Confucian Countries Research Articles

Morality through the lens of Confucian heritage countries: collective self variations and moral worldviews.

The issue of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) samples dominating research has been ongoing for decades, and now the emerging trend is to turn to theoretical perspectives from the Majority World. Adopting Western-centric methods based on reductionism can overlook important details and differences between similar cultures, particularly in East Asian cultures, where the Confucian values of relational harmony take many forms. We discuss a novel theoretical perspective on moral constitutions in Confucian heritage cultures. Our central tenet is that divergent moral concepts and ideals are present in Confucian cultures because each culture emphasizes a specific pillar and the self is situated differently in the social relationships that define the scope of interpersonal moral obligations. We consider three Confucian countries: China, Japan, and South Korea as examples. Despite geographical proximity and conventional categorization in cultural psychology, each Confucian country manifests distinct patterns of the self, moral ideals, and behavior in socio-moral contexts. To understand how and why moral worldviews vary within a region, we need to examine how the self in socio-cultural contexts differs and guides interpersonal norms and behaviors across sociocultural contexts. We conclude this paper by offering methodological recommendations for including indigenous moral concepts outside the WEIRD context.

근세일본의 교호(享保1716-1736년)시기에서의 상인학교의 등장

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the emergence of merchant schools and the merchant spirit of the samurai society in Kyoho period (1716∼1736) of the Edo Shogunate.
 Research design, data, and methodology: The research direction of this study was determined through previous research, and a comparison was made between Kaitokudo(懐徳堂), a government-run merchant school, and Singakugosha(心学講舎), a private merchant school, through their establishment backgrounds.
 Results: Kaitokudo was founded in Japan’s early modern society by the power of merchants, and the merchant school was sanctioned by the shogunate and emerged as a government institution, which is probably one of the most important schools in the world. This is a rare phenomenon, and is seen as a result of the intellectual equalization of merchants and samurai. Meanwhile, Shingaku Kosha, a private merchant school, was founded by Ishida Baigan(石田梅岩). Ishida Baigan asserted the legitimacy of merchants and commerce, which had been looked down upon in the past, instilled pride in merchants, elevated them to the philosophy of “merchant’s ways,” and led them to Sekimon Shingaku. It expanded and became the spiritual origin of Japanese capitalism.
 Implications: If we think about it from the standpoint of South Korea, which is also a Confucian country, we can see that it justified the “merchant’s profession and the profits earned by merchants,” which were considered debased until the 18th century, and equated (merchant’s) profits with (samurai’s) offerings. This led to the equalization of the duties of merchants and samurai (Korea: 兩班), which was a revolutionary idea at the time, and was popular in Japan during the Kyoho(亨保)period (1716-1736). It must be said that this was a major event, and a world historical event in the Asian world, something that had never been seen before in Europe, Korea, or China.

Who is my family?: A comparative study of the family boundary in East Asia

AbstractMost Asian countries are regarded as Confucian countries although each has its own historical and cultural background. Little is known about how people in different Asian countries perceive their family boundaries. This study is an attempt to compare the perception of the family in China, Japan, and Korea. We examined the family perception and found substantial differences among the three. Chinese people showed the widest and paternally extended perception of family. Data from people in Korea nearly matched data from China, but family perception developed bilaterally. People in Japan, however, perceived only blood‐tied, intimate relations as family members. In addition, the perception of the family was not substantially different between the genders in Japan and China, but in South Korea, men perceived family boundaries more widely than women, implying that women have a greater family burden than men in Korea. Considering the heterogeneity in family perceptions in these countries, this paper tries to explain how social institutions interact with individuals and impact the perception of family. Finally, this paper concludes that it is inappropriate to tie the three East Asian countries as ‘Confucian civilizations’ in terms of family perception.

Confucianism and Gender Ratios of Suicide in the World: A WHO Data-Based Study.

This study explores how Confucianism affects suicide rates by gender. Data for the study come from the World Health Organization document "Suicide Worldwide in 2019", which provides frequency and gender ratios for suicide rates in 183 member countries. One-way ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis were used to examine potential differences in suicide rates and male to female ratio of suicides. Independent variables include region, income level, culture, and Confucian values that may be related to suicide. Suicide rates for Confucian countries do not show significant differences from European countries. However, these countries have lower suicide gender ratios.

On the Buddhist Statues Excavated from Hoeamsa-ji in Yangju

Hoeamsa Temple in Yangju province was one of the most important Buddhist temples in the early days of the Joseon dynasty from the late Koryo, which was the place dwelled by Jigong(指空), Naong(懶翁), and Muhak(無學). Even in the early Joseon Dynasty, Hoeamsa Temple served as a royal temple. Yi Saek witnessed the seven Buddha statues of 15-chuck in height and the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara image of 10-chuck in Hoeamsa and recorded the marvelous features of the temple in his book, Sujo-gi. However, none of these statues remain in modern days, and only fragments of the small stone Buddha statues and other Buddhist deity sculptures have been excavated at Hoeamsa-ji Temple site. It is difficult to ascertain the substance of the Buddhist sculptures of Hoeamsa temple with only a few fragments of small stone statues. From the historical records and the analysis of styles in those fragments, compared with other sculptures in the early Joseon dynasty, we can assume that Prince Hyoryeong supported these stone Buddha images. Since the large Buddha statues that Yi mentioned above were already enshrined in the main building of Hoeamsa Temple, Prince Hyoryeong would have been focused on the construction of stupas or making tiles for the renovation of shrines for the Buddha except for the large Buddha statue. Instead, he would have sponsored the artisans to sculpt small stone Buddhas and bring them to buildings or shrines other than Bokwangjeon, the main hall.<br/>Previous research estimated that the materials for those small stone Buddha images were either tuff or sandstone. There are several differences in rock quality, stone particles, color, and homogeneity compared to actual rocks. Unlike the general stone Buddha statues in Korea using granite, the Buddha statues excavated from the Hoeamsa Temple are bright yellowish-white. And the rocks are so fine in quality to make the particles indistinguishable. When we see those pieces of Buddha statues in bare eyes, it looks like kaolin stone. It is necessary to analyze the materials of these stone sculptures and confirm the rock composition or materials through more precise scientific verification. Despite the prestige of the Hoeamsa Temple in the period, the absence of a large Buddha statue is unfortunate. Even if Hoeamsa Temple served as a royal temple, jaboksa, in the early Joseon Dynasty, the hostility of the Confucian scholars was enormous. The absence of the Buddha statues and the thorough destruction of the buildings in Hoeamsa proves that Joseon finally became a Confucian country.

Chronic Diseases and Medical Professionalism

Attention to medical professionalism has recently increased in S. Korea. The concept of the word ‘professionalism’ can be difficult to translate into Korean. Professionalism for individual doctors is not difficult to explain, but professionalism of organizations or collective dimension of professionalism are difficult to conceptualize in Korean. This might be due to the different trajectory of professional history of S. Korea from western countries. The collective dimension of medical professionalism is artificially divided into three main areas: professional ethics, clinical autonomy, and self-regulation. The concept of self-regulation is unfamiliar not only to Korea, but also to other Confucian countries such as China and Japan, where all regulatory matters are the responsibility of government entities. Medical professional societies do not have the authority to conduct self-regulation. Contemporarily, doctors organizations are classified according to regulatory or trading function. Medical associations usually are categorized as a trade association or trade union, while the medical council is the medical regulatory authority that guides doctors and their practice. However, patient care is a priority regardless of classification. An organization centered on diabetes mellitus could be classified as a doctors' organization. Its role must be given to guide the best practice, also to prevent the bad practice for the management of diabetes mellitus based on the principle of self-regulation. To achieve this goal as a professional organization, members must be educated to understand the collective dimension of the medical professionalism. Keywords: Diabetes; Professionalism; Regulatory authority; Self-regulation; Trade association

A New Examination On "Abridgment Of Song Dynasty History"

이 논문은 편자와 편간연대 미상의 고서 『宋朝史詳節』에 대한 고증을 시도하였다. 북송 태조부터 남송 말제까지 宋朝의 주요 史事와 사론을 수록한 편년체 형식의 이 사서는 국내 다수의 대학 도서관과 해외 기관에 소장된 활자본 및 필사본으로 현전하고 있다. 필자는 일제강점기 조선총독부통역관 겸 서지학자였던 마에마 교사쿠(前間恭作, 1868~1942)의 『古鮮冊譜』 (1944)로부터 중요한 단서를 발견할 수 있었다. 즉, 『宋朝史詳節』은 “正祖 가 동궁에 있을 때 편찬한 『송사촬요』의 저본이 된 초고본”이라는 해제 내용이다. 정조는 즉위 이전 동궁에 있을 때부터 『宋史』를 탐독하며, 이를 조선의 입장에서 재차 개찬하려는 뜻을 여러 차례 밝힌 바 있다. 그는 기전체사서인 『宋史』의 오류를 수정하고 압축하고자 『宋史筌』을 편찬했는데, 그과정에서 ‘詳節’과 ‘撮要’의 작업을 차례로 진행했다. 정조가 “나는 일찍이宋朝의 風氣와 人物이 우리 왕조와 서로 유사하여 ‘감계’로 삼기에 다른역사보다 宋史가 더욱 절실하다고 말하였다. 이 때문에 正史를 刪定하여『宋史筌』이 나왔고, 편년체 사서를 節略하여 『宋史撮要』가 나온 것이다” 라고 밝힌 것은 그 편찬의 취지와 과정을 단적으로 보여준다. 본고는 위와 같은 논거를 중심으로 『宋朝史詳節』에 대한 새로운 고증과해제를 시도하였다. 이를 위해 먼저, 현전하는 판본의 현황과 특징을 살펴보고, 규장각의 장서목록과 대조하였다. 그리고 『日省錄』에서 발견된 새로운 기록을 통해 『宋朝史詳節』의 정확한 편찬 시점을 고증하고, 『宋史撮要』 와의 비교를 통해 이 사서가 갖고 있는 체재와 구성의 특징을 논술하였다. 끝으로 이 사서의 편찬 취지와 목적을 밝힘으로써 종전 解題의 결함을 보완해 보도록 하겠다.“Abridgment of Song Dynasty History”(宋朝史詳節), whose author and publishing time is unknown, is kept in a number of domestic university libraries, including Seoul National University s Kyujanggak and the National Library of Korea. and it s metal prints are also on display at the National Library of China, the East Asia Library of Columbia University in the U.S. and the National Institute of Language and Culture in France. According to “Bibliography on books of ancient Joseon”(古鮮冊譜) written by a Japanese interpreter of Korean and bibliographer, Maema Kyosaku(1868~1942) under the colonial administration of imperial Japan, it was a draft version of “Summary Of Song Dynasty History”(宋史撮要) which was compiled by King Jeongjo when he was in the palace. This book chronicles the main facts from the founding to the end of the Song Dynasty(960~1276), and adds to some facts from Yao Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. Also, one of the characteristics of the book s contents is that it contains a large number of historical reviews written by renowned Confucian scholars in the Song Dynasty and thereafter. Before his ascension to the throne, King Jeong-jo devoted himself to studying the history of the Song Dynasty in China. The Song Dynasty was founded based on Confucian ideas, and the ideology of Confucianism dominated almost all areas, including politics, society, culture and education. Jeong-jo considered the factors of success and failure shown by Confucian politics in the Song Dynasty in the course of history, and thought that Joseon, a Confucian country, could provide an important direction and indicator of reality. This history book is not just a blind follower of the Republic of China, but rather a review of the history of Confucian politics from an independent point of view, and compiled to set important lessons and indicators of reality.

Confucianism, growth and democracy

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of Confucianism on growth under different political regimes.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical specification adopts a two-regime panel threshold model proposed by Hansen (1999) to endogenously divide our country sample into two-regime-types – autocracy and democracy – according to a country's democratic stock or experiences.FindingsThe results show that the effect of Confucianism on growth exhibits an asymmetrical pattern depending on the status of a country's political democracy. Only when a moderate level of freedom has already been attained can Confucianism have a positive effect on growth. Conversely, for autocracies whose democratic institutions cannot pass a certain threshold, Confucianism has a very limited effect in terms of changing economic activity.Research limitations/implicationsIf the data with different sample years and/or different sample countries are used, the research results may lack generalizability. Further tests of the two-regime model with different data sizes are encouraged.Originality/valueThe authors use the World Values Survey (WVS) map to identify the countries under the influence of Confucianism. The authors emphasize that focusing only on political geography may overlook the information from the spread of cultural traits that accompanied the migration of people. So, based on the Confucian countries suggested by the WVS and the migration matrix of Putterman and Weil (2010), an immigration-based Confucianism variable was constructed. To accommodate different effects of Confucianism on growth in different phases of political development, the empirical specification adopts an asymmetrical pattern to investigate the impact of Confucianism on economic performance.

Does Confucian management exist in Chinese companies? An examination of the intersection between cultural influence and business practice in China

ABSTRACT There is a view that China is a Confucian country and that its businesses adopt these values to underpin their business models and practices. In this article, a case is made that China is not a Confucian country, even though there are strands of Confucianism evident in society. Although some enterprises in China adopt Confucian approaches to management, this cannot be generalized to all businesses. We cannot, therefore, conclude that Confucian management has emerged as the prevailing feature of Chinese businesses.

Values and democracy in East Asia and Europe: a comparison

This article deals with values and democracy in East Asia and Europe, comparing them. Based on the data collected by the WVS, we address the following questions: To what extent does cultural-religious background, such as Confucianism in the case of East Asia, affect the direction of value change? Is this influence even stronger than structural settings? Is there a link between value change, ethic-religious background, and democracy? We clearly distinguish between the value change that occurred in the ‘first’ or ‘simple’ modernity, and that during the ‘second’ modernity. According to Western value change discourse, the ‘first’ modernity witnessed a value change from traditional-religious to secular-rational values, but this did not necessarily lead to democracy. For the ‘second’ modernity, a shift from material to post-materialist values and an intensifying of the demand for self-expression values was predicted. Triggered by rising education levels, this leads to a rising demand for democracy. The researches of the WVSs also found a paradox: that people in authoritarian nations also tended to support liberal democracy, which is why it has been argued that it is more important to research support for authoritarian notions of democracy. Our analysis shows that the Confucian countries rank high concerning the level of secular-rational values. Concerning self-expression values, in contrast, these countries show only low change levels. Therefore, democracy finds relatively low levels of support among these countries. Specifically, in Japan, where education levels are as high as in Germany, the support for liberal notions of democracy was comparatively low, what can be called the `second paradox’. Thus, the expectations of Western value change discourse, which predicts a general shift to more democracy in the ‘second’ modernity, are unfulfilled. Overall, our analysis revealed that the ethic-religious background plays a key role in value change and seems to be as influential as structural setting.

Culturally derived leadership qualities: Dispositional resilience among societies

An investigation of dispositional resilience in cultures and its relation to leader effectiveness is presented with an introduction on the study’s research problem, research question, dispositional resilience theory, differing dimensions of cultural and society, theoretical foundations of the variables through a definition of terms, literature review, a discussion of research methods and instruments, future analysis implications, and the author’s conclusions. The research purpose examines the levels of dispositional resilience characteristics in various cultures and how those characteristics affect leader effectiveness. Data analysis is conducted following a review of four studies with three studies having investigated the relationship of dispositional resilience on practitioner performance and stress levels. These studies reveal the Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS) as a valid and reliable instrument for measuring individual dispositional resilience (hardiness and resilience) and the GLOBE Study as valid and reliable frameworks for researching different cultures. Research, using One-Way ANOVA technique, determined a statistically significant difference of Confucian country cluster students compared with Latin American and Latin European country cluster students. Implications for future research are discussed.

Identifying the Virtuous Circle of Humanity Education and Post-Graduate Employment: Evidence from a Confucian Country

As education for sustainable development receives continuing attention, universities provide regular courses, education programs, and individual activities on human rights, diversity, and corporate responsibilities. This study conducts an empirical analysis of a virtuous circle between experience in extracurricular programs as part of humanity education and performance in the labor market based on Education–Career matched data of 15,180 students who graduated from one of the Confucian-based universities between 2008 and 2015. The analysis found that employment is positively affected by not only grades but also extracurricular activities related to humanities, such as completion of an education and practice course on etiquette and social service activities. These findings are significant in verifying that the level of refinement of university students and their participation in social volunteering can have positive effects on employment, thereby leading to the sustainability of a virtuous circle between education and social and economic activities. Therefore, universities should formulate an educational system that integrates expertise, human growth, equality, and human rights, and firms should establish a specific employment manual to identify the invisible characteristics of job seekers to facilitate the sustainability of a virtuous circle between education and social and economic activities.

The Effects of Problem-Based-Learning on the Academic Achievements of Medical Students in One Japanese Medical School, Over a Twenty-Year Period

PurposeThis investigation considered the cognitive outcomes, expressed by the academic achievement scores in basic and clinical sciences and the National Licensing Examination results of medical undergraduates. MethodCognitive outcomes were compared using the academic achievement scores in basic and clinical science and the National Medical Licensing Examination pass rates, during the two periods pre- and post-PBL. ResultsThe scores, were significantly higher post-PBL. Scores in clinical science were significantly higher in both male and female students post-PBL. Before PBL, the scores for female students were higher, whereas no difference between males and females was observed post-PBL. DiscussionThe results suggest that PBL is equal or superior to the traditional methods of developing cognitive ability. A superior pace of knowledge acquisition by male students after PBL was observed. This supports the hypothesis that PBL is a suitable education model for Confucian countries in place of predominantly classical teacher-centred education.

Depression and life satisfaction among European and Confucian adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to compare adolescents from Europe and Confucian Asia on measures of psychological constructs that reflect either maladjustment or positive outlook on life. Empirical findings are reported based on N = 7,167 secondary school students (15 years old) from Confucian Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan) and from Europe (Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Serbia, and Latvia with 2 nationalities-Latvian and Russian). Participants' responses were used to assess several aspects of personality and psychopathology, in addition to well-being, social attitudes, and parental styles. Exploratory factor analysis of these measures produced 4 factors: Depression, Life Satisfaction, Toughness and Modesty. Adolescents from Confucian countries show higher levels of Depression and lower levels of Life Satisfaction in comparison to their European counterparts. The most potent influences on Depression and Life Satisfaction were found to be Toughness and Parental Warmth variables, both of which are, in turn, linked to differences between regions/cultures.

Emerging philanthropy markets

Entrepreneurs are not the only ones to salivate at the call of emerging markets. Major nonprofit organizations that raise money in high‐income Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries for redistribution in developing countries are also looking for new sources of funds. Some of the countries that benefited from private philanthropy not too long ago are now in a position to help. The contribution of this paper is two‐prong. First, it introduces a robust market screening methodology to determine countries' capacities to give on the basis of macroeconomic and infrastructure indicators. Second, it identifies cross‐cultural predictors for charitable donations taken from the World Value Survey. A logistic regression calibrated on already successful fundraising operation scores countries on their propensity for private philanthropy. Research findings receive theoretical support from Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Top countries for private philanthropy are of Protestant tradition and are at the origin of capitalism, as we know it today. Confucian countries that share a similar ethic and have opted for capitalist economies are first class candidates for private philanthropy.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How General Is Trust in “Most People”? Solving the Radius of Trust Problem

Generalized trust has become a paramount topic throughout the social sciences, in its own right and as the key civic component of social capital. To date, cross-national research relies on the standard question: “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?” Yet the radius problem—that is, how wide a circle of others respondents imagine as “most people”—makes comparisons between individuals and countries problematic. Until now, much about the radius problem has been speculation, but data for 51 countries from the latest World Values Survey make it possible to estimate how wide the trust radius actually is. We do this by relating responses to the standard trust question to a new battery of items that measures in-group and out-group trust. In 41 out of 51 countries, “most people” in the standard question predominantly connotes out-groups. To this extent, it is a valid measure of general trust in others. Nevertheless, the radius of “most people” varies considerably across countries; it is substantially narrower in Confucian countries and wider in wealthy countries. Some country rankings on trust thus change dramatically when the standard question is replaced by a radius-adjusted trust score. In cross-country regressions, the radius of trust matters for civic attitudes and behaviors because the assumed civic nature of trust depends on a wide radius.

Charismatic leadership and self‐leadership

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose that self‐leadership has a complementary relationship with charismatic leadership, thus not substituting for the influence of charismatic leadership in the contexts of internalization and identification.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 991 employees of 20 organizations. The research hypotheses were tested using regression analysis.FindingsThe results demonstrated that many self‐leadership skills acted as supplement/enhancer of charismatic leadership behaviors, except for self‐talk. The authors' interpretation was that self‐talk had a very different functional quality from the other self‐leadership skills, such as visualizing successful performance and evaluating beliefs and assumptions.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors recommend that the self‐talk scale should be modified by specifying a constructive content to make it compatible with the other self‐leadership subscales. Finally, more research should be devoted to determining whether leaders' unconventional behavior becomes dysfunctional in the presence of employees' self‐leadership, especially in Confucian countries that place emphasis on tradition and harmony.Practical implicationsThe neutralizing effects of self‐talk point to the fact that past bad experience counts. Thus, the authors suggest that management takes responsibility for explaining change failure and seeking employees' feedback to prevent employees from developing negative self‐talk.Originality/valueBased on self‐concept theory, the paper parallels self‐leadership to charismatic leadership in terms of their influence on the individual's value and identity and proposes and tests for a complementary relationship between both leadership capabilities.

On the elusive nature of high Chinese achievement

It is argued that Stankov's proposal to view unforgivingness as underlying the combination of high educational achievement, anxiety, and self-doubt is an original way of summarizing Confucian score patterns. However, it is argued that the proposal cannot explain why reading scores in Confucian countries are not higher than in other countries and that an empirical study to test the proposal is difficult to conduct as it would require the involvement of many different countries.

Work engagement among hotel managers in Beijing, China: potential antecedents and consequences

PurposeThis paper aims to examine potential antecedents and consequences of work engagement in a sample of male and female hotel managers employed in Beijing, China.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 309 respondents, a 90 percent response rate, using anonymously completed questionnaires. Engagement was assessed by three scales developed by Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez‐Roma, and Bakker: vigor, dedication and absorption. Antecedents included personal demographic and work situation characteristics; consequences included measures of work satisfaction and psychological wellbeing.FindingsThe following results were observed. First, organizational level and organizational tenure were found to predict all three engagement measures but in opposite ways. Second, engagement, particularly dedication, predicted various work outcomes (e.g. job satisfaction, intent to quit). Third, engagement, particularly dedication, positively predicted various psychological wellbeing outcomes but less strongly than these predicted work outcomes. Surprisingly, absorption was related to some of these outcomes but in the opposite way.Research limitations/implicationsQuestions of causality cannot be addressed since data were collected at only one point in time. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine the effects of work life experiences on engagement.Practical implicationsOrganizations can increase levels of work engagement by creating supportive work experiences (e.g. control, rewards and recognition) consistent with effective human resource management practices. But caution must be exercised before employing North American practices in the Chinese context.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the understanding of work engagement among managers in a large Confucian country in transition to a market economy.

Ethical Values of IT Professionals in Chinese Cultural Societies

IntroductionDue to the fact that MIS professionals control the information systems (IS) and core capability data of a company as well as its critical downstream, upstream, and customer data, their role in modern organizations has become increasingly important. For this reason, a large number of companies require CMMI and BS7799 certification to prevent destruction of company IS, data, and customer information. The concept of information sharing runs counter to that of complete confidentiality and partial accessibility. For this reason, the principle of information ethics always contravenes the important value of free accessible information (Weiss, 1990; Martin, 2001; Davison et al., 2006).Ethics refers to the values, duty, responsibility, and obligation of people to manifest good conduct, and to have the capacity to direct professional conduct in a special context. However, these abstract values and habits vary enormously, the result of the moral experience of culture, politics, and religion. For this reason, professionals should become self-conscious, ethical values being the necessary and critical element and prerequisite in that process (Shapiro, 1994; Mele et al., 2006). In fact, the social responsibility of the e-era in the information society enterprise must protect an individual from being violated by IT in each system and culture. The ethical issue derived from IT should be conducted relative to policy or strategy (Martin, 2001).The practices derived from ethical values have been in existence for many years in Western society, and have been internalized in employees' beliefs, allowing those values to become the norm of organizations. IS is a product embedded in Anglo-American culture and the ethical issue is part of the life of the MIS professional and user. In view of this, the way in which such professionals perceive ethical values can influence their attitudes and conduct and have positive consequences. Due to the fact that human emotion leads to unethical conduct, and due also to the fact that the ethical framework is relative to the particular social context in which it is set, the problem of ethics is derived from specific temporal and cultural contexts (Rhodes, 1986). Culture clearly influences the issue of ethics and intellectual property protection is very much rooted in the Western cultural values of liberalism and individual rights (Steidlmeier, 1993; Milberg et al., 1995; Hused, 2001; Shore et al., 2001; Mele et al., 2006; Moore & Chang, 2006; Haines & Leonard, 2007).In an individualist culture, equity is preferred over equality, while in a collectivist culture, equity is preferred in dealing with out-groups only, and equality is preferred in dealing with the in-group (Triandis, 1994a, 1994b). Glass and Wood (1996) found that equity theory was helpful in explaining decisions made by individuals in the U.S. to share illegal copies of software. Software piracy is viewed as an exchange involving an evaluation of the outcomes compared with the inputs of the exchange. In a collectivist culture, there is a greater emphasis on sharing within the in-group (Hofstede, 1997; Swinyard et al., 1990) and thus one would expect that software would also be the subject of such sharing, without the exchange calculus of a more individualistic society.Moreover, Vitell et al. (1993) argued that people from high-uncertaintyavoidance cultures are less likely to perceive the moral issue involved in a given business practice. Rules are usually quite rigid and thus not observed in practice. It is less likely that they will recognize an issue as ethical in the absence of formal rules and laws (Vitell et al., 1993). Donaldson (1996) predicts that Confucian countries will experience higher levels of software piracy because of the ethical norm that stresses that individuals should share what they create with society. At the same time, the Western focus contrasts sharply with the Asian emphasis on social harmony and cooperation (Swinyard et al. …