Managers' attitudes--a comparison between Sweden and China

In connection with management programmes in the People's Republic of China, 152 students responded to a questionnaire developed by Hofstede (in Culture's Consequences, published by Sage, London, 1980). The majority were experienced managers. The same questionnaire was used in similar courses in Sweden, and the results were compared. While differences between individuals were great among Chinese respondents, the results partly support earlier studies in identifying values along Hofstede's "four dimensions of culture" which are extreme by Western standards. Also, a discriminant function based on part of the data correctly identified 93% of our final group of 41 Chinese as Chinese rather than Swedish. There are some indications, though, that this does not necessarily reveal basic preferences. Rather, the results may be caused by conceptions of a company's role in society which simply reflect present social organization. We also list characteristics of preferred jobs and superiors, and compare these between the two countries.