Value orientations and attitudes towards money among Russian and Chinese students as characteristics of the economic behavior of young people

Abstract

Introduction. In the global economy, young people from the perspective of public administration are considered as intellectual capital. The purpose of this article is to conduct a comparative analysis of value orientations and attitudes towards money as indicators of economic behavior among Russian and Chinese students. Methods. The study used the following methods on a sample of 88 Russian and Chinese students: 1) Questionnaire by B. Klontz and T. Klontz “Monetary Attitudes” adapted by Bayazitova, T.A. Lapshova; 2) Portrait Value Questionnaire by S. Schwartz (PVQ-RR) adapted by T.P. Butenko, D.S. Sedova, A.S. Lipatova); 3) Questionnaire “Moral assessment of money” E.I. Gorbacheva and A.B. Kupreichenko. Statistical analysis of the data used the Mann-Whitney U test, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and cluster analysis. Research results. In the process of conducting empirical analysis, significant differences were identified between Russian and Chinese students in the manifestations of value orientations such as: 1) reputation (0.036; p ≤ 0.05); 2) personal safety (0.04; p ≤ 0.05); 3) conformity - rules (0.026; p ≤ 0.05); 4) modesty (0.004; p ≤ 0.01). Russian students value their reputation and personal safety more; on the money avoidance scale, Chinese students have a significantly higher indicator compared to Russian students (0.026, p ≤ 0.05). As a result of the correlation analysis, significant relationships between the scales were found among Russian students: (p ≤ 0.05): 1) avoidance of money - hedonism (r = -0.300), modesty (r = 0.298), benevolence (r = -0.353); 2) money as status – modesty (r = -0.333); 3) worship of money - independence of thought (r = 0.375), independence of action (r = 0.331), hedonism (r = 0.341), power - dominance (r = 0.351), security - personal (r = 0.336), benevolence - duty ( r = 0.330). Among Chinese students, significant relationships were found for the following indicators: In the group of Chinese students, the following relationships were identified (p ≤ 0.05): 1) money as status - power - resources (r = 0.312), traditionalism (r = 0.302); 2) worship of money - independence of thought (r = 0.310), conformity - rules (r = 0.320), conformity - interpersonal (r = 0.372), modesty (r = 0.318); 3) vigilance regarding money - achievement (r = 0.315), power - resources (r = 0.309), conformity - rules (r = 0.304). The use of cluster analysis made it possible to identify positive and moral-conflict types of attitudes towards money among Russian students, and among Chinese students - morally uncertain and compromising-positive types of attitude towards money. Conclusion. As a result of the study, recommendations were proposed for the development and correction of indicators of economic behavior among young people: 1) introduction into educational practice in higher education of methods for developing students' knowledge in the field of financial literacy; 2) development of civic identity and patriotic feelings, which act as psychological support for students on the path to professional development and financial success; 3) developing students’ attitude towards money as a result of personal and professional self-realization; 4) providing information and education to foreign students in the field of economic behavior in Russia in order to successfully adapt to a foreign cultural environment.