Confucian Asia Research Articles

Influence of different types of interclass ability grouping on students’ academic achievement in mathematics: evidence from the Confucian Asian cluster

ABSTRACT Ability grouping has attracted worldwide attention in relation to various subjects among different countries and regions. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between ability grouping and students’ mathematical academic achievement in the Confucian Asian countries. Thus, in this study, we aimed to determine how different types of interclass ability grouping impact students’ academic achievement in mathematics. We analysed PISA2022 data for 34,968 students from 923 schools in six countries and regions, including Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, using a hierarchical linear model and propensity score matching. We found that overall, multi-level ability grouping reduced students’ mathematics achievement, and this negative effect was particularly significant among high-ability students, while it promoted the mathematics achievement of low-ability students to some extent.

Culture matters: Cultural variability in corporate codes of conduct as a means to foster organizational legitimacy

AbstractIn recent decades, implementing a code of conduct (CoC) as part of an organization's CSR infrastructure has become a sine qua non for gaining trust and fostering credibility. Despite numerous studies aimed at identifying cultural differences in the content of CoCs, little is known about what causes those differences and how they relate to an organization's communicative endeavor to gain trust and strengthen its legitimacy. In response, this article examines potential cultural differences in the public availability, design, and content of CoCs of corporations headquartered in countries in the Confucian Asian versus Anglo cultural clusters from the perspective of strategic communication. Drawing on the concepts of individualist versus collectivist culture and low‐ versus high‐context communication, the findings reveal significant differences, including that Anglo‐based companies more often make their CoCs publicly available and, in turn, significantly more comprehensive than Confucian Asian codes. Furthermore, compared with Anglo CoCs, significantly fewer CoCs of companies headquartered in Confucian Asia address the importance of moral values in daily business practices and sensitive issues such as prohibited behavior, whistleblowing, and sanctions following code violations. Those findings indicate significant institutional and cultural differences in companies' communication about ethical principles and corresponding conduct and suggest that, across cultures, CoCs differ in their content and are not accorded equal relevance as a means to foster legitimacy via CSR communication.

Cultural roots of the myopia boom in Confucian Asia and their implications.

Current evidence implicates educational pressures and reduced outdoor time as major causes of myopia. This paper examines the ongoing battle against the myopia epidemic in East Asia, including its cultural offshoots such as Singapore, where over 80% of young adults are myopic. East Asian societies share deeply rooted Confucian values that attach great importance to education and familial obligations, with heavy parental investment in education and the perception that academic excellence reflects filial piety. Coupled with a strong emphasis on standardised test results, East Asian children face intense educational pressures from a young age. Existing education-based myopia prevention strategies focus either on top-down school reforms to promote more outdoor time for studentsduring school hours oron bottom-up awareness initiatives encouraging lifestyle changes. However, the entrenched Confucian worldview suggests that more extensive top-down reforms aimed at reducing competition in education, combined with widespread bottom-up awareness initiatives targeting the public-particularly parents, given their active involvement in children's education outside of school-may be required to truly turn the tide on myopia.

Drivers and constraints of students’ entrepreneurial intentions across cultural contexts: A neo-configurational perspective

Even though there is evidence of interconnectedness among antecedents of entrepreneurial intentions, emphasizing the need for understanding their joint effects, cross-cultural studies focused on students' entrepreneurial intentions have primarily looked into the isolated effects of these factors, neglecting their complex interplay. Drawing upon complexity theory, we aim to fill this gap by exploring how various factors mutually influence students' entrepreneurial intentions across diverse cultural settings. We employ the fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis on a sample of 144 students to generate novel insights about drivers and constraints of entrepreneurial intentions in two distant cultural clusters, i.e., Confucian Asia and Eastern Europe. Our findings shed light on how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and barriers intertwine to shape students' entrepreneurial intentions in different cultural settings, thereby affirming the principles of the neo-configurational perspective adopted in this study—multiple conjunctural causation, causal equifinality, and causal asymmetry. While enriching our understanding of the role of national culture in shaping entrepreneurial intentions, this study provides unique insights to management education scholars and practitioners about the need for tailoring entrepreneurial curricula based on the complexity and cultural sensitivity of antecedents of students’ entrepreneurial intentions.

Angry leaders and coworkers: Cross-cultural evaluation of anger expression through high-status and equal-status roles

Anger expressed in organizations conveys potent social information that influences social perceptions and determines subsequent relationships among employees. The present research examined how cultural contexts and hierarchical structure of a given relationship interact to shape perceptions of anger expression. Conducting a survey on subsidiary employees of a multinational high-tech company, Study 1 showed that employees from the Confucian Asian culture (specifically Korea) evaluate anger expressed by high-status counterparts (i.e., managers) more positively in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness compared to those from the Anglo culture (specifically the United States). Study 2, which was based on different samples from the same company, showed that employees from another Confucian Asian country (Japan), compared to those from the Anglo culture (the United States), provide more positive evaluations of the anger expressed by high-status counterparts. In contrast, Study 2 further showed that this cultural difference is reversed when anger is expressed by equal-status counterparts (coworkers). Finally, Study 3 replicated the findings of Study 2 using online-recruited samples and further demonstrated that Confucian Asian sample (Koreans) is more likely to decide to hire a job applicant who expressed anger as a leader than Anglo sample (Americans) is. In contrast, this pattern is reversed when considering a job applicant who expressed anger as a coworker. Theoretical and practical implications for social emotions and cross-cultural management are discussed.

A cultural theory perspective to service expectations in restaurants and food services

PurposePrior research examining cultural effects on customer service expectations has primarily used more generic Western cultural theory on an aggregate scale or with only a single variable to draw conclusions on a customer’s underlying reasoning for buying a service. This study aims to focus on culturally distinct clusters within non-Western nations, specifically exploring within-cluster differences in service expectations within the Confucian Asia cluster.Design/methodology/approachThis study developed a measurement model of Chinese cultural values and service expectations, consisting of a three and five-factor structure, respectively. Data from a sample of 351 diners were analysed using SmartPLS software. The data was compared with similar studies within the Confucian Asia cluster to understand the culture effect on service expectations and within-cluster variations.FindingsThe findings underscore the varying importance of cultural values in shaping customer service expectations, emphasizing their relative, rather than equal, significance. The study provides insights into potential within-group differences in customer service expectations within the same cultural cluster – without losing sight of the fundamental cultural heterogeneity of the Confucian culture.Practical implicationsManagers should leverage the distinct cultural values of their operating country to gain insights into diverse customer groups, predict their behaviours and meet their needs and expectations.Originality/valueThis study offers valuable insights to both service management scholars and practitioners by focusing on culturally distinct clusters of non-Western nations and exploring their effects on variation in service expectations within these clusters.

Innovation studies in Confucian Asian economies from 2010 to 2019: a review approach

Innovation studies in Confucian Asian economies from 2010 to 2019: a review approach

Experiences of Confucian Asian College Students with Third-Culture-Kid Backgrounds

Experiences of Confucian Asian College Students with Third-Culture-Kid Backgrounds

Power, trust and tax compliance: Evidence from clusters of countries

Tax compliance is important for public revenues, programs, and services that can improve people's quality of life and the provision of public goods. The analysis focuses on the long-run relationships between tax compliance (taxpayers' behavior), public trust in politicians (trust in authorities), and the rule of law (power of the authorities). The analysis uses unbalanced panel data for 68 countries from 2007–2017 and on clusters of countries. A positive shock in trust positively affects tax compliance in the short term in the case of East Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and Confucian Asia clusters. A positive shock in power positively affects tax compliance in the case of the Anglo and Africa and Middle East clusters. Trust and power impact tax compliance and differ depending on the analyzed groups. A collaborative relationship between the authorities and the taxpayer might be obtained by providing well-functioning institutions, being open and transparent about their work, and instilling confidence. These aspects are essential in any economy because the results may be related to increased compliance.

Family First: Evidence of Consistency and Variation in the Value of Family Versus Personal Happiness Across 49 Different Cultures

People care about their own well-being and about the well-being of their families. It is currently, however, unknown how much people tend to value their own versus their family’s well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding across a larger sample size ( N = 12,819) and a greater number of countries ( N = 49). We found that the strength of the idealization of family over personal happiness preference was small (average Cohen’s ds = .20, range −.02 to.48), but present in 98% of the studied countries, with statistical significance in 73% to 75%, and variance across countries <2%. We also found that the size of this effect did vary somewhat across cultural contexts. In Latin American cultures highest on relational mobility, the idealization of family over personal happiness was very small (average Cohen’s ds for Latin America = .15 and .18), while in Confucian Asia cultures lowest on relational mobility, this effect was closer to medium ( ds > .40 and .30). Importantly, we did not find strong support for traditional theories in cross-cultural psychology that associate collectivism with greater prioritization of the family versus the individual; country-level individualism–collectivism was not associated with variation in the idealization of family versus individual happiness. Our findings indicate that no matter how much various populists abuse the argument of “protecting family life” to disrupt emancipation, family happiness seems to be a pan-culturally phenomenon. Family well-being is a key ingredient of social fabric across the world, and should be acknowledged by psychology and well-being researchers and by progressive movements too.

Board gender diversity and organizational environmental performance: An international perspective

Organizations can play a significant role in advancing gender equality and environmental sustainability. Increasing the number of women on corporate boards has been offered as a means to increase organizational environmental sustainability. We examined relations between board gender diversity and organizational environmental performance in two studies. The first study examined board gender diversity's relations to corporate environmental sustainability initiatives for 79 largest Turkish organizations. Even though only a small proportion of directors among Turkish organizations are women, the results linked their representation on corporate boards to better environmental performance for all categories of environmental sustainability. The second study examined board gender diversity-corporate environmental performance relations using a sample of 1,776 organizations from 45 countries and representing 8 cultural clusters, greatly expanding the cross-cultural scope of our research. Board gender diversity correlated positively with overall environmental performance (r = 0.26), however there was much variability by country. Gender gap/parity at the national level did not appreciably influence board gender diversity-environmental performance associations. However, there were systematic differences between cultural clusters countries belonged to. Associations were positive and sizable for Anglo, Latin Europe, and Middle Eastern cultural clusters, negligible for Nordic Europe, Eastern Europe, and Confucian Asia cultural clusters, or mostly negligible with great variability for the Southern Asian cultural cluster. Findings highlight the important role that national context and culture play in how women's representation on corporate boards translates or fails to translate into organizational environmental sustainability performance.

Innovation Studies in Confucian Asian Economies from 2010 to 2019: A Review Approach

Innovation Studies in Confucian Asian Economies from 2010 to 2019: A Review Approach

Understanding awe elicitors in the workplace: a qualitative inquiry

PurposeDespite its practical importance, the emotion of awe has received scant research attention in the organizational literature. To facilitate future scholarship on this important topic, the authors explore and compare the elicitors of awe at work in three countries representing two culture clusters, including the USA and Canada (the Anglo cluster) and China (the Confucian Asia cluster).Design/methodology/approachThe authors gathered responses from 163 working adults from the USA and Canada and 126 working adults from China using open-response survey, and analyzed each response following the guidance of grounded theory.FindingsAcross cultures, there are 10 common elicitors of awe, including virtue of organization, ability and achievement of organization, beauty of workplace, virtue of colleagues, ability and achievement of colleagues, dedication of colleagues, charisma of colleagues, status and power of colleagues, personal growth and achievement and perceived meaningfulness. Looking within cultures, the authors found two awe elicitors that are specific to China: status and power of organization, and work content.Practical implicationsOrganizations and supervisors wishing to induce the emotion of awe would be well-advised to pay attention to the design of their workplace, as well as their attitudes and behaviors toward employees, customers and the general public.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the emotion literature, organizational literature and cross-cultural literature by demonstrating elicitors of awe in the workplace across the Anglo cluster and the Confucian Asia cluster.

Influence of informal institutions on commitment to customer service in Confucian Asia

PurposeResearch on the commitment to customer service (CCS) typically considers either trainable behavior or external stimuli such as financial incentives vital to CCS. Utilizing the cultural context of Confucian Asia, this study proposes a novel approach that shifts the focus towards the antecedents of the informal institutional environment.Design/methodology/approachThis research considers four informal institutions typical for Confucian Asia about their influence on CCS: power distance, perceived individual independence, openness to change, and informal network ties. Hypotheses are tested in a structural equation model using data obtained from a South Korean subject pool.FindingsResults show that informal institutions like power distance and network ties, and mediators like perceived individual independence and openness to change are positively related to CCS. Power distance and network ties also have a direct positive effect on openness to change. Moreover, power distance negatively affects perceived individual independence.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors' findings contribute to the service management literature by showing that a given CCS of service employees can be explained by antecedents of the company's informal institutional environment.Practical implicationsFrom a human resource perspective, the informal institutional environment should be taken into account when establishing a supporting organizational culture and designing management training programs.Originality/valueThis research introduces the institutional view to services management research, focusing on the role that informal institutions play. In particular, factors like power distance and network ties that influence CCS are tested for the first time.

Traditions of communication theory and the potential for multicultural dialogue

ABSTRACT Multicultural dialogue on communication theory is needed both to de-Westernize the field and to engage it with an emerging global communication culture. The Constitutive Metamodel envisions a pluralistic field of communication theory that invites dialogue among multiple traditions of thought on practical communication problems. Can the Constitutive Metamodel serve as a heuristic framework to facilitate multicultural dialogue on communication theory? Literature on de-Westernizing communication theory is reviewed both to identify potential barriers and to illuminate openings to multicultural dialogue via the metamodel. To illustrate one approach and, we hope, to stimulate further discussion, a partially reconstructed metamodel is presented that incorporates selected Asian (Confucian, Buddhist) and Western (Cybernetic, Spiritual) traditions of communication theory and attempts to place them all in dialogical relations that avoid the false dichotomy of ‘East versus West.’ In conclusion, we reflect critically on this theoretical exploration and the prospect for future work.

Preferred Leadership Communication Styles Across Cultures

ABSTRACT The Implicit Leadership Theory, GLOBE study, and Norton’s Communication Styles frame this study into how employees from different cultures expect leaders to communicate effectively. Survey data collected from 160 college students with prior work experience who represented 56 different countries, identified the three most preferred leadership communication styles (i.e. impression leaving, friendly, attentive), across six cultural clusters (i.e. African, Anglo, Confucian Asian, Latin American, the Middle Eastern, South Asian clusters). Focus group data collected from 25 participants provides insight on how employees expect leaders from these six clusters to enact these styles. Guidelines emerge from the findings.

Teacher–student relationships and academic achievement in Confucian educational countries/systems from PISA 2012 perspectives

Classroom climate in seven Confucian Asian countries/systems was examined with respect to three dimensions: teachers’ affective qualities, behavioural-classroom management style and cognitive-pedagogical approaches. The results based on PISA 2012 data showed that there were substantial variations in classroom climate across the seven Confucian countries/systems, with Shanghai and Singapore showing the most positive climate; Korea and Japan showing the least positive; and Hong Kong, Macao and Taipei being in-between. The latent profile analysis further revealed the existence of four classes: ‘Low Cognitive-Pedagogical Approaches’ (Class 1), ‘The OECD Averages’ (Class 2), ‘High Affective Qualities’ (Class 3) and ‘High Cognitive-Pedagogical Approaches’ (Class 4). While disciplinary climate was the strongest predictor of students’ mathematics performance, consistently across all countries/system, Class 3 characterised by high affective qualities showed the highest mathematics performance. The findings suggest that both discipline and teacher support are the important and meaningful dimensions of classroom climate for Confucian Asian students.

In the eye of the beholder: Considering culture in assessing the social desirability of personality.

Multinational organizations are increasingly looking to deploy assessments on a global basis. However, the social desirability of different personality characteristics may vary as a function of culture, yet limited research has explored this idea. Based on the GLOBE cultural dimensions and the theory of purposeful behavior, we examined potential connections between cultural practice dimensions and the desirability of personality aspects with a large personality item bank, utilizing raters across 34 countries. Findings indicated few connections of societal level cultural practices and social desirability perceptions for particular aspects. An exception to this was the finding that higher social desirability ratings were given for cooperativeness, sensitivity, and assertiveness in Confucian Asian, South Asian, and Sub-Saharan contexts compared with Germanic Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Latin Europe contexts. Limitations of the study as well as implications for development and use of personality assessments globally in high stakes contexts are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The nurses' occupational stress components and outcomes, findings from an integrative review.

AimTo identify, evaluate and summarize the components, factors and outcomes of nurses’ occupational stress published between 2009–2019.DesignIntegrative literature review.MethodsA literature search was conducted on PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO databases for articles published in English, between 2009–2019.ResultsThe review included 132 studies. Most studies were conducted in the Confucian Asia and Anglo countries, but a growing number of studies were done in other countries. Almost all studies used a quantitative design, and changes in the use of scales indicated an increasing attention to career‐related components. Factors were categorized into sociodemographic, work environment and personal resources. Sociodemographic factors were inconsistent across countries. Outcomes were categorized into health status, capability, affective and behavioural responses to work, and organizational performance with generally consistent results. Model validation studies showed the non‐linear or non‐direct associations between stress and outcomes.

Links between well-being and communication with friends and family in one’s country of origin amongst migrants in Australia

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between migrants’ psychological well-being and the extent to which they keep in touch with people in their country of origin. Design/methodology/approach An online survey completed by 1,328 Australian migrants from 4 cultural groups (Anglo, Southern Asian, Confucian Asian and other European) assessed 2 facets of well-being, namely, flourishing and psychological distress and the use of 3 modes of online communication, namely, social media, messaging services and phone/video services. Findings Overall, keeping in touch with family and friends in their country of origin was associated with more flourishing and less distress amongst migrants. Nonetheless, the preferred modes of communication and how those usages relate with well-being varied considerably across cultural groups. In the Anglo group, communicating through messaging and phone/video services was associated with lower distress and communicating in all modes was associated with higher flourishing. Furthermore, the latter link was accounted for by having a meaningful conversation. Originality/value These findings suggest that the psychological well-being of migrant populations may be supported by an understanding of the distinct roles played by specific communication modes that are used to stay in touch with family and friends back home.