Zhongyong Thinking Research Articles

Zhong-Yong Thinking and Employees’ Behaviour at the Workplace: Setting a Research Agenda

As the essence of traditional Chinese culture, Zhong-Yong is closely related to the psychology, behaviour, and life of Chinese people. Due to the advent of indigenous psychological research, several studies have explored Zhong-Yong thinking (ZYT) in recent decades, but such research is still in its infancy. Although some scholars have affirmed that the influence of ZYT on the Chinese people, the systematic synthesis of the impact of Zhong-Yong thinking on employee’s behaviour at the workplace is limited. Based on the established literature, this study offers a systematic review of 22 selected articles in the field by conducting a bibliometric analysis to categorise the three main clusters of innovative behaviour, voice behaviour, and employee performance. The findings of this study enable future researchers to gain a deeper understanding and enrich the field by offering a wide range of perspectives on the direction of research. Theoretical and practical implications for Asian business context are provided.

Parenting Style and Emotional Distress Among Chinese College Students: A Potential Mediating Role of the Zhongyong Thinking Style.

Previous studies suggested that parenting style was associated with college student’s emotional distress. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of this relation in Chinese culture. The present study investigated the associations between parenting style and college student’s emotional distress (depression and anxiety symptoms), examined the mediating effects of Confucian personality-Zhongyong thinking, and explored whether gender, age, and socioeconomic status (SES) moderated the direct and/or indirect effects of parenting style on emotional distress. Results from a large representative sample of Chinese college students (n = 3943) indicated that (a) parental rejection and overprotection was positively and mildly associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms and negatively and mildly related to Zhongyong thinking. Parental warmth significantly correlated with the three variables in the opposite direction; Zhongyong thinking correlated negatively and moderately with depression, and mildly with anxiety; (b) Zhongyong thinking partially mediated the associations of parental rejection and warmth with emotional distress. Specifically, to the extent that students perceived less rejection and more warmth, they were more likely to develop Zhongyong thinking associated with decreased emotional distress; (c) gender and SES moderated the association between parenting style and Zhongyong thinking. Specifically, for students with low SES, the negative relationship between parental overprotection and Zhongyong thinking was stronger; for males and high SES students, the positive link between parental warmth and Zhongyong thinking were stronger. Results highlight the importance of researching potential effects of college student’s Zhongyong thinking within the family system in Chinese culture.

Honesty-Humility and dispositional awe in Confucian culture: The mediating role of Zhong-Yong thinking style

Dispositional awe refers to the tendency or trait of awe that is a universal and complex human experience. However, the factors influencing this awe have rarely been addressed. For the first time, the current study explores the relationship between Honesty-Humility (H-H) and dispositional awe and the mediating role of a Zhong-Yong thinking style (ZY) in Confucian culture. A large sample of 2377 Chinese undergraduates ranging from 18 to 26 years old (mean: 20.7 years, SD = 1.7) was recruited via a cluster sampling. As predicted, H-H was positively correlated with dispositional awe, and this relationship was mediated by ZY. Though H-H was not significantly and directly correlated with dispositional awe in males, multiple-group structural equation modeling supported gender invariance in its direct and mediating effects. The implication of this study has been discussed.

Effect of Zhongyong thinking in the relationship of crystallized intelligence and wisdom

Although scholars take the view that intelligence is a necessary condition for wisdom, intelligent people tend to prioritize and focus on their own immediate goals and interests, and often act unwisely. In this study we focused on the moderating effect of Zhongyong thinking in the relationship between crystallized intelligence and wisdom. Zhongyong thinking is a Confucius interpersonal style, the use of which can help intelligent people to think of others as well as themselves. Participants in our study were 103 students at a Chinese college, who completed all measures in a laboratory setting. Results show there was both a significant positive relationship between Zhongyong thinking and wisdom, and a moderating effect of Zhongyong thinking in the relationship between crystallized intelligence and wisdom. These findings provide new insight into the effect of Zhongyong thinking on the intelligence–wisdom behavior transformation process.

The effect of Zhong-yong thinking to employee survival ability: taking Chinese employees as an example

PurposeZhong-yong thinking is a code of conduct of the Chinese people. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship among Zhong-yong thinking, social capital, knowledge sharing behavior, and employee survival ability.Design/methodology/approachZhong-yong thinking including multi-thinking, integration and harmony, taking a case study of private enterprise in Guangxi of China. Based on the literature, the establishment of the theoretical model and hierarchical regression analysis are explored.FindingsThe multi-thinking, integration and harmony of Zhong-yong thinking have a significant positive effect on social capital and employee survival ability. In addition, employee survival ability is positively affected by social capital. Moreover, knowledge sharing behavior has a positive moderating between the multi-thinking dimension of Zhong-yong thinking and social capital, and the remaining dimensions have no moderating effect. Knowledge sharing behavior has no moderating effect on the relationship between social capital and employee survival ability.Practical implicationsZhong-yong thinking and social capital are actively affecting employee survival ability. Therefore, companies need to work harder to improve their employees' Zhong-yong thinking and social capital.Originality/valueThe paper extends Zhong-yong thinking, social capital and employee survival ability literature to fill gaps in how China people require to both access employee survival ability. The policy value of the work is in suggesting ways to facilitate employee survival ability of China.

How Does Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Influence Innovation Behavior? Exploring the Mechanism of Job Satisfaction and Zhongyong Thinking.

Innovation behavior for entrepreneurship is known as a driving force to obtain competitive advantages. As a key quality for entrepreneurial success, the mechanism of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) acting on innovation behavior needs further verification, which has led to the primary objective of this paper via applying the Goal Self-Concordance Theory, as well as to further building a theoretical model. Two hundred forty-nine samples of Chinese entrepreneurs have been empirically analyzed in this study, contributing to the following findings. Firstly, ESE has significantly positive effects on entrepreneurial innovation behavior. Secondly, job satisfaction plays a mediating role between ESE and innovation behavior. Thirdly, Zhongyong thinking moderates the relationship between ESE and job satisfaction. The research results might deliver great value in cultivating ESE, encouraging positive entrepreneurial attitude, enhancing job satisfaction, and ultimately inspiring innovation behaviors.

Effectiveness of Zhong-Yong thinking based dialectical behavior therapy group skills training versus supportive group therapy for lowering suicidal risks in Chinese young adults: A randomized controlled trial with a 6-month follow-up.

BackgroundDialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a first‐line treatment for the prevention of suicide. Zhong‐Yong thinking could be viewed as a Chinese way of dialectical thinking, has long been a culturally dictating thinking style in China. To enhance cultural adaptability, we integrated Zhong‐Yong thinking into DBT group skills training and examined its efficacy in suicidal prevention compared with a supportive group therapy and a wait‐list group in high‐risk suicidal Chinese college students.MethodsA total of 97 suicidal participants were randomized to either Zhong‐Yong thinking based DBT group skills training (DBTZYT, n = 33), or supportive group therapy (SGT; n = 32), or wait‐list group (WL; n = 32). DBTZYT was a 12‐week program based on Zhong‐Yong thinking instead of dialectical thinking, coaching participants mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Supportive group therapy was a 12‐week program aiming at improving interpersonal effectiveness and emotion regulation skills. Outcome measures were assessed at pre‐ and post‐treatment and 6‐month follow‐up.ResultsAt post‐treatment measures, the levels of suicidal ideation, hopelessness, psychache symptoms, and general psychopathology had significantly decreased in both intervention groups; at the 6‐month follow‐up measures, the intervention effects were better maintained in the DBTZYT group rather than in the SGT group. Specifically, DBTZYT was more effective in relieving participants’ long‐term obsessive‐compulsive, anxiety, hostility, phobic, psychotic, and additional symptoms.ConclusionsZhong‐Yong thinking not only could integrate with DBT skills training in Chinese young adult population, but also has special strength in enhancing DBT’s efficacy.

The Effects of Zhongyong Thinking Priming on Creative Problem‐Solving

AbstractZhongyong thinking is a common approach adopted by Chinese people to solve problems encountered in life and work. Based on the four modes of zhongyong thinking proposed by Pang (Social Sciences in China, 1, 1980, 75), this study chooses the “neither A nor B” form, which represents the “mean” (中) characteristics of zhongyong thinking, called eclectic thinking, and the “both A and B” form, which reflects the “harmony” (和) feature, called integrated thinking. This study primed eclectic thinking and integrated thinking, respectively, through self‐compiled problem situations, and 150 college students and postgraduates students were the participants. Experiment 1 explored the role of the priming of zhongyong thinking in three classic creative thinking tasks: a divergent thinking test, remote association test, and insight problem‐solving test. Experiment 2 further examined the effect of priming of zhongyong thinking on “market investment problems” with higher ecological validity. The findings show that priming integrated thinking can improve remote associates test performance and promote creative solutions to market investment problems, but there is no significant impact on the scores of divergent thinking test and insight problem‐solving; priming eclectic thinking has no significant impact on any of the subsequent creative tasks. This study shows that integrated thinking primes cognitive processing related to information association and information integration, promoting subsequent creative tasks.

How and when entrepreneurs’ passion lead to firms’ radical innovation: moderated mediation model

ABSTRACTThe extant literature affirms that passion is important for entrepreneurs’ success. However, the related studies have failed to explain how and when entrepreneurial passion (EP) affects firms’ radical innovation (RI). The current study explores the connections between EP and firms’ RI and mediation of exploratory learning (EL) in this relationship. Moreover, we investigate the moderating role of the Zhong–Yong thinking (ZYT) of Chinese entrepreneurs. Findings from 310 new Chinese enterprises demonstrate that EP directly influences RI and indirectly through EL. ZYT of entrepreneurs can likewise reinforce the connection between their EP and RI via EL. Lastly, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Development of Japanese Zhongyong Thinking Style Questionnaire and evaluation of its validity and reliability

Development of Japanese Zhongyong Thinking Style Questionnaire and evaluation of its validity and reliability

Power Distance Orientation, and LMX Quality on Workplace Voice in China

Employee voice behavior has been recognized as beneficial to organization. Moreover, in the ever-changing competitive business environment, the willingness of employees to offer useful information and ideas plays a critical role to business innovation and process improvement. However, employee voice is likely to involve a conflicting decision-making process since speaking up may put individual at risk while beneficial for organizational improvement. Therefore, voice research has attended much to the issue of how to facilitate employees to engage in workplace voice. Recently, contextual and cultural factors are found to affect significantly an employee’s beliefs about whether speaking up will be safe. From the social and cognitive perspective, these negative beliefs on voice are not easily eliminated due to the long-term experiences and socialization. Considering the tremendous influence of cultural and social factors on management, the voice phenomenon also need to reflect the differences between employees from various cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, the research domain of organizational studies is becoming more international and the country like China has been still undergoing profound transitions in institutional rules, values, and social norms. Even though achieving significant economic development, Chinese traditional value system as well as the socialist legacy present an institutional environment that is much different from what a typical Western organization would encounter. It is, therefore, unclear whether voice behavior researches done in the West have the similar effect on the organization in China Corporate culture grows out of the values held by organizational members which are shaped by national culture and societal ideology. Since the traditional Chinese culture stemming from Confucianism has been emphasizing hierarchical or status differences as well as harmonious interpersonal relationships, voice behavior is likely to be perceived as inappropriate and insecure. In countries like China with strong self-protective motives and a hierarchical culture along with the communist-influenced ideology, people tend to refrain from their voice behavior because of various concerns and fears related to psychological safety, such as not wanting to be viewed as challenging authority or avoiding embarrassing others. The main interest of this study is to investigate how Chinese traditional cultural values are related to employees’ concerns about voice behavior. As culturally dictated thinking style rooted in Confucian philosophy, Zhong-Yong, or ‘middle-way’ thinking emphasizes “equilibrium” and “harmony” as the rule of thumb to deal with and get along with other people. Power distance is also an important theoretical factor in terms of cultural values. As many Asian countries have been found to show high power distance culture, Chinese people especially influenced by Confucianism, greatly value the importance of the group and hierarchical relationships within an organization. Along with this reason, this study hypothesized the possible inhibiting effects of Chinese traditional cultural values, Zhong-Yong thinking and power distance orientation, on voice behavior. Since one of central issues in voice behavior research is how to facilitate an employee to engage in workplace voice, we also postulate LMX quality as a moderator in expectation of improving employees’ concerns about voicing. Employees may calculate the cost of speaking up by assessing favorability of social context such as supportive relationships with their supervisors. Leadership behavior such as LMX might have a positive impact on voice behavior in China where relationship orientation is highly advocated as compared with other countries. The potential benefits of the close relationship with the supervisor may give employees a reciprocal sense of obligation such as the active voice behavior for their organization. Therefore, LMX is expected to mitigate the negative impacts of the Chinese core values such as Zhong-Yong thinking and power distance orientation, on employees’ voice behaviors. In addition, recent literature of voice has stressed that there are different types of voice behavior, suggesting the definition of voice including speaking up with constructive ideas as well as concerns. Specifically, our study employed the two forms of voice. Promotive voice is defined as the voice behavior whose intended aim is to propose ways of changing the status quo while prohibitive voice represents the voice behavior whose intended aim is to express concerns that help stop or prevent problems. To test the hypotheses, the survey questionnaires were sent to 337 subordinate-supervisor dyadic samples employed in 14 companies of various sectors in China and 306 valid questionnaires remained for further analyses after screening out the incomplete responses. The results revealed that Zhong-Yong thinking and power distance orientation had significant negative effects on employees’ two forms of voice, promotive and prohibitive voice. Also, LMX quality was found to mitigate the negative effect of Zhong-Yong thinking and power distance orientation on both promotive and prohibitive voice. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Paradoxical leadership and employee performance: the role of adaptability and zhongyong thinking

This paper examines the impact of paradoxical leadership on task performance. We evaluate that paradoxical leadership will enhance employee task performance by increasing their adaptability. We als...

Sociocultural Influences on Psychopathy Traits: A Cross-National Investigation.

It is important to consider cultural implications in the development and manifestation of psychopathy because this construct is often understood in reference to behavioral deviance from social norms. This study examined the construct of psychopathy as it relates to three psychological constructs that are shaped by sociocultural contexts: collectivism-individualism, Zhongyong thinking, and dialectical self-concept. The authors recruited 636 participants from four nations and examined differences between Western English-speaking populations and East Asian Chinese-speaking populations. The results showed that collectivism and Zhongyong thinking negatively correlated with the maladaptive aspects of psychopathy (affective/interpersonal and behavioral), whereas individualism and dialectical self-concept positively correlated with the behavioral aspect of psychopathy. Dialectical self-concept also negatively correlated with Boldness. The majority of these associations did not differ significantly between the Western and East Asian samples. This finding suggests the potential universality of the psychological processes of psychopathy in relation to cultural values and thinking styles.

辱虐管理与员工创造力：心理契约破坏和中庸思维的不同作用

辱虐管理与员工创造力：心理契约破坏和中庸思维的不同作用

How entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking improves new venture performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on the cultural cognition of Chinese Zhong-yong thinking, which is deeply rooted in Chinese Confucius culture, and to examine how entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking is related to new venture performance through guanxi network, and also examine how environmental turbulence affects the influencing mechanism.Design/methodology/approachThis paper follows an empirical design. Data are collected from a survey administered to entrepreneurs in new ventures of China. Regression analysis is used to test the hypothesis.FindingsResults show that entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking is positively related to guanxi and new venture performance, and guanxi mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking and new venture performance. In addition, environmental turbulence moderates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking and guanxi such that the relationship is stronger under higher technological turbulence or lower market turbulence.Research limitations/implicationsThis research uses cross-sectional data, so causal conclusions cannot be made. In addition, more moderators should be considered.Practical implicationsThe present study enriches the understanding of how entrepreneurs’ Zhong-yong thinking affects new ventures, which helps entrepreneur understand how to strategize according to external environment and develop what kind of cognitive style to deal with complex situation of their own venture.Originality/valueThis study is a pioneer in exploring non-Western cognitive style–Zhong-yong thinking in entrepreneurial context. It not only enriches the understanding of how Chinese wisdom affects organizational strategy and organizational performance but also advances the cognition research in the field of entrepreneurship.

A Research on the Impact of Humble Leadership on Employees’ Voice Behavior

Humble leadership is a new researching direction in the field of leadership, the effectiveness of humble leadership behavior has been proved, but how it influences employees’ concrete behavior still needs to be further discussed. This study explored the influence mechanism of humble leadership behavior on employees’ voice behavior on a matched sample of 213 employees. In particular, the article tested the mediating role of organizational psychological ownership (OPO) and the moderating effect of Zhongyong thinking. The results of analyses show that: humble leadership has a significant positive effect on employees voice behavior; OPO partially mediates the relationship between humble leadership and employees’ prohibitive voice behavior and promotive voice behavior; Zhongyong thinking negatively moderated the positive effect of humble leadership on employees’ prohibitive voice behavior and promotive voice behavior.

Entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance in China

This study investigates the mediating role of organizational innovation in the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance in China. We also examine the moderating role of the Zhong-yong thinking of entrepreneurs in the abovementioned relationship to explore the influencing mechanism of entrepreneurs’ passion in non-Western societies. Results from 154 Chinese new ventures support the positive relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and new venture performance and the mediating role of organizational innovation. The Zhong-yong thinking of entrepreneurs can also strengthen the relationship between entrepreneurs’ passion and organizational innovation. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Confucian Culture Still Matters

Zhongyong thinking (Doctrine of the Mean) is a traditional Confucius interpersonal style with emphasis on interpersonal harmony and connection. In contemporary society, is Zhongyong thinking beneficial to, or has Zhongyong thinking become an old-fashioned idea with trivial or even detrimental influence on mental health? The current study explored the relationship of Zhongyong thinking and mental health measures in two studies. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey involving a large representative sample of 8,178 Chinese undergraduate students. We found that Zhongyong thinking was negatively associated with anxiety ( r = −.23, p < .01) and depressive symptoms ( r = −.32, p < .01), but positively associated with self-esteem ( r = .28, p < .01). Compared with low-Zhongyong group, those who scored high on the Zhongyong Thinking Scale had substantially lower scores on anxiety and depressive symptoms, and had higher scores on self-esteem and life satisfaction. In Study 2, we experimentally intervened in Zhongyong thinking in 30 mildly depressed students, comparing mental health outcomes with a randomized control group ( n = 30) who received regular supportive group intervention. We found that training in Zhongyong thinking was more effective in alleviating depressive symptoms compared with the control group. The two studies prove from different aspects that Zhongyong thinking still plays an important role in regulating mental distress and maintaining subjective well-being among contemporary Chinese young adults. Why Zhongyong thinking is beneficial, and how to transmit this traditional cultural heritage to promote emotion regulation strategies are discussed.

Passive Mood and Work Behavior: The Cross-level Mediating Effect of Zhong-Yong Thinking Style

Individual frequently experiences passive mood, a bad internal feeling state, in workplace. However, few researches focused on the negative effect of passive mood on work behavior. As a result, we know little about how to avoid this negative effect in the work, especially in Chinese context. Based on mood-congruent theory and cognitive-affective processing system theory, we proposed a cross-level model to explain the relation between daily passive mood and three daily work behaviors, namly, Organizational Citizenship Behavior(OCB), Counterproductive Work Behavior(CWB) and task performance behavior, at within-person level, and how Zhong-Yong thinking style, a Chinese indigenous cultural thinking characteristic, at between-person level moderated the negative effect of daily passive mood on work behaviors. In oreder to verify our arguments, we collected the data by two phases. In the first phase, participants completed a questionnaire including demographic and individual-level variables. Two weeks later, we conducted daily surveys for daily passive mood and three daily work behaviors, namly, OCB, CWB and task performance behavior. As we treated passive mood as a within-person change, we used an Experience Sampling Method(ESM) to capture dynamic within-person variance in daily-mood and daily-behaviors. Ninty-nine individuals responded to the same questionnare through our survey web at 2 time points on the morning and afternoon each day for 2 weeks(ten workdays in total). At the end of the survey, 72 participants completed the two phrases survey, generating 720 experience-sampling ratings(72 participants×ten days) with a 73 percent response rate. Since our data contained a hierarchical structure in which daily assessments were nested within participants, we used hierarchical linear modeling(HLM) to test our hypotheses. Results of HLM analysis revealed that: 1) there was a great deal of within-person variance in daily OCB, CWB and task performance behavior; 2) Within-persons passive mood had an negative influences on OCB and task performance behavior, while there was no relationship between passive mood and CWB; 3)Zhong-Yong thinking mitigated the negative association between passive mood and OCB. This relation was weaker for employees who had higher levels of Zhong-Yong thinking; 4) Zhong-Yong thinking moderated negative association between passive mood and task performance behavior. The employees who had higher levels of Zhong-Yong thinking had an positive influences on task performance behavior, while the employees who had lower levels of Zhong-Yong thinking had an negative influences on task performance behavior. Our study implied several contributions to the literature. Although abound of studies found supports for the associate between positive mood and work behaviors as mood-congruent theory proposed, our findings about passive mood and work behaviors was not completely consistent with mood-congruent theory. These differences might extend our understanding of mood-behavior relationship beyond mood-congruent theory. Our study also emphasized the utility of individual cultural characteristic in the passive mood management. We found that Zhong-Yong thinking moderated the effect of daily passive mood on work behaviors. It implied that Zhong-Yong thinking could guide employees to pursue the harmony between internal mood and external environment, because it could arouse their self-regulation for the choice of behavior after experiencing passive mood.