Doren Chadee

The impact of Chinese culture can be felt in all areas of business and management in China, from Chinese firms to Western companies. This edited volume integrates contributions from multiple disciplines and countries, including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. More than merely a compendium of how-to-do-business-in-China tips, this book examines the influence of culture--specifically, Confucian values and Chinese traditions--on foreign direct investment, joint ventures, management styles and theories, and organizational behavior. Alon and his contributors demonstrate that significant differences still exist between Chinese and Western cultures, and that these differences require an adaptation on both sides. Chinese firms will need to adapt to the way Western organizations do busines, as well as to currents in Western management theory; meanwhile, Western firms will need to take Chinese cultural influences into account when formulating strategy. Both sides can benefit from the insights contained in this volume, which is relevant for scholars of international business, cross-cultural management, and organizational behavior.

This paper uses annual data for 88 countries grouped into four income categories over the 1980 to 2001 period to investigate the link between foreign direct Investment, international trade and poverty. The overall findings suggest that the world has experienced an increase in income inequality between richer and poorer countries during the past two decades, a period during which world FDI and trade increased rapidly. However, there is weak evidence of the adverse effects of FDI and trade on the widening income gap. The paper also provides suggestions as to why misconceptions about the adverse effects of globalisation on poverty persist. (For more information, please contact: Doren D. Chadee, University of Auckland, New Zealand:d.chadee@auckland.ac.nz)

Professional accountants are an integral part of business management, and they are increasingly being called upon to take a more active role in ensuring that SMEs are sustainable. This study will assist accountants in this challenge. The main objectives of this study were to examine: firstly, how the management of practices and capabilities of environmental sustainability are developed, maintained and managed in SME ‘environmental sustainability leaders’, with the view to develop a conceptual framework for environmental sustainability (ES) change management in Australian SMEs. These ‘star’ SMEs or ‘sustainability leaders’ have distinguished themselves as recognised leaders in implementing environmental sustainability initiatives. Secondly this study examined what learning in particular is involved in developing environmental change practices and capabilities; thirdly, how this learning might be fostered by other leaders and professional accountants in SMEs. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with CEOs/MDs and other management staff involved in the management of sustainability in twelve Queensland SME sustainability leaders. By conducting a content analysis, emerging codes, themes and comparative development of key logics were analysed in order to develop an initial conceptual best practice framework which can be used for driving ES initiatives in SMEs. In relation to the first research objective, four stages of managing environmental sustainability (ES) change have been distinguished in this report including: the design for ES; internalising ES in the culture of the organisation; implementation; and becoming a leader in ES. Several components associated with each of these stages have been identified in the course of this research. The design stage comprises four main activities, including setting the foundations of success, developing the business case for ES; establishing a strategic orientation to environmental sustainability; and utilising strategic change capabilities. The internalisation stage comprises two components: utilising strategic change capabilities and developing an ES Culture through creating conditions that motivate desired ES behaviour. The implementation stage consists of three main components: the implementation of ES change initiatives; the identification of barriers and overcoming these barriers; and integrating external support for ES initiatives. The main focus of the final stage is on becoming a leader in ES. Two main components are associated with this stage, including: the achievement of economic, social (human resource and community) and environmental sustainability outcomes; and becoming known as a renowned ES leader. The activities associated with the various components are discussed in detail in this report, culminating in a best practice framework for managing environmental sustainability titled: the ‘Leaders in Managing Environmental Sustainability’ framework. SME environmental sustainability leaders offered the following advice to SMEs and accountants in SMEs: understand your business and be clear about why you are doing it; be strategic about it and build it in your business model; take manageable steps; make it about the triple bottom line—people, profitability and the environment; find a way to work ‘on’ your business; engage a sustainability leader; make it simple, start small and do it; target the big areas first and work your way down; engage people and make them part of the change; make ES part of the culture and belief system of the organisation; start with process improvement and understand the processes; focus and do it well; pursue support from government agencies; learn from your mistakes and from others; find relevant information; participate in ecoBiz initiatives; and continue and revisit environmental sustainability progress ever so often. Since the framework in our study has been developed as a situational analysis of existing SME environmental sustainability leaders, accountants could benefit from drawing on the experiences and successes of these firms in further achieving the goals of developing mechanisms to access and engage with senior executives; and developing a ‘borderless mind’ through ‘thinking out of the box’. The results and associated best practice framework in this report has the potential to assist accountants with implementing innovative approaches to managing environmental sustainability. This report supports the notion that ‘sustainability is the future’ and provides accountants with useful guidelines in fulfilling the critical role of managing environmental assets.

Relationship marketing which involves establishing, developing and maintaining success relational exchanges, constitutes a major shift in marketing thought. Commitment and trust between providers and recipients of services which are the key to understanding the relationship development process are also the focus of services marketing. One of the neglected areas of service marketing is tourism which is by far the largest service industry in most western nations. Operations are commonly focused on practical and tangible aspects of the service delivered. As a whole, the service industry delivers complex service experiences in the form of many subsequent service encounters like lodging, transport and sight seeing. We know little of how extended and complex tourist encounters affect the customer relationship. To fill this gap in the service literature this study sets out to explore how different qualities embedded in four distinct service settings (eating out, accommodation, renting a car and a sightseeing tour), referred to as scapes, impact on their respective global satisfaction scores. Applying a novel approach, respondents rated the service scape by proxy when evaluating a picture in which certain quality variables had been manipulated. Findings show that distinct quality variables were significant for different scapes and for respondents from different cultures. Managerial implications for the customer relationship are also discussed.

Rapid growth in the offshoring of information technology services by advanced industrialized countries to less developed countries in recent years has been accompanied by a voluminous amount of research on the subject. However, most research to date has tended to focus on the clients while research on offshore service providers (OSPs), particularly from developing countries, remains scant. This paper adds to the literature on offshoring of information technology services by investigating the sources of competitiveness of OSPs in India. Drawing from the experience of a selection of India's top 20 OSPs, the paper develops a conceptual model which posits that OSPs in India draw their competitiveness from having well-developed internal resources and capabilities such as human resource orientation, knowledge management and relational capital, together with clear growth strategies, while operating in an environment where the government plays a catalytic role in stimulating business growth.

Although research on international travelers abounds in the literature, international travel by students remains a neglected area of research. This article reports the findings from a survey of 370 university students in New Zealand. The survey identified student motives for undertaking international travel, the planning process, and the preferred destinations and methods of financing international trips. Logit models were developed and estimated for two important aspects of international travel by students. In addition, the study also included cross-cultural comparisons of travel behavior. The findings indicate that students traveling overseas represent a distinct market with specific needs and preferences. Travel behaviors vary significantly for different cultures and the article shows that it is possible to model such behaviors.

Tourism is an important sector in the Canadian economy. The direct value added contribution of the tourism industry to the Canadian Cross Domestic product is about 3 percent, only slightly less than agriculture (3.3 %). This figure could rise to over 6 percent if one includes the indirect contributions from other industries supporting tourism. The direct revenues of the Canadian tourism industry amounted to almost $ 20 billion in 1984, including $ 4 billion from international visitors. The industry employs about 600,000 people directly and together with indirect employment tourism accounts for roughly 10 percent of Canadian jobs.

Employees remaining silent about ethical aspects of work or organization-related issues, termed employee ethical silence, perpetuates misconduct in today’s business setting. However, how and why it occurs is not yet well specified in the business ethics literature, which is insufficient to manage corporate misconducts. In this research, we investigate how and when exploitative leadership associates with employee ethical silence. We draw from the conservation of resources theory to theorize and test a cognitive resource pathway (i.e., work meaningfulness) and a moral resource pathway (i.e., moral potency) to explain the association between exploitative leadership and employee ethical silence. Results from two studies largely support our hypotheses that work meaningfulness and moral potency mediate the effect of exploitative leadership on ethical silence contingent on performance reward expectancy. Theoretical and practical implications are thoroughly discussed in the paper.

This article aims to develop a model for managing change toward environmental sustainability (ES) within small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by investigating the main ES change management actions evident from the ES journeys of SME ES champions. Using in-depth face-to-face interviews, the article draws from the ES change management experiences of a sample of 12 ES champions from the SME sector, as well as secondary organization–specific data. A multicase design was adopted to develop the proposed model. A thematic content analysis identified 10 main change management actions along with a number of associated actions. The findings provide an empirically developed ES change management model and practical managerial ES change management guidelines to SMEs embarking on an ES journey.

PurposeThe widespread use of communication technologies and social media platforms such as the #ME TOO movement has amplified the importance for business leaders to demonstrate high standards of ethical behavior for career success. Although the concept of ethical leadership has been widely investigated, a theoretical framework from a career perspective does not yet exist.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws from sensemaking theory to argue that career identity salience shapes leaders' communication behavior to influence the extent to which they are perceived to be ethical by subordinates. We test our hypotheses using multisource data with a sample (n = 337) of business managers.FindingsThe results show that career identity salience has positive influence on communication competence, which positively influences ethical leadership. We further find that communication frequency positively moderates the relationship between communication competence and ethical leadership.Pract...

In this and the following article the conclusion of the Uruguay Round negotiation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is discussed. This article sets out the details of the last stages of the negotiation, the main points of the agreement, and the implications of the domestic support arrangements. In the following article, Jimmye Hillman discusses the implications of the agreements for national governments, the development of rules for national policies, developments in the area of non-tariff barriers, and the future role of the United States.

Over the last several years there has been increasing pressure on most western industrialised countries to liberalise trade for food and agricultural products and yet the full implications of freer trade are not always well understood. This paper attempts to fill this gap by reviewing the developments in the Japanese beef market following import liberalisation. We conclude that the Japanese beef market has experienced major structural changes over a relatively short period as a result of liberalising beef imports. The most apparent impact has been on Japanese consumers who have benefited from lower retail beef prices and a greater variety of beef cuts to choose from. The types and quality of beef imported have also changed and consequently major suppliers have adapted their production systems and their products to the changing taste and preferences of Japanese consumers. Beef exporters to Japan, on the other hand, have experienced declining wholesale prices but have, nevertheless, b...

Purpose Although team reflexivity has been identified as a potent tool for improving organizational performance, how and when it influences individual employee innovative behavior remains theoretically and conceptually underspecified. Taking a knowledge management perspective, this study aims to investigate the role of team-level knowledge sharing and leadership in transforming team reflexivity into innovative behavior at the individual level. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows a multilevel study design to collect data (n = 441) from 91 teams in 48 knowledge-based organizations. The paper tests our multilevel model using multinomial logistic techniques. Findings The overall results confirm that knowledge sharing in teams mediates the influence of team reflexivity on individual employee innovative behavior, and that leadership plays an important role in moderating these influences. Specifically, authoritarian leadership is found to attenuate the team reflexivity and knowle...

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly brought about a number of disruptions to when and where work is undertaken for hospitality employees. The rapid spread of COVID-19 forced many hospitality managers to use digital technologies to perform work from home, termed digital work connectivity. Yet little is known about how hospitality employees cope with it. The purpose of this study is to investigate an important yet underspecified issue as to how digital work connectivity can be detrimental for employees’ work behavior. Design/methodology/approach We test our hypotheses using multi-wave and multi-source data collected from 467 middle managerial-level hospitality employees in China. Findings The findings show that digital work connectivity can lead to self-control depletion, which in turn is associated with disengagement from work. Further, the findings show that relational energy is an important resource that can buffer the detrimental effects of digital work connectivity on hospitality employees. Practical implications The association of digital work connectivity with employee withdrawal behavior highlights the urgent need for hospitality enterprises to have clear guidelines that regulate technology use at home for work purposes. Social implications Our research shows that the absence of clear guidelines in relation to the use of digital technology for work at home risks producing unintended consequences for both hospitality employees and their enterprises. Originality/value Our research draws from recent advances in resource allocation theories of self-control and adopts a more nuanced approach to uncover a counterintuitive reality that while people use digital technology to remain connected with work, doing so can actually contribute to their withdrawal behavior.

ABSTRACTPursuing an international career in China can be risky particularly when there is a lack of informal relationships and knowledge of the socio-cultural environment of the country. Drawing from social capital theory of career success and intelligence theory, this study investigates the influence of expatriate manager-local subordinate guanxi on expatriate managers’ career performance and the contingency role of cultural intelligence. Using multi-source data from a sample (N = 154) of expatriate managers in China, our results show that expatriate manager-local subordinate guanxi positively influences expatriate career performance, and that this relationship is positively moderated by expatriates’ cultural intelligence. The broader theoretical and practical implications of the findings for international careers are fully discussed.

Abstract Careers in hospitality are inevitably influenced by interpersonal relationships which, in China, are embodied in the unique cultural-relational phenomenon of guanxi. The study challenges the conventional wisdom that in China more guanxi is necessarily better for one’s career by distinguishing between two distinct guanxi behaviors and investigating their effects on the career performance of hospitality employees. Using multi-source data from a sample (n = 351) of hospitality employees, the results show that behaviors for developing guanxi contribute positively to hospitality career performance up to an inflexion point, after which they turn negative. Behaviors for maintaining guanxi provide additional resources that can attenuate the negative influence of excessive guanxi development on career performance. The implications of the findings that more guanxi is not necessarily better for the career performance of hospitality employees are fully discussed, along with suggestions for future research and practice.

Purpose How do knowledge-intensive technology-based offshore information technology service providers (ITSPs) in developing countries sustain their innovation and remain competitive? The purpose of this paper is to answer this question by drawing from the knowledge-based view of firm innovation to argue that organisational collectivism (COLL) plays a crucial role in influencing the effects of knowledge-based capabilities on innovation of ITSPs. Design/methodology/approach The study develops a model which shows that learning mediates the effects of knowledge sharing on innovation and that COLL moderates the effects of knowledge sharing on both innovation and learning. A moderated-mediation model is tested using structural equation modelling techniques and data (n=388) from a survey of ITSPs in the Philippines. Findings The results show that knowledge sharing capability is positively related to innovation and that organisational learning capability fully mediates the effects of knowle...

The nature of work and careers in China are constantly evolving as a result of market-oriented economic transition in the country. Increasingly, employees are required to be proactive and self-starting in skill and competency improvement for employability. Employee self-development (ESD) involves considerations embedded in a wide range of relationships including both work and non-work domains. This research draws from social exchange theory and information processing theory to investigate how guanxi, a relational phenomenon unique to traditional Chinese culture, influences ESD. Drawing from the experience of a sample (n = 404) of employees in China, an inverted U-shaped relationship between guanxi and ESD is found, suggesting that initial positive influences of guanxi on ESD diminish after reaching an inflexion point. We also found that these influences are stronger for gender congruent employee-supervisor dyads. The theoretical and managerial implications that too much guanxi is not necessarily good for ESD, particularly in the presence of gender congruence, are also discussed.

Purpose This study argues that knowledge management (KM) by itself has only limited effects on client–vendor relationship (CVR) of global providers of highly customised services. Rather, it is the ability of top management to properly evaluate and utilise a vast array of complex knowledge which allows global firms to develop and maintain superior CVR. The paper tests the proposition that global mindset (GM) of top management mediates the effects of KM on CVR quality. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses survey data from a sample of 68 international service providers (ISPs) in the information technology sector in India and partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses. Findings The results show that both KM and GM have positive and statistically significant effects on the quality of CVRs. The results also confirm that the GM of top management has significant and substantive mediation effects on the relationship between KM and CVR quality...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employee perceptions of the ethical conduct of their leaders affect their job satisfaction in the context of the workplace in China. The authors posit that guanxi, which is a complex relational phenomenon deeply rooted in Chinese tradition, may act as a substitute for ethical leadership in the Chinese workplace. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model which explicitly incorporates guanxi as a moderator in explaining the relationship between ethical leadership and job satisfaction is developed. This model is then tested using data from a sample (n=388) of professional employees in nine organisations in Beijing, China. Findings The results show that, as expected, self-efficacy positively and strongly mediates the ethical leadership-job satisfaction relationship. However, guanxi negatively moderates the overall effect of ethical leadership on job satisfaction with the effect being larger in Chinese-owned enterprises compare...