They show how important dialogue/communication and community-building is in both Slovenian and Chinese cultural contexts; the authors propose that sustainability should represent a common frame of communication and recommend the development of sustainable leadership at the institutional level. The research on young-generation work values of business students by N. Zupan, R. Kaše, M. Raškovič, K. Yao and C. Wang reveals the importance of national culture for work values but, as the authors find, the national culture is not the dominant one. Gender, regional cultural differences, individual items (e.g. continuous learning, fun vs. interesting work, freedom…) seem to be important determinants of work values, too. Yet, the young generation is also a more “global” generation, providing employers and educational institutions with many new challenges. The paper entitled “Integrating stakeholders’ multiple intelligences into the leadership development of a cross-cultural entity: Evidence from the CI Ljubljana” shows the relevance of individual differences for understanding cultural orientation. The authors combine two theoretical approaches – the theory of multiple intelligences and sustainable leadership development theory. This is demonstrated through the case of Confucius Institute of Ljubljana, representing a bridge between Chinese and Slovenian cultures. This explorative qualitative study is based on 30 interviews which give interesting grounds for further longitudinal research.

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Guest Editorial

A. Pearce and R. Quan contribute a report on research on international staff mobility in higher education in a cross-cultural context, a very important instrument for enhancing the internationalisation of the HE area, including CEE countries. The finding that an entrepreneurial intra-EHEA strategy cannot simply be transferred to a Sino-EHEA context provides an insight into developing further strategy on staff mobility, supported by summary recommendations and suggestions for how to approach it. To conclude, this special issue presents not only the work of those research champions who have successfully brought together two different cultures and interesting research topics in management and beyond, but also how much we need to explore, research and share to learn and understand cross-cultural differences and similarities. We often see many different worlds and markets around us, but from an international business and management perspective there is just one – a glocal one – i.e., both local and global, connecting and integrating us irrespective of in which region or culture of the world we conduct research or teach. Maja Makovec University of Ljubljana Guest Editor Tony Fang Stockholm University Guest Editor

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Rethinking dialogue and education between Slovenia and China: Sustainability – our common language?* Sandra Penger, Vlado Dimovski, Judita Peterlin** The paper presents the methodology of appreciative inquiry with the aim of fostering understanding of the Slovenian and Chinese educational environments. Besides using various methods within an action-based, longitudinal case study, we applied a novel methodology – chain pair interviews – that were conducted by the stakeholders of the Confucius Institute Ljubljana. The findings show that community building is the core value of both Slovenian and Chinese representatives; we therefore propose that sustainability represents a common frame of communication. We recommend that the development of sustainable leadership becomes the focus of the Confucius Institute Ljubljana’s educational activities, thereby presenting it with a competitive advantage. Der Artikel stellt die Methode der wertschätzenden Befragung dar, um damit das Verständnis für das slowenische und chinesische Bildungsumfeld zu fördern. Neben der Verwendung von verschiedenen Methoden innerhalb einer aktionsbasierten Längsschnitt-Fallstudie haben wir eine neue Methode – sog. Chain pair Interviews – eingesetzt. Die Interviews wurden von den Mitarbeitern des Konfuzius-Instituts in Ljubljana durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Gemeinschaftsbildung der Grundwert der slowenischen und chinesischen Vertreter ist, weshalb wir vorschlagen, dass die Nachhaltigkeit einen gemeinsamen Rahmen der Kommunikation bildet. Wir empfehlen, dass sich die Bildungsaktivitäten des Konfuzius-Institut in Ljubljana auf die Entwicklung von nachhaltiger Führung fokussieren sollte, wodurch das Institut einen Wettbewerbsvorteil erhalten würde. Key words: Confucius institute, leadership, sustainability, reflection, community building (JEL: M1; M12)

*

Manuscript received: 16.04.2014, accepted: 29.06.2014 (0 revisions) ** Sandra Penger, Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Main research interests: learning styles, learning organization, positive organizational behaviour, management education, authentic leadership. E-mail: [email protected] Vlado Dimovski, Full Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Main research interests: knowledge management, organizational learning, multiple intelligences, leadership development, cross-cultural management. E-mail: [email protected] Judita Peterlin, Assistant, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Main research interests: management education, leadership development, multiple intelligences, diversity management, sustainability. E-mail: [email protected] (corresponding address) JEEMS, 20(2), 153-173 ISSN (print) 0943-2779, ISSN (internet) 1862-0035

DOI 10.1688/JEEMS-2015-02-Penger © Rainer Hampp Verlag, www.Hampp-Verlag.de

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1.

Penger et al.; Rethinking dialogue and education between Slovenia and China: Sustainability

Introduction

Cultures (Catana et al. 2013; Fang 2005; Fink/Meierewert 2004) as different as Chinese and Slovenian call for a shared common ground (Garvey/Williamson 2002). In our paper, we have come to realise that sustainability (Bertoncelj et al. 2011) can be the shared value (Čater et al. 2013) that both East and West need to dedicate their attention to, and can aid as a symbol of collaboration. Sustainability (Sanford 2011) gained the world’s attention with the Brundtland report in 1987 and has ever since been a value that integrates Western and Eastern leadership perspectives. The ways of thinking and practice may be different but the goal stays the same (Reichard/Paik 2011): “How to sustain a decent way of living for future generations to come?”. In our paper, we highlight one aspect of sustainability: “How does leadership development enable the integrating and sustaining of different cultures?”. We argue that leadership scholars need to advance the leadership field by dealing with concrete cultural challenges and providing specific recommendations. Sustainability is the effect of corporate activity on the social, environmental and economic fabric of society. The economic perspective is particularly relevant because the Confucius Institute Ljubljana (CI LJ) aims to promote business opportunities between China and Slovenia and impact the economic development of both countries. The paper introduces the evolution of collaboration between the two nations in the cultural and business field as the CI LJ is the fifth CI in the world that is business-oriented. Dedication to developing sustainable leadership (Peterlin et al. 2013) is demonstrated through integrity and social innovation practice (Mramor in PRME Principles for Responsible Management Education 2011)1. In the paper we propose a further step – advancement of the dedication to sustainable development at the FELU and the CI LJ with the knowledge from the Chinese tradition that is incorporated in the CI LJ which was established at the FELU in 2010 – with the aim of promoting Chinese culture in Slovenia and offering business possibilities to explore the synergies that the Eastern way of tackling environmental and social challenges offers to the Western way of developing sustainably (Auer-Rizzi/Reber 2013). The structure of the paper is the following: First, we identify appreciative inquiry phases within the research arena of leadership development in a multicul1

The Re.think initiative was first introduced at the FELU in 2009 and started to raise students’ and employees’ awareness on environmental issues that then developed into the Movement for Sustainable Development and also spread the focus of attention to answer social issues. The Re.think initiative incorporates environmental commitment: recycle, reuse, reduce and, above all, rethink what and how it is used. It has been widely accepted and epitomises the environmental awareness and responsibility (Remišová et al. 2013) of the organisation and individuals. It is based on the idea of responsible living on Earth, the unique planet we share. The Re.think initiative encourages active engagement, it provides a platform for stakeholders’ care about the sort of environment we live in (Re.think webpage 2014).

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tural environment (Lang et al. 2013; Steyrer et al. 2006) and in the empirical part we present the findings of implementing appreciative inquiry at the CI LJ and in the Re.think initiative. In the last part of our paper, we offer strategic and tactical recommendations for the sustainable leadership development of the participating organisations and the broader interested public.

2.

Theoretical background

Reflecting the shift from traditional views on leadership (that define it as the role of a formal leader), we define it in line with the concept of collective leadership (Hiller et al. 2006) where leadership (Brown/Gioia 2002) is the interaction and shared responsibilities of members of a social entity (such as a team or organisation), whereas we go even further to expand its definition to a natural entity and propose a holistic (Shefy/Sadler-Smith 2006) system view: “Sustainability, then, is not an individual property, but the property of an entire web of relationships. It always involves a whole community. […] Sustainability does not mean that things do not change. It is a dynamic process of co-evolution rather than a static state” (Capra in Schoenmakers 2012). A learning orientation – to improve rather than demonstrate individual skills and abilities – is promoted in shared leadership where social dominance (an orientation that some groups are superior to others) diminishes (Moss et al. 2009). Avolio, Walumbwa and Weber (2009) integrate the work of Luthans’ positive organisational behaviour with Avolio’s life-span leadership development. We therefore conceptualise sustainable leadership as constant dedication to the values of sustainable development (Kotler/Lee 2004; Littrell/Dickson 1999; Riggio/Mumford 2002) and reflection (Bradbury-Jones et al. 2010; Chirema 2007; Fleck 2012; Petriglieri et al. 2011). Integrity, altruism and role modelling are shared characteristics of transformational, spiritual, ethical and authentic leadership (Brown/Treviňo 2006) that sustainable leadership expands and incorporates by influencing a wider perspective and setting a long-term vision of balancing individual (Scott Ligon et al. 2008), organisational, social and environmental development through dedication to the value of sustainability that is a shared aim of all cultures that want to preserve themselves. Sustainable leadership development (Avolio/Vogelgesang 2011) requires a fundamental shift in thinking about one’s role from dependence to interdependence (Benjamin/O’Reilly 2011) where the long-term perspective (Gentry/Martineau 2010) involves an emphasis on personal reflection and emotional labour (Gardner et al. 2009) as a crucial part of the learning process. Sustainable leadership is not grounded in differentiation among leaders and followers as it seeks to perceive everyone as a leader in a certain time in the life cycle of a generation’s continuum. Literature (DeRue et al. 2011) is unclear regarding how teaching leadership can be combined with the developmental challenges and needs of business students. Benjamin and O’Reilly (2011) identified dealing with multiple challenges si-

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multaneously as being the most challenging for leadership development as this calls for a rethinking and changing of self-concept and behaviour. The incorporation of environmental, social and health values into the core business enables renewal and sustainable leadership (Figure 1; Willmott 2001). Eastern philosophy derives its influence from the community, while Western philosophy derives its influence from an individual that is presented as the moving power of evolution and changes; therefore, it is in balancing the community with the individual that enables sustainable leadership as the individual needs to be in sync with the environment into which his/her efforts are embedded: “Every instance of successful integration of social and environmental value into products and services showed paths that were emerging, iterative and messy. It turns out you cannot analyze your way into sustainability. You can only learn and innovate your way into it” (Laszlo/Zhexembayeva 2011:149). Figure 1: Sustainable leadership

Western tradition of solving environmental and social responsibility

Eastern tradition of solving environmental and social responsibility

Sustainable leadership

We propose that sustainable leadership enables renewal for leaders by deriving its influence from both the Eastern and Western management traditions as yin and yang. The attention of practitioners and scholars has shifted to look at how China deals with challenges and in this paper we pose the following research questions: (1) How is the CI LJ fostering dialogue and education between Slovenia and China?; and (2) What unites Chinese and Slovenian leadership development practices? Based on this insight, we revisit the traditional development of identity and skills as well as sustainable leadership development tools, such as the succession system in a wider perspective that is focused on future generations.

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3.


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Data and methodology

Due to the under-researched area of Slovenian-Chinese business dialogue and education we adopted an interpretive research approach that is oriented to representing the interpretations of the people experiencing a phenomenon and is most appropriate where a prior theoretical background may not be available or applicable. With the aim not to impose existing explanations upon the data, we gave voice to the views of informants by representing their understandings (Weick 2011). Empirical evidence (Table 1) was drawn from cases that incorporate both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ perspectives on the intercultural relational practices upon which the data is focused (Greig et al. 2013; Roulston 2010; Toma 2000). The case study research approach is known for its ability to result in a new or upgraded theory (Peljhan 2013). The data were collected through interviews, observations, a review of internal and external documents and focus groups that were a source of triangulation. A research protocol was established in order to establish correct operational measures and provide for construct validity. The draft case study report was reviewed by the key informants to increase its validity and reliability. We then re-organised the original transcripts around identified key events and issues (codes) and compared the findings emerging from our case study with the existing research, which is mostly international. Internal validity and reliability was ensured by analysing transcripts of the interviews and focus groups. With the collaboration of top management of the CI LJ we provided for the external validity of our research. The generalisation of our study is to the underlying theory of sustainable leadership development. Therefore, the in-depth case study method enables the generation of exhaustive data on sustainable leadership development to yield more insightful theories to provide the basis for the learning process of other Confucius institutes. Table 1: Structure of the customised AI questionnaire AI INTERVIEW QUESTIONS INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT 1. Let's talk about the things that you value most about yourself. What are the most important qualities, advantages that you bring to CI? 2. What is the smallest change that had the biggest impact on your life? 3. When you work, you probably experience »ups and downs«. Please think about a moment when you felt energetic and successful and accomplished while working at CI more than you thought is possible? 4. How do you renew yourself from daily challenges? ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 5. Which are your three core advantages, values, qualities or ways of working at CI that you wish to sustain in the future? 6. What is most interesting about working at CI? Is your job designed to foster cooperation? If yes, how does the culture of CI build community?

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7.


Let's imagine that you go into a deep sleep tonight, that lasts for 10 years. While you sleep, mighty things and positive changes happen. True miracles happen and CI becomes what you want it to become. Now you wake up and observe what is happening. It is the year 2023 and you are proud to see what you see. As you look at the whole picture, what do you see is happening, is new, changed, better?

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 8. Can you please describe your view of the role that CI has for FELU? 9. What are the positive benefits of CI for Slovenian society that you have noticed from your work? Please state a concrete example. 10. How do you perceive main differences among China/Slovenia? 11. What is the difference between social responsibility in Slovenian and Chinese culture according to your opinion? 12. Changes are a part of life. Please, share with me an experience when you were involved into an important transformation that affected the results of the initiative? What was most exciting for you about the changing process? How did you make sure that the change was effective? ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT 13. What are the positive benefits of CI for the environment according to your opinion? Please state a concrete example.

Figure 2 presents the details of the methodological process of appreciative inquiry. Figure 2: Action research design at CI Reconceptualization and model design Meta-action research 4 Conceptualization Meta-action research 3 Meta-reflection of action research Meta-action research 2 Reflection of action research

n plann tio ing lec ref Action obs research I nce erv ma atio r o f n per

Reflection before and after activities: professional practice of sustainable research development

Source: Adapted after Fletcher, M.A./Zuber-Skerritt, O./Bartlett, B./Albertyn, R./Kearney, J. (2010). MetaAction Research on a Leadership Development Program: A Process Model for Life-long Learning, 502.

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A four-year field study was conducted of the CI LJ. Validation was carried out among the Re.think initiative stakeholders in the company Si.mobil and FELU international students. Ten in-depth chain pair interviews were conducted between 26 April and 6 September 2013. Open-question surveys were being gathered from 1 October 2013 to 13 February 2014 and we received 53 valid questionnaires. Key informants were chosen to represent the CI LJ and the FELU. Qualitative methodology (Bensal/Corley 2012; Lewis/Ritchie 2006) of a case study (Yin 2009) was used. In-depth, (semi)structured and chain pair interviews together with document analysis were employed (Gorard/Taylor 2004). The indepth interviews with experts and key informants were unstructured, whereas expert interviews that are a method extensively used in social development by organisations such as the World Bank and the International Labour Office (Hakim 2000) were guided and designed as an introduction to the appreciative inquiry. The expert validation was implemented to yield additional information in the form of reflection on different cultures and in order to research representatives of the stakeholders as a whole so as to develop a perspective on the affirmative topic (Figure 3). The expert validation was in line with the overall goal of participation in the research to provide managerial recommendations and involvement in the decision-making of the CI LJ. Figure 3: Research aim and objectives of the appreciative inquiry framework Appreciative inquiry research framework – Research aim and objectives

Appreciation (1) socialize and value eachother's roles; (2) stories sharing of excellent joint working experiences (3) personalization of future plans

Visualization (1) open listening and brainstorming; (2) sharing different perspectives; (3) seeing the word from another cultural perspective; (4) integrating cultural elements from Chinese and Slovene culture

Sustaining (1) expanding and sustaining chain of dialogue; (2) written stories of excellence from different cultural perspectives »Success is…«

The analysed 53 open-question surveys demonstrate all three research objectives of the appreciation, visualisation and sustaining of sustainable leadership devel-

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opment at the CI LJ. Appreciative inquiry (AI; Cooperrider/Whitney 2003; Cooperrider et al. 2008; West/Thomas 2005; Whitney/Trosten-Bloom 2003) was adapted to research the topic in question and structured to focus on individual, organisational, societal and environmental development. The research setting was based at the FELU and dealt with the development of the CI LJ through the appreciative inquiry approach that is a qualitative, contextual, explorative and descriptive research method. The following main data collection techniques were employed: chain of reported narrative interviews conducted in pairs, focus groups, consensus meeting, field notes, open question survey, archival data, and observation. AI integrates three broad goals: appreciative storytelling (Sfard/ Prusak 2005), positive development, and sustaining change through a type of action research (Stake 2010) that attempts to find out the best of what exists in an organisational and/or human system in a four-phase process (Table 2): (1) appreciating; (2) envisioning; (3) co-constructing; and (4) sustaining where, due to the limited time frame of the CI LJ being in operation, we integrated the coconstructing and sustaining phases. Table 2: Summary of the methodology Research framework Methodology

 action-based longitudinal mega case study (4 years)  phenomenon research

Learning theories

   

Research methods

 analysis of 120 structured questionnaires (undergraduate students at the FELU)  comparative analysis of the questionnaire with open questions »Re.think why you study?«  comparative analysis of the questionnaire with open questions »Designing the future of the CI LJ«  archive analysis of FELU internal documents on the intranet  four focus groups (two with business stakeholders, one with students and one with the interested public)  12 qualitative interviews with managers, three validation interviews with pedagogues and three expert interviews  10 chain pair interviews  observations at the CI LJ and the FELU (during the Management Course)

action learning adult education experiential learning social innovation

Appreciative meaning of the gathered data represents the foundation of dialogues (Fairhurst 2011) that inspire a vision based on the stories that were told.

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After completing the interviews, the objective was to understand when and why the organisation is operating at its best and which core capabilities allow the organisation to perform well. Our research was focused on identifying the positive core that contributes to the continuity of good functioning and enables a transformation towards the vision. In the envisioning phase we challenged the status quo and at the same time created synergy and excitement while the stakeholders started to communicate among each other by sharing positive stories and seeing common themes that created enthusiasm. In comparison with other methods, AI establishes a shared vision of the future that is grounded in real examples from the past and enables sustainable leadership. We determined the idea “How can it be?” by designing provocative propositions also called possibility propositions that connected ‘the best of what is’ with ‘what might be’ and were written in present tense. Coconstructing had four goals: (1) to select design elements for the social architecture to allow the co-construction of the vision to become a reality; (2) to identify internal and external relationships; (3) to identify themes and engage in dialogue; and (4) write provocative propositions. In the last phase of sustaining, we focused on how to empower, learn and adjust/improvise by delivering a strategic plan that included the inputs of the participants. This phase was conducted to determine: “What will be?”. The data were focused on the co-construction of a strategic plan that could be implemented to enhance the Institute’s excellence in line with the sustainable development setting at the FELU. Individuals renew themselves in a conscious process of development (Winterton 2007) where they take time to care for themselves, get in touch with what is important to them and connect with the people they care about.

4.

Results

The knowledge possessed by the CI LJ and the Re.think initiative is valuable and the sharing of knowledge between them enriches both. The CI LJ is led by Slovenian and Chinese leaders who share the vision of excellence. Therefore, sustainable leadership development was shown to be based on integrating Western and Eastern traditions of sharing environmental and social responsibility where Chinese representatives are met with challenges of both adjusting to Slovenian culture and at the same time promoting Chinese culture and language in Slovenia. The appreciative inquiry chain pointed to the following three key stakeholders of the CI LJ: (1) Chinese teachers of the Chinese language; (2) Slovenian teaching staff and students at the higher education institution – the University of Ljubljana; and (3) Slovenians working at the CI LJ.

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4.1


Chinese teachers of the Chinese language – “I am a young Chinese and I can show them how we are.”

Western culture can learn from the Chinese educational environment the focus on exercising both left and right hemispheres of the brain from a very young age which enables the ability to memorise, which is why a Chinese student is often seen by Western colleagues as an ‘artificial calculator’. Constant renewal is necessary as Chinese teachers often undertake extra work in order not to feel homesick and because their working ethics motivate them to act responsibly and sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the working community. Teachers of the Chinese language have come to realise that Slovenian students have a weaker studying discipline than Chinese students. Their teaching methods vary between primary school and university level in the level of initiative that needs to be taken by an individual. While students in primary school learn from the activities, stories and cultural experiences that the teacher provides for them, at the higher institution level the teacher is only responsible for setting the language course in a certain cultural environment so that the student can play an active role in the partnership with the instructor. The Chinese teachers are energetic about working at the CI LJ as it is gaining wider recognition in the Slovenian environment and, as they put it “gaining power like a Chinese dragon”. They motivate their students through storytelling about Chinese characters used for writing (such as the character for retirement is a metaphor of a man who takes a rest under the tree), experiential learning by role-playing in real-life situations (such as a restaurant visit after learning vocabulary about food) and by experiencing artefacts of modern Chinese lifestyle (such as typical Chinese presents). Interactive classes are widely used and are seen as a way of motivating students to speak Chinese and demonstrate their improvement. In comparing Chinese and Slovenian interactive classes, the Chinese teachers perceive Slovenian students as shy and silent whereas Chinese students are more prone to challenge the professor. The Chinese teachers perceive that they bring to the CI LJ a Chinese attitude to the individual’s work, professionalism and teamwork and see room for improvement in stronger cooperation between the faculty members of the FELU and the CI LJ. The organisational culture of the CI LJ is perceived by the Chinese teachers as a “funny culture” where the boss and colleagues have a sense of humour and a positive attitude to work is also demonstrated in the perception that the role of the CI LJ is becoming more powerful in the Slovenian environment. Cooperation between the FELU and the CI LJ is lacking the academic dimension and therefore the conference held in October 2013 is perceived by the Chinese teachers as a positive step towards positioning the CI LJ in Slovenia as a CI that provides possibilities for language learning as a tool for academic research

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and doing business. The vision of the CI LJ for the next 10 years is tied to spreading the role of language teaching across Slovenia with an efficient system of branches extending out from Ljubljana – the centre. The Chinese teachers differ in how they perceive the social responsibility of Slovenians and Chinese since this has become an important topic in both countries. Pollution is much greater in China where economic advancement has led to environmental issues and clean water management is gaining wide attention. Sustainable leadership development is thus valued in both countries and the Chinese teachers do not perceive big differences in relation to social responsibility, which is in line with Confucius: “By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart”. The Chinese teachers perceive social and environmental responsibility as something that all people feel strongly about but often lack the will to act upon it and feel we could all do more, including in the educational environment, to promote it. 4.2

Slovenian teaching staff and students at the higher education institution – the University of Ljubljana – “Chinese people are hard-working and self-disciplined.”

Before the CI LJ was established at the FELU, the main contact FELU staff had with Chinese people was through Chinese students coming for an exchange at the FELU and the main impression of them compared to other students was that they work longer and harder than their peers in class and that you often see them late in the evening in the library. For the teaching staff at the FELU, the CI LJ is perceived as an opportunity for a teaching exchange and research endeavour. Since China is “a global player”, situating the CI LJ at the FELU seems wise because it enables a better understanding of the Chinese way of business and offers a bridge to some of the best business schools in the world. FELU staff members admire the hard-working and self-disciplined work ethics of Chinese colleagues and students. When faced with the stereotypical way of perceiving Chinese, they admit that their family and Slovenian friends sometimes still comment that China is “the world’s biggest factory” and that Chinese people are mostly “restaurant workers” but that, after getting to know Chinese people better through CI, they are building a community that respects and knows more about modern China and is slowly changing the conventional way of perceiving foreign cultures. With the expansion of collaboration between the FELU and Chinese companies, embassy and educational institutions in China, the possibility for in-depth relationships also arises and China is losing the perception of it being a distant threat and is becoming an ally in doing business and research.

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4.3


Slovenians working at the Confucius Institute Ljubljana – “I have to explain and simplify.”

Slovenians working at the CI LJ perceive the Chinese way of working as very different from the Slovenian way and admit they often think that they understand each other but often later come to see that they misunderstood each other. They therefore see diversity and cultural management as vital in a turbulent global business environment where the CI LJ has an important role in educating and developing Slovenian business people to be better equipped for doing business with Chinese people: “For some things, they [Chinese people] are very rigid, for others they appear to be very practical, so you are sometimes quite surprised by their thinking. On the other hand, what for us seems quite normal can be for them [Chinese people] something abnormal”. Language and cultural knowledge is an important part of showing respect towards your business partner and enables one an in-depth understanding of the other in a business interaction. They have realised that important things need a longer period of time to develop; therefore, patience is something they have learned to develop while working at the CI LJ, which is designed to foster cooperation between different cultures, companies and populations. Slovenians working at the CI LJ hope that in 10 years’ time: (1) there will be more people working at the CI LJ and the CI LJ will be a big organisation with a wide variety of units; (2) Slovenians will perceive China differently than they did (in a positive way) and not so many stereotypes will be present (such as Chinese people mostly seen through people working in Chinese restaurants across Slovenia); (3) a lot of children will learn the Chinese language; and (4) trade between China and Slovenia will be expanded. People working at the CI LJ are change agents in their home communities as they spread their good experiences (DeRue/Wellman 2009) working with Chinese people and their advanced technologies. The Chinese relationship towards sustainability is reflected in the words of an expert validation: “In Slovenia the social and environmental consciousness is slowly growing. In China, on the other hand, it has been neglected for a long time but has lately become one of the priorities. Chinese society has such a system that they can extremely quickly mobilise the whole system once they are aware of the challenge. That is why they have achieved a great deal in certain areas but, due to the wild development, they are faced with many environmental issues.”

5.

Discussion

As a starting point for developing sustainable leadership theoretically as a concept and practically at the CI LJ, we propose the advancement of the Re.think initiative (Peterlin et al. 2011) with the insights of the CI LJ in this paper and vice versa the adoption of the Re.think philosophy in Chinese language and culture teaching at the FELU as a competitive advantage of the CI LJ and expan-

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sion of its mission in the form of a collective self-organising movement (Laszlo/ Zhexembayeva 2011) that is not told to change behaviour but aspires to build sustainable leadership. Our research is in line with previous findings (e.g. Benjamin/O’Reilly 2011) and shows that sustainable leadership is about developing and enabling others to develop. The findings of our research indicate that reflection is the added value the business school provides in sustainable leadership development (Table 3) through partnership with a cross-cultural business partner and by advancing academic collaboration. Without the development of multiple intelligences (Kezar 2001) an individual experiences dissonance. Dedication to developing all aspects of an individual enables the achievement of all potential by emphasising and rethinking the community building, empowerment and engagement of the CI LJ stakeholders (Table 3). Table 3: Dimensions of sustainable leadership development Sustainable leadership development:

Key developmental dimensions:

Individual development

   

development of multiple intelligences mindfulness hope compassion

Organisational development

  

succession system mentorship/coaching action learning/reflection

Social development

  

cultural empowerment community building activation of engagement

Environmental development

   

rethink recycle reuse reduce

Source: Peterlin et al. 2013.

The results were guided by the affirmative topic choice which was dialogue and community building among the stakeholders of the CI LJ. During this appreciating phase, the participants had an opportunity to discover the Institute’s positive core and conducted one-to-one interviews with each other where they engaged in deep dialogue about past success stories. A customised interview guide as seen in Table 1, structured around the topic chosen for the inquiry, was used to guide the interviews. The aim was to elicit vision-generating stories. The lifegiving force of the organisation CI LJ is shown to be community building between the Chinese and Slovenian cultures.

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In the chain pair appreciative inquiry the environmental component proved to be underdeveloped and therefore in the expert validation’s structured questionnaires additional questions were included in order to reflect on the managerial implications of strengthening the social and environmental responsibility of the CI LJ in line with the Re.think initiative. The CI LJ management showed an interest in opening the space at the CI LJ in line with the Re.think initiative that is being implemented at the FELU where the CI LJ headquarters are located. We coded the data by identifying key terms and concepts in the gathered information via a constant comparison over time and across informants by seeking convergence in higher-order categories and themes (Table 4). In the process of the research, we simultaneously analysed the data, searched the relevant literature and engaged in theoretical sampling by gathering additional data about the evolving themes. The findings were validated with the key informants through qualitative interviews and a survey. Positive themes 1–4 are answering (based on the process of coding the gathered qualitative data) the first and second research questions, whereas the fifth positive theme is answering the second research question. Key themes were elicited from the participants and captured through the coding shown in Table 4. Table 4: Valued themes at the Confucius Institute Ljubljana Top five most valued themes

Positive theme

1.

community building

2.

build business cooperation between different cultures

3.

quality management

4.

build a learning organisation

5.

demonstrate contemporary China and Chinese people

Envisioning and projective techniques (Finch/Lewis 2006) were used to highlight the variation in perspectives and to lead to a discussion of the similarities and differences and the reasons for their existence. The staff at the CI LJ wish to see the CI LJ in the next 10 years as “a powerful dragon” where students learn to speak fluent Chinese that helps them understand Chinese people and do business in the international environment. One of the future visions for the CI LJ is to have cooking classrooms in the Chinese language where people can learn about authentic Chinese food and influence the local Chinese restaurants to promote genuine Chinese food. Through pair interviews of Chinese and Slovenian co-workers at the CI LJ, a community was being built and an exchange of ideas constructed a shared common ground – building the mission of the CI LJ – to bridge the Slovenian and Chinese cultures. In order to sustain the research efforts, the participants were invited to expand and maintain the positive flow of information and the working environment by

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further expanding the chain of dialogue on a regular basis also in the future after the research intervention had concluded. In time the challenges will change, but AI offers a useful framework. Sustainable leadership is about sustaining the positive value core (Dimovski et al. 2009) of the individual, organisation, society and/or environment. For the influence of sustainable leadership to have its impact, all four perspectives are in line and share the same dedication to the affirmative ongoing development and therefore sustainable leadership is not only dedicated to the value of sustainability but also practises it through the process of appreciative inquiry that brings positive changes (Table 5). In order to sustain the identified positive themes of the CI LJ, in collaboration with the CI LJ management team we incorporated into the FELU’s undergraduate didactics a contest “Designing the future of the CI LJ”, where in the 2013/14 academic year 53 students collaborated and reflected on their perception of the role of the CI LJ in their lives and envisioned the future of the CI LJ which also had an educational role and the role of promoting dialogue about Chinese and Slovenian business culture. Table 5: Strategic plan for engaging the community Engagement with the community

  



 

Conduct a community needs assessment Conduct workshops to plan community engagements Initiate community projects to address identified needs (teaching the Chinese language in the primary, secondary and tertiary education system in Slovenia) Expand partnerships to increase institutional support in the community (sponsorships, partnerships in the university network and in the region) Enhance marketing and public relations efforts (localising the logo and integrated marketing of the CI LJ) Assess the community’s satisfaction with service delivery and competency

The authors regard the CI LJ as a convenient developmental environment for developmental goals such as cognitive, emotional, bodily and spiritual ones (Table 6). Table 6: Rethinking the Chinese culture and language teaching course – tactical plan Intelligence

Technique

Sustainable Development

Verbal

Chinese language teaching

Logical

Connecting Chinese language teaching with sustainability Cognitive development

Musical

Looking for similarities between Slovenian and Chinese music

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Intrapersonal

Reflection: “How do I feel as a Slovenian learning the Chinese language and culture?”

Interpersonal

Exercise/Reflection: “What are the similarities between China and Slovenia?”

Bodily

Taijiquan in Qigong

Visual

Chinese writing

Naturalistic

Outdoor excursions (e.g. landscape/company visits)

Existential

Awareness of Chinese philosophies and traSpiritual development ditions

6.

Emotional development

Bodily development

Conclusion

The main theoretical contribution of our research entails reinterpreting sustainable leadership development through sense making of the CI LJ and the Re.think initiative and revising it to meet the demands of the current refocusing on the environmental and social responsibility of both Slovenia and China. If the Re.think initiative had a very narrow focus at the outset, it has gained a wide range of attention through its focus on sustainability that in this paper we proposed is a common language of such unique cultures as Slovenian and Chinese cultures. Managerial recommendations are intended to help the CI LJ leadership in establishing productive collaboration by knowledge sharing and synergy building defined by Schneider and Barsoux (2003) as alliance forming and following a strategic process of adapting where interaction among cultures influences which strategies are pursued and which processes are implemented. Due to the importance of sustainable leadership at the FELU, the CI LJ also needs to adapt its mission of promoting Chinese culture and language in Slovenia to the daily concerns of Slovenian people and, most importantly, students and the business community at the FELU. In the paper the conceptualisation of an outdoor language course through sustainable leadership is recommended where sustainability and leadership are connected and also the language didactics is based on developing and renewing the individual, organisation, society and nature through different assignments that strengthen multiple intelligences. In today’s turbulent business environment, our students and alumni must deal with multiple challenges that can lead to burn-out and therefore it is necessary for renewal to be incorporated into the learning/working cycle. In the paper, we stressed that sustainable leadership is based on developing and renewing cognitive, emotional, bodily and spiritual components and enabling the productive functioning of individuals in the community in which they are settled. As the CI LJ is focused on teaching the Chinese language and culture, an example of sustainable leadership development through multiple intelligence techniques was introduced as an ex-

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ample for the further development and advancement of the scholarly community. We recommend that the CI LJ organise a network together with the Movement for Sustainable Development in order to see where future collaboration is most needed and possible. The multi-methodological study involved two stages, with the first entailing the guiding of research at the CI LJ to identify positive themes that could be made applicable to their daily working (promoting, research, coordinating, teaching) activities and thus facilitate their individual professional, organisational, social and environmental development. This was accomplished through the process of AI. The second stage of the study was completed once a reflection of the participants’ findings on their practice had been made. The study identified themes common to the promotion of Chinese culture and language and sustainable development. Due to the limited amount of time the CI LJ has been in operation (since 26 May 2010), our longitudinal research endeavour is limited and will need to be carried out in the future to cover a longer time period. In the words of Professor Adrijana Rejc Buhovac (2013), sustainability is “the contribution of an organisation to the sustainable development of the Earth” and the planet Earth is something we all share – Slovenians and Chinese people – therefore, dialogue and mutual understanding are necessary to facilitate our contribution and further develop for the good of our future generations. The implications of our research for leadership development practice are that through a change of mindset we achieve a change in strategy, where our paper proposes a new distinction in leadership development – sustainability that needs to be implemented systematically and through the succession system provide the capturing of cross-cultural tacit knowledge. Implications for leadership development teaching include that we incorporate internationalisation training in business schools with a cross-cultural component in the centre of sustainable leadership development attention as our alumni will need to satisfy the needs of the intertwined global market. Implications for the leadership development research agenda include raising awareness towards understanding the complex phenomena of leadership development in international partnerships, where the case study of the CI LJ can provide a starting point for other similar international studies – building on researching the leadership development of the CI network around the globe. Implications for leadership development policy include supporting schemes for sustainable leadership development and accompanying stimulative incentives at the organisational and national levels.

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Getting ready for the young generation to join the workforce: A comparative analysis of the work values of Chinese and Slovenian business students * Nada Zupan, Robert Kaše, Matevž Rašković, Kai Yao, Chunyan Wang ** Due to the ever greater cooperation between China and CEE countries, and especially the lack of research on the young generation’s work values among the latter, we fill an empirical gap and conduct a comparative analysis of work values among Chinese and Slovenian business students. We explore the relationship between national culture and differences in expressed work values. While advancement was the top item within both samples, we found a stronger instrumental value dimension for the Slovenians and a stronger social-altruistic value dimension for the Chinese. Moreover, while national culture remains a factor for understanding the work values of the young generation, it is not the dominant one. Our results offer some support for a universal or crossvergence perspective on the work values of the young generation. Aufgrund der sich intensivierenden Kooperation zwischen China und den MOELändern sowie des Forschungsdefizits bezüglich arbeitsbezogener Werte der jüngeren Generation, soll diese komparative Analyse der chinesischen und slowenischen Wirtschaftsstudenten eine empirische Lücke füllen. Wir untersuchen die Relation zwischen Kultur und den Unterschieden in den genannten Werten. Während Beförderung der Hauptaspekt innerhalb beider Stichproben war, fanden wir eine stärkere instrumentelle Wertedimension bei den Slowenen und eine stärkere sozial-altruistische Wertedimension bei den Chinesen. Obwohl Kultur ein Faktor für das Verständnis dieser Werte bleibt, ist es nicht die dominierende Größe. Unsere Ergebnisse unterstützen eine universelle Perspektive auf die arbeitsbezogenen Werte der jüngeren Generation. Key words: work values, young generation, national culture, China, Slovenia (JEL: M50, Z19) *

Manuscript received: 16.04.2014, accepted: 12.11.2014 (1 revisions) ** Nada Zupan, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Main research interests: human capital, strategic human resource management, cross-cultural management. E-mail: [email protected] (corresponding author) Robert Kaše, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Main research interests: human resource management, relationships at work. E-mail: [email protected] Matevž Rašković, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Main research interests: economic sociology of MNEs (embeddedness, institutions and buyer-supplier relationships), young generation in China and CEE. E-mail: [email protected] Yao Kai, School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Main research interests: human resource management. E-mail: [email protected] Chunyan Wang, Shanghai University of International Business & Economics, Songjiang Shanghai, China. Main research interests: Cross-cultural communication. E-mail: [email protected] JEEMS, 20(2), 174-201 ISSN (print) 0943-2779, ISSN (internet) 1862-0035

DOI 10.1688/JEEMS-2015-02-Zupan © Rainer Hampp Verlag, www.Hampp-Verlag.de

JEEMS, 20(2), 174-201

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DOI 10.1688/JEEMS-2015-02-Zupan

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Introduction

Workforce diversity is a given fact for most organisations in today’s increasingly global environment. Traditionally, national culture has been one of the most studied sources of diversity in organisations (House et al. 2004; Hofstede et al. 2010). However, in the last decade a new stream of inter-generational research has gained momentum as young people, born in the last two decades of the 20th century, have started to enter the workforce (Wong et al. 2008, Macky et al. 2008; Ng et al. 2012). Yet this research has mostly focused on Western countries, and less is known about the young from elsewhere (Čater et al. 2013; Twenge 2006). In particular, little is known about the strength of the impact of national cultures on work values in non-Western countries (Jaw et al. 2006; Čater et al. 2013), or about differences in work values across generations and national cultures (Susaeta et al. 2013). Age is known to be an important factor contributing to differences in work values (Richards et al. 2012). It is thus important to study the young generation as we may expect differences in their work values compared to other generations. This theoretical and empirical gap exists not only in terms of the young generation, but for most other organisational contexts, despite the long acknowledged variation of values, needs and work goals across cultures (Ronen/Shenkar 1985). The study of the young generation and their work values also offers insights into the influence of globalisation on people (Levitt 1983), and in particular on the cross-country universality of work values among the young, who are believed to: be at the “forefront of globalization” (Strizhakova et al. 2012:43), share a common culture as global citizens (Fabris 2003), have more similar values (April/Blass 2010; Theimann et al. 2006) and lifestyles (Stapinski 1999). Such a lack of evidence may pose a serious challenge for employers and organisational performance. First, the economic slowdown in Western markets and the economic rise of Eastern markets, especially China, are creating new job opportunities in organisations which are embedded in different kinds of sociocultural contexts. In such organisational settings, cultural values act as “a central force in shaping managerial behavior” (Bird/Fang 2009:140). Second, understanding work values is an important foundation for effective workplace adaptation (Smola/Sutton 2002). Work value-related cross-cultural differences have been linked to changes in organisational performance (Connor/Becker 1975), commitment (Li et al. 2008), as well as to successful organisational transition in times of dynamic change (Li et al. 2008). The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare the work values of future labour market entrants in China and Slovenia. While we do address cultural differences, the main focus of the study relates to the issue of the universality-contingency of the young generation’s work values in China and Slovenia. We use secondary

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national culture data and primary data for work values. We contribute to the understanding of workplace priorities, expectations and behaviours among the young generation so that employers can form appropriate policies and practices to attract, motivate and retain young talents. There are for several reasons why providing a better understanding of the young generation is particularly relevant in the case of China: (1) the Chinese young generation will represent future leaders of the world’s largest superpower (Stanat 2005); (2) due to China’s unique single-child policy and its impact on society; and (3) the exponential socio-economic transformation of Chinese society and its impact on culture (Faure/Fang 2008). Faure and Fang (2008) emphasise the paradoxical nature of Chinese culture – particularly values – with large differences between the value systems of the young and the old. Surprisingly, little empirical evidence exists about either the former (Yi et al. 2010) or the latter (Pan et al. 2010). The comparison of the work values of Chinese and Slovenian business students should also be understood in the context of the recent economic platform between China and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Finally, there has not been any systematic research on the work values of the young generation in Slovenia. Thus, our paper also fills this empirical gap in a broader CEE context. We also add to empirical evidence on the work values of the young generation in China, which is just starting to enter the workforce. The paper starts by comparing the young generation’s work values with those of other generations. This is followed by an overview of Chinese and Slovenian national cultures, and a short discussion of the importance of understanding regional cultures. We continue by comparing both cultures through the lens of existing cultural typologies. Research hypotheses, a description of our methodology and a presentation of our results then follow. We conclude by discussing possible implications for management in general, as well as human resource management in particular.

2.

Work values and the young generation

There are many definitions of values and explanations of how they shape individual behaviour. The definition by Schwartz and Bilsky (1987:551) is useful for our research because it shows how values reflect priorities and influence specific actions of individuals. It includes five elements: (1) concepts or beliefs about (2) desirable end states or behaviours which (3) transcend specific situations, (4) guide the selection or evaluation of behaviour and events, and (5) are ordered by relative importance. Similarly, a narrower concept of work values refers to beliefs about the desirability of and priority given to work-related issues and outcomes (Ros et al. 1999; George/Jones 1997). Work values shape the desired goals or rewards people seek through their work (Schwartz 1999). They provide an important input for building successful employment relationships. Work values influence the perceptions, attitudes and choices we form at work

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(Meglino/Ravlin 1998). They serve as “the evaluative standards relating to work or the work environment by which individuals discern what is ‘right’ or assess the importance of preferences” (Dose 1997:227-228). Ample research shows how work values affect individual expectations related to work, behaviour and performance (Huff/Kelley 2004; Cennamo/Gardner 2008). However, the link between values and work behaviour is not direct, but indirect through goals, motivations and attitudes (Roe/Ester 1999). Nevertheless, this link has been proven to be strong enough for researchers aiming to identify relevant lists of work values and their underlying structure. With regard to work value structures, there is general agreement among researchers about three dimensions of work values: (1) extrinsic or instrumental (e.g. pay, benefits, job security); (2) intrinsic or cognitive (e.g. an interesting job, challenge, learning); and (3) social, which emphasise relationships (Ros et al. 1999; Schwartz 1999). Other dimensions found in the literature are affective, altruistic and prestige (Elizur 1984; Schwartz 1999). Recent work by Lyons et al. (2010) outlines four dimensions: (1) instrumental; (2) cognitive; (3) socialaltruistic; and (4) prestige values. We adopt this structure because Lyons et al. (2010) specifically studied inter-generational differences and constructed a 25item scale including values which are particularly relevant for the young generation. Increased interest in inter-generational differences first emerged in popular media and many discussions on the key characteristics of the young generation have produced specific values. Zemke et al. (2000) depicted the following values which define the young generation: optimism, respect for civic duty, sociability, confidence and achievement of goals. Later on, the interest spread from popular media to academia. Twenge’s (2010) review of academic research on generational comparison found, as expected, weak evidence of specific work value patterns. However, she suggests that some clear characteristics can be depicted, such as work playing less of a central role and the young generation placing greater importance on extrinsic work values, like salary and promotion. This is also consistent with results comparing work-attitude drivers between Generation Y and Generation X in a world-wide study, where the former displayed more extrinsic and the latter more intrinsic work attitudes (Susaeta et al. 2013). Ng et al. (2010) found that the young generation places the greatest importance on individualistic job aspects. For example, they express an opportunity for advancement as their top priority and have high expectations for rapid promotions and pay increases. Lyons et al. (2005) report how social values (e.g. interaction with others) and prestige values are more important for both Generation Y and X compared to older generations. Twenge et al. (2010) also suggest that the importance of leisure and extrinsic values is growing, while the importance of intrinsic and social values is decreasing for the young generation. According to Lipkin

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and Perrymore (2009), the young generation values leisure time and good health. For them, it is important to live fully now (not after retirement), and thus work is becoming less central to their lives. They more actively seek a work-personal life balance. The young generation appreciates flexibility and an individual approach from employers to attend to their needs. When compared to older generations, which place an emphasis on economic and physical security, the younger generation values self-expression, subjective well-being and quality of life (Inglehart/Baker 2000). Exploring work values in five countries, Cogin (2012) found significant differences in work values between generations when controlling for nationality – with the young generation placing less emphasis on work itself and more on the work-life balance.

3.

Chinese and Slovenian national culture

China, an East Asian country, and Slovenia, a CEE country, are different in many ways. China is one of the largest and most populous countries, while Slovenia seems to be its opposite. China may be regarded as the longest continuous civilisation in the world, mostly developing in isolation from the rest of the world, and has a tradition of strong rule. Slovenia only became an independent state in 1991, and for most of history Slovenians lived under foreign rule, exposed to many different cultural influences. The main teachings in China – Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism – differ significantly from Christianity, which is dominant in Slovenia. After WWII, both countries established socialism. Yet, in China it has a stronger communist background. Both countries experienced a gradual transition to a market economy in the 1990s; however, China is now one of the world’s superpowers and fastest growing countries, while Slovenia is experiencing a serious financial and economic crisis. The absolute level of GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity is still much higher in Slovenia (around USD 22,000 in 2012) than in China (some USD 9,000). Yet, it has almost doubled in China over the last 10 years (IMF 2013). The unemployment rate in Slovenia is rising (close to 10% in 2012), more than twice China’s level of 4% (IMF 2013). Despite several apparent differences between China and Slovenia, there is merit in comparing the young Slovenian and Chinese generations’ work values. First, it reflects the recent strengthening of economic and political ties between China and the 16 CEE countries. The increased economic collaboration in the form of foreign trade and investments as well as the growing numbers of China-CEE student exchanges call for a better understanding of the young generation from the two regions. While some might argue that Slovenia might not be the best CEE representative, we argue otherwise. Its geo-cultural position in Europe and history make it an ideal CEE ‘yardstick’. Based on its Austro-Hungarian history, Slovenian culture encompasses a Central European cultural perspective, while its recent history provides a valuable South-East European perspective. Finally,

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both China and Slovenia represent non-Western cultures and are suitable candidates for testing the Lyons et al. (2010) work values model in these cultural settings. We next describe the Chinese and Slovenian national cultures in more detail. We define national culture as those beliefs and values that are widely shared in a specific society at a particular point in time (Ralston et al. 1993). Fang (2006a: 73) explains that such beliefs and values are “actively created (i.e. negotiated) by means of social interaction”. While national culture is considered relatively stable, it should be noted that Faure and Fang (2008) and Fang (2012) emphasise not only the dynamic, but also the paradoxical and dialectic uniqueness of Chinese culture which also holds important managerial implications for organisations. 3.1

Chinese national culture

Chinese culture is influenced by three philosophical doctrines: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism (Fang 2006b). Taoism is the influential native philosophy with its main concept of the “why of life” (De Bary et al. 1960). Buddhism provides spiritual guidance for Chinese to endure hardship and to look forward to a better life (Lee 1995). Confucianism is more a set of guidelines for proper behaviour and societal code of conduct. It has exerted a fundamental influence on Chinese thinking and behaviour for over 2,500 years. Confucianism considers proper relationships among human beings as the basic societal thread (Huang 2000). It identifies San Gang (Three Cardinal Relations) between individuals, namely between the: (1) king and subject; (2) father and son; and (3) husband and wife, so that each person knows their own place in society and standing relative to others (Littrell 2002). Confucianism prescribes an appropriate way of conducting and maintaining relationships at all levels of the social hierarchy to ensure social order and balance (Faure/Fang 2008). Besides the Three Cardinal Relations, the central principle of Confucianism is harmony (Huang 2000). Consequently, the benefit of the collective comes before that of the family or the individual in Chinese culture. However, the number and magnitude of social changes, particularly since China’s economic reforms, have transformed the impact of the Confucian tradition on Chinese society. They have brought to the forefront of Chinese society utilitarian thoughts with a greater emphasis on individualism and the specific interests, wants and needs of individuals (Wang 2002). Thus, Confucian-based collectivism is giving way to individualism in contemporary Chinese society. A useful perspective on Chinese culture is further offered by Faure and Fang (2008) who emphasise the paradoxical nature of Chinese culture, illustrated by the Yin-Yang dynamic. The aforementioned shift from collectivism to individualism is a good example of such a paradox through which Chinese culture can today be described as still highly collectivistic, but at the same time displaying

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strong individualistic tendencies (Fang 2012). Faure and Fang (2008) point out eight specific paradoxes in Chinese culture, namely: (1) guanxi vs. professionalism; (2) the importance of face vs. self-expression and directness; (3) thrift vs. materialism and ostentatious consumption; (4) family and group orientation vs. individuation; (5) aversion to law vs. respect for legal practices; (6) respect for etiquette, age and hierarchy vs. respect for simplicity, creativity and competence; (7) a longterm orientation vs. a shortterm orientation; and (8) traditional creeds vs. modern approaches. While these paradoxes have existed throughout Chinese history, globalisation and economic development are increasing the paradoxical nature of Chinese culture which manifests itself in both managerial values and behaviour (Fang 2010). Thus, it is becoming ever more difficult to describe Chinese culture using the traditional dimensions used in cross-cultural research, or by using traditional Western bipolar cultural typologies (Fang 2012). 3.2

Slovenian national culture

Unlike China’s 5,000 year civilisation, the origin of Slovenian national culture is much harder to date. This is because the Slovenian people were historically governed by foreign rulers who imposed their own values and traditions. Following the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenians after World War I (1918– 1929) and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929–1944), Slovenians were part of socialist Yugoslavia up until its turbulent disintegration in 1991 (Udovič 2011). It is only then that Slovenia for the first time became independent. While Croatia was historically closer to the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Slovenia was more closely historically, economically, politically and culturally linked to Austria (Prunk 1996). Hrastelj (2001) emphasises a strong Germanic imprint on Slovenian culture, which can be seen in its monochronic time orientation, low contextuality of communication, importance of organisation, structure, and a need for order. In terms of religion, Slovenian culture was historically strongly influenced by Christianity and its values, first through Protestantism, later by the prevalence of Catholicism. The Protestant work ethic, which emphasises personal achievement and individual self-worth, importantly shaped Slovenian culture. In addition to being obedient, responsible, honest and hardworking (Musek 2000), Musek (1994) points to a lack of proactiveness and ‘real’ productivity in the Slovenian work orientation. In the Yugoslav period, the influence of Catholic religion gave way to the socialist philosophy and imprinted the importance of equality, solidarity and camaraderie in Slovenians. The important impact of the socialist ideology on Slovenian values was shown by Musek (2000) where socially-based values were the highest ranking set of values, followed by values related to security and democratic values. For other characteristics of the national culture, Žižek (1982) particularly emphasised the following: motherhood, homeliness,

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nostalgia and historical rootedness, traditionalism, a family orientation, and an incomplete masculine identity. The latter is linked to the historical sense of ‘victimisation’ which is ingrained in Slovenian self-identity because of foreign political and economic over-rule (Vezovnik 2007). Following the transition to a market economy, there was a notable shift in values (Rus/Toš 2005). Work became less central to life, personal development and advancement became more important, with increasing individualism. Hrastelj (2001) observed the importance of gaining a sense of accomplishment and acquiring things. The shift from collectivism to individualism was also emphasised by Zagoršek (2005), who further pointed to a low degree of assertiveness (giving way to solidarity and conflict avoidance) and a low degree of a humane orientation (dominance of self-interest and materialism) in Slovenian national culture. A study by Pučko and Čater (2011) also found that uncertainty avoidance is a strong cultural characteristic of Slovenians. 3.3

National vs. regional cultures

Understanding the importance of regional cultural differences is particularly important given China’s geographic, ethnic and economic heterogeneity (Ralston et al. 1996; Dincer/Wang 2011). Littrell et al. (2012:318) pointed to different cultural areas within China, especially between the North and South, as well as between urban and rural areas. The authors found significant intra-national differences for 12 studied leader behaviour dimensions across four convenience samples of working people in Guangzhou, Macau, Zhengzhou and Suzhou. In summary, scores for all 12 leadership styles from the Leadership Behaviour Description Questionnaire were higher for Zhengzhou (east-central part), followed by Suzhou (south-east part), and then Guangzhou and Macao (southern and south-eastern Cantonese-speaking parts). Significant regional differences were also found in managerial values by Ralston et al. (1996). For example, the Guangzhou/Shanghai southern areas scored much higher on universalism, hedonism, stimulation and power. The Beijing/Dalian northern areas scored much higher on tradition, while the Chengdu/Lanzhou western and central areas scored relatively higher on conformity, benevolence and security values. In a study of regional differences in consumer decision-making styles, Zhou et al. (2010) found support for regional differences in consumer decision-making styles of adult consumers between the coastal and inland areas. Chinese coastal consumers were found to be more novelty/fashion and habitual/loyalty conscious than inland consumers, which corresponds to a higher degree of hedonic shopping orientation. A similar observation was also established in analysing regional differences (coastal-inland areas) between young-adult consumers by Yu and Zhou (2009). Despite its small size, regional cultural differences can be observed in Slovenia like in any other country (Trstenjak 1991; Musek 1994), particularly because of

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its different types of geographical, historical and socio-linguistic embeddedness. Compared to China, Slovenia is much less ethnically heterogeneous with only a few minorities. However, while the study of Slovenian values by Musek (2003) found some regional differences in the values of Slovenians, these seem to be more closely related to religious, cultural, democratic and emotional values. There appear to be less apparent regional differences in other types of values, which might have a stronger influence on work values. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have examined regional differences in work values or the work values of the young generation in Slovenia. In general, any kind of research on work-related values of the young generation is itself still very limited for Slovenia (Mihelič/Lipičnik 2010; Pučko/Čater 2011). 3.4

Comparing Chinese and Slovenian national cultures

There has been a lot of cross-cultural research from which we can draw data for comparing Chinese and Slovenian cultures. In his original study, Hofstede (2001) found that both China and Slovenia (at that time still part of Yugoslavia) scored highly on collectivism and power distance. China scored lower on uncertainty avoidance and higher on masculinity. In terms of values, Schwartz (1999) found higher scores for hierarchy, mastery and conservatism for China, while Slovenian scores were higher for autonomy, harmony and egalitarianism. Overall, work was more central to life for Chinese than Slovenians. Using Schwartz’s survey, Ralston et al. (2011) provided scores for individual-level and societylevel values for 50 countries on a sample of business professionals. For society values, China scored higher only on hierarchy, and only on power for individual values. For all the other dimensions, the Slovenian scores were higher, with the largest differences in societal values for harmony and egalitarianism, followed by hedonism, security, self-enhancement, openness to change and individualism at the individual level. The GLOBE study was conducted across matched samples of middle managers and only showed moderate differences between the two cultures (House et al. 2004). Slovenians scored higher on both values and practices for gender egalitarianism, while Chinese scored higher for institutional collectivism2, a humane orientation3 and uncertainty avoidance. In terms of a performance orientation, future orientation and in-group collectivism4, Slovenian value scores were substantially higher than Chinese. This was, however, opposite for practices. Assertiveness, which also refers to being confrontational and aggressive in relationships with others, is the only value dimension on which Chinese scored higher 2

3

4

Institutional collectivism relates to organizational and societal institutional practices encouraging and rewarding collective distribution of resources and collective action. Humane orientation encompasses encouragement and rewards for individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others. In-group collectivism relates to expressed pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness to organizations or family.

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than Slovenians; yet practices scores were lower. For managers in both countries, a performance orientation came out highest and power distance lowest among the nine GLOBE cultural dimensions. On the cultural map of the world (Inglehart/Welzl 2010) – based on the World Values Survey (WVS) – Slovenia and China have similar, relatively high scores on the rational-secular dimension. However, a notable difference occurs with Chinese having highly expressed survival values, while Slovenians have higher self-expression values. Comparing data directly from the WVS data set5, we can observe that for both countries family is the most important value. Work is the second-ranked value in China and the third in Slovenia. In both countries, work is perceived as a duty to society but, when asked about the importance of job outcomes, Slovenians seem to ascribe more importance to almost all elements of work, with Chinese numbers dropping slightly for two consecutive periods of the survey, as can be seen in Table 1. Table 1: Share of World Values Survey respondents regarding a certain workrelated element important (in %) Slovenia (1994-98)

China (1994-98)

China (1999-2004)

Good pay

89

76

65

Not too much pressure

73

36

27

Good job security

93

68

68

To have a respected job

77

56

58

Good hours

77

46

33

Opportunity to use initiative

78

41

34

Generous holidays

47

15

11

Can achieve something

90

50

31

Responsible job

65

26

22

Interesting job

91

42

18

Job meets one's abilities

87

63

59

Element of work

Source: World Values Survey, 1981-2008 OFFICIAL AGGREGATE v.20090901, 2009. World Values Survey Association (www.worldvaluessurvey.org).

4.

Hypotheses

In the previous section we described differences in national and regional cultures. While there appear to be some similarities, we believe the differences be5

Data was gathered from the official World Values Survey website, 1981-2008 OFFICIAL AGGREGATE v.20090901, 2009.

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tween the Chinese and Slovenian cultures can also translate into work value differences. In the first hypothesis, we follow the argument of those researchers who believe that national culture is a dominant factor in shaping general and work values (Kluckhohn/Strodtbeck 1961; Hofstede 2001; House et al. 2004; Jaw et al. 2007). Hypothesis 1: There are significant differences in work values between Chinese and Slovenian business students. Since there is sufficient evidence regarding the influence of national culture characteristics on work values, we developed a set of three sub-hypotheses related to the dimensions of work values described by Lyons et al. (2010). The first one is related to instrumental work values. Schwartz (1999) suggests that an emphasis on self-sufficiency (e.g. financial rewards) is compatible with individualism. Following the argument by Fromm (1976) about individualistic societies thriving on “having”, we can connect the whole set of extrinsic or instrumental values to individualism. Because Slovenia consistently shows higher scores for individualism than China, and has experienced a considerable shift towards individualism (Jazbec 2007), we hypothesise that Slovenians will express a greater degree of instrumental work values. In the WVS, a larger share of Slovenians indicated that extrinsic job elements are important to them (Table 1). In times of crises, individualism and instrumental values become stronger (Elliot 2010). Due to the much stronger negative impact of the current crisis on the Slovenian economy, we can again find a basis for our first sub-hypothesis. The unemployment situation is difficult for the young all over the world, even in China. They struggle despite the fast economic growth and university graduates often have to take low-paying, unattractive jobs. Nevertheless, in Slovenia there is a higher risk of youth unemployment with an almost 20% rate of unemployment among the young in 2012 (compared to 13% in China) (ILO 2013). Hypothesis 1.1: Slovenian business students will score higher on the instrumental dimension of work values than their Chinese peers. There is evidence of the young Chinese becoming increasingly individualistic (Yi et al. 2010). On the other hand, young Slovenians highly value relationships and friendship (Ule/Kuhar 2002; Mihelič/Lipičnik 2010). With a strong tradition in China of satisfying social needs over individualistic needs (Schwartz 1999) and Confucianism emphasising harmony and altruism, we still expect young Chinese to have stronger social and altruistic work values. We find further support for this from the National Character Survey (NCS) scores in Terracciano et al. (2005), based on matched samples of young adults. NCS reports a higher agreeableness score for China. On the other hand, Slovenians score higher on neuroticism and conscientiousness. We can thus predict Slovenian behavioural responses to be much more ‘temperamental’ and energetic. Further, a replication of Hofstede’s study by Jazbec (2007) suggests a big shift towards individualism

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in Slovenia. Since Schwartz and Bilsky (1987) found individualistic and collectivistic values to be universally opposite, we can expect the higher individualism to be reflected in lower social and altruistic work values. Hypothesis 1.2: Chinese business students will score higher on the socialaltruistic work values dimension than their Slovenian peers. Chinese culture scores higher on hierarchy (Schwartz 1999) and consistently displays higher scores for power distance than Slovenia (House et al. 2004; Jazbec 2007). In addition, in the WVS (Table 1) Chinese rated good pay and a respected job relatively highly compared to other job outcomes. On the other hand, Slovenians value egalitarianism and score higher on femininity vs. masculinity (Hofstede 2001; Schwartz 1999). Both of these reduce the importance of prestige values. Hypothesis 1.3: Chinese business students will score higher on the prestige work values dimension than their Slovenian peers. With regard to cognitive work values, the evidence is quite mixed. We therefore cannot hypothesise differences between Chinese and Slovenian business students. Learning is one of the key concepts of Confucianism and is closely linked to cognitive work values. Sun and Wang (2010) describe self-development as the most important value of the young generation in China. It is linked to both Confucianism, as well as the increased competition among China’s large population and its resource-constrained environment. The Chinese school system is much more competitive than the Slovenian one so personal achievement and the opportunity to excel are important for the Chinese student. In this regard, Chinese youth prepare years in advance for the infamous gaokao national university entrance exam (Yu/Suen, 2005). On the other hand, the cultural map of the world (Inglehart/Welzl 2005) shows that Slovenia scores higher on self-expression values than China. Table 1 also shows that interesting work and achievement are much more important for Slovenians. According to Schwartz (1999), autonomy, which is a value expressed highly by Slovenians, is linked to intrinsic, cognitive rewards. However, because there are elements which would enhance cognitive values in both cultures we cannot propose that either group of students would score higher in terms of cognitive values. While research hypothesis 1 and its three sub-hypotheses reflect the general belief that there is a strong link between national culture characteristics and work values in general, the role of national culture is not all that clear when we look at the young generation. Wills et al. (2011) compared the young in Quebec and the United Arab Emirates, and found little difference in both inter-cultural and intergenerational work values, despite the large cultural differences. Yet Zhang et al. (2007) found significant differences in work values among French and Canadian (Quebec) business students, despite a common language and cultural origins.

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Similarly, Froese (2013) found many differences in the work values of students in China, Korea and Japan, even though all three countries are Confucian-based cultures. Susaeta et al. (2013) also found significant diversity in work-attitude drivers within culturally similar Latin American countries. Karakitapoglu Aygun et al. (2011) studied work values among Turkish and US university students and established that the Turkish students expressed higher scores for the Protestant work ethic and all contemporary work values than the American students. This mixed evidence prompts an exploration of the strength of national culture in combination with other demographic characteristics when studying the work values of the young generation. Besides nationality, Warr’s (2008) literature review identified the following most frequently used demographic factors affecting work values: age, gender, educational background, and employment status. Because we are already studying a relatively homogenous group of the young with regard to their age and educational background, our analysis focuses on gender and work experience (a proxy for employment status). Since the aim of this paper is to explore the strength of factors affecting work values, we will not hypothesise further how gender and work experience in particular affect work values, but simply test the strength of the influence of these two demographic factors compared to nationality (culture). Accordingly, we form the second hypothesis: Hypothesis 2: National culture is not the dominant factor creating differences in the work values of Chinese and Slovenian business students. Gender and work experience also play an important role in shaping work values. This second hypothesis challenges the view that national culture is the dominant factor, thus taking more of a convergence approach to national culture influences. From this perspective, national cultures are becoming more alike (Inglehart/Baker 2000) because social interaction between cultures is growing due to globalisation and easier communication through information technology (Fabris 2003). This is especially true for the tech-savvy young generation. Some even believe that a common global youth culture is developing (Gidley 2001) with the young around the world being more alike, compared to older generations in their respective countries. Due to the convergence of national cultures, their impact on shaping different work values may be weakened, at least for the young generation. Thus, some researchers propose that the impact of national culture on values may be overrated (Lebo et al. 1995; Gahan/Abeysekera 2009). Therefore, the strength of the impact of national culture on work values seems to be a relevant venue to explore.

5.

Methodology

Our study analyses work values of the young generation in China and Slovenia. It connects them to national culture characteristics, as well as other demographic

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factors, particularly gender. Data for the analysis were collected in the spring and summer of 2013 using a convenience matched sampling approach, usually employed in cross-cultural research (Cavusgil/Das 1997; Schwartz/Sagie 2000). The Slovenian sample was obtained through an online survey administered at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, among undergraduate students in the first and second years of study from different business majors (i.e. management, entrepreneurship, banking and finance management, marketing etc.) who were taking a course on human resources management. For the Chinese sample, online data collection was supplemented by paper data collection in the classroom to ensure the appropriate number of valid cases. The participation of all students was voluntary and anonymous. Data in China were collected at Fudan University (Business School) in Shanghai. The Fudan University student body is composed in such a way that 35% of the students are originally from Shanghai, while the rest come from other parts of China. Outstanding results are required at the gaokao national university entry exam to enter the Fudan University Business School. Most students are from single-child families. The surveyed students were taking a course on cross-cultural communication and in their third year of undergraduate studies. They came from two different majors: industrial and business management, and financial management. Both schools are leading internationally-accredited business schools. Ljubljana and Shanghai were selected as urban commercial centres in both countries. In our data, we control for both the educational background of the respondents (undergraduate business students in their 2nd and 3rd year) and age (93.8% of students were born in 1990–1993). In addition to matching the education level, it is important to examine homogenous age groups (Parry/Urwin 2011) since generational cohorts usually span over 20 years. Age differences could result in potential differences among members due to different lifecycle stages. In terms of gender, there are more female students in the sample (overall: 58%; China: 62%; Slovenia: 55%). With regard to work experience, Slovenian respondents had significantly more work experience (mean: 2.6 years; including student work) compared to the Chinese respondents (mean: 0.3 years). This is consistent with the fact that Chinese single-child students are more dependent on their family for financial support and have a high study workload (Yu et al. 2012). At the same time, part-time jobs are also not part of the Chinese culture, and there are actually limited opportunities for students to work part time in China even if they want to. Work values were measured with the Lyons Work Values Survey (LWVS) because it features items relevant to the modern workplace and has been validated across cultures on comparable samples. The 25-item format based on Lyons et al. (2010) asks respondents to report how important various factors are in terms of work. We decided to use the four-group classification of work values (instrumental, cognitive, prestige, and social/altruistic work values).

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The survey instrument was administered in the Slovenian and Mandarin languages after a translation-back translation procedure. Multiple translation-back translation rounds were needed for the Mandarin version to find the optimal translation. The survey produced acceptable levels of internal reliability, with the corresponding Cronbach alpha being highest for the instrumental work value items (0.78), followed by the cognitive (0.76), prestige (0.71) and socialaltruistic work value items (0.67). After performing descriptive analyses and rank-ordering the most and least important work value factors in both countries, we proceeded with variance decomposition. We worked with three two-group MANOVAs (using the general linear model procedure in SPSS), where the four work value dimensions were entered as dependent variables along with selected combinations of salient demographic variables as independent factors.6 After the multivariate models were established, mean differences were examined in more depth through a series of univariate ANOVAs.

6.

Results

Table 2 presents the six most and least important work values for both student samples. Advancement is the most important work value among the Chinese and Slovenia business students. Further, achievement and friendly co-workers are two other factors which rank among the top six work values in both countries. Among the bottom six work values, influence, authority and impact are the same for both countries. Interestingly, all of them relate to prestige work values. Table 2: Most/least expressed work values of the Slovenian and Chinese business students Top six work values

Bottom six work values

Slovenia

China

Slovenia

China

Advancement

Advancement

Influence

Authority

Interesting work

Continuously learn

Prestigious job

Impact

Salary

Co-workers

Social interaction

Use abilities

Achievement

Fun

Impact

Help people

Information

Achievement

Variety

Freedom

Co-workers

Job security

Authority

Influence

We performed a multivariate test to determine if the means of the four work values are significantly different between the two student samples. Pillai’s Trace value of 0.66 was significant (F=15.38; df=4; p=0.000), indicating the centroids 6

For example, nationality as a single factor; nationality and gender as two independent factors; nationality and gender as independent factors, along with working experience as a covariate.

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of the mean vectors of the two groups were different. This offers initial support for Hypothesis 1, generally indicating significant differences in work values between the Chinese and Slovenian business students. We continued with a series of univariate tests (ANOVAs) to determine specific items with statistically significant mean differences between the two samples. Table 3 shows that instrumental, social-altruistic and cognitive work values differ significantly between the two samples. Slovenian business students scored significantly higher on instrumental and cognitive work values, while Chinese business students scored higher on social-altruistic values. This confirms only two of the three H1 sub-hypotheses. We can confirm Hypothesis 1.1, showing that Slovenian business students attribute greater importance to instrumental values, as well as Hypothesis H1.2, showing that social-altruistic values are more important among Chinese business students. Regardless of finding support for Hypothesis 1.1 and Hypothesis 1.2, we observe relatively small standardised effect sizes in both cases, indicating that the mean differences are not very large between the two samples. Table 3: ANOVA results for the Chinese-Slovenian student work values comparison Slovenia (n=549) Work value dimensions

China (n=281) Mean

Std. Dev.

Std. Error Mean

Hedges g (std. effect size)

Sig.

0.013

Mean

Std. Dev.

Std. Error Mean

Instrumental

3.97

0.56

0.023

3.88

0.45

0.027

0.18166

Social-altruistic

3.65

0.74

0.032

3.83

0.50

0.030

-0.26047 0.000

Prestige

3.32

0.70

0.030

3.32

0.64

0.038

0.00120

0.987

Cognitive

3.90

0.59

0.025

3.80

0.47

0.028

0.18165

0.013

We also performed another multivariate test with two independent factors (i.e., country and gender) at the same time. The multivariate result was significant for both culture (Pillai’s Trace=0.077; F=16.8; df=4; p=0.000), gender (Pillai’s Trace=0.065; F=14.15; df=4; p=0.000), as well as marginally significant for the interaction between culture and gender (Pillai’s Trace=0.012; F=15.35; df=4; p=0.000). This supports the claim that – besides culture – gender, as well as the interaction between national culture and gender, affects differences in work values between the two samples (in support of Hypothesis 2). Considering both national culture and gender, we again found evidence of statistically significant differences based on national culture for the instrumental (p=0.001), cognitive (p=0.001) and social-altruistic work values (p=0.001). In addition, we found that the same differences also exist for gender – namely for the instrumental (p=0.000), cognitive (p=0.023) and social-altruistic work values (p=0.001) –

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and that a weak statistically significant difference exists for the interaction between gender and national culture for social-altruistic work values (p=0.071). Figure 1 shows a detailed comparison between female and male students in both countries. Slovenian female students stand out with the highest score for instrumental work values, while Slovenian male students stand out with the lowest score for social-altruistic work values. Overall, the results presented in Figure 1 show that, although national culture is an important factor in shaping work values, gender plays also a very important role. Figure 1: Comparison of work value dimensions for the Slovenian and Chinese business students according to their nationality and gender (5-point ordinal scales) 4,0

3,8

3,6 SI MALE 3,4

SI FEMALE CN MALE

3,2

CN FEMALE

3,0

We also controlled for the effect of work experience. Multivariate results were significant for both factors and the covariate (Pillai’s Trace was 0.02 for work experience, 0.067 for national culture, 0.068 for gender and 0.013 for interaction between national culture and gender; all p