The current article examined the extent to which Western Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) and Eastern Confucian values would influence employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment in an East Asian culture. Based on survey data from 151 employees in Singapore, the study showed that these two values have distinct relationships with job-related attitudes. The PWE had significant relationships with affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment, whereas the Confucian value dimensions of diligence and harmony were significantly related to job satisfaction and affective/normative commitment, respectively. Additional dominance analysis revealed that Confucian harmony was more useful in predicting affective commitment, whereas PWE was more useful in predicting normative commitment. The cultural validity of the PWE and the cultural specificity of the Confucian values are discussed along with practical implications of the research findings.
AllenN. J.MeyerJ. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 1–18.
2.
AshtonM. C. (1998). Personality and job performance: The importance of narrow traits. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 289–303.
3.
AzenR.BudescuD. V. (2003). The dominance analysis approach for comparing predictors in multiple regression. Psychological Methods, 8, 129–148.
4.
BatemanT. S.OrganD. W. (1983). Job satisfaction and the good soldier: The relationship between affect and employee “citizenship”. Academy of Management Journal, 26, 587–595.
5.
BerryJ. W.PoortingaY. H.SegallM. H.DasenP. R. (1992). Cross-cultural psychology: Research and applications. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
6.
BlieseP. D.HangesP. J. (2004). Being both too liberal and too conservative: The perils of treating grouped data as though they were independent. Organizational Research Methods, 7, 400–417.
7.
BloodM. R. (1969). Work values and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 53, 456–459.
8.
BudescuD. V. (1993). Dominance analysis: A new approach to the problem of relative importance of predictors in multiple regression. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 542–551.
9.
ChangW. C.WongW. K.KohJ. B. K. (2003). Chinese values in Singapore: Traditional and modern. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 6, 5–29.
10.
ChenC. H. (1991). Confucian style of management in Taiwan. In PuttiJ. M. (Ed.), Management: Asian context (pp. 177–197). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
11.
ChenM. (2004). Asian management systems: Chinese, Japanese and Korean styles of business (2nd ed.). London, England: Thomson Learning.
12.
CheungF. M.Van de VijverF. J. RLeongF. T. L. (2011). Toward a new approach to the study of personality in culture. American Psychologist, 66, 593–603.
13.
CheungS. F.CheungF. M.HowardR.LimY.-H. (2006). Personality across the ethnic divide in Singapore: Are “Chinese Traits” uniquely Chinese?Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 467–477.
14.
Chinese Culture Connection. (1987). Chinese values and the search for culture-free dimensions of culture. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 18, 143–164.
15.
CoatesN. (1987). The ‘Confucian Ethic' and the spirit of Japanese capitalism. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 8, 17–22.
16.
Cooper-HakimA.ViswesvaranC. (2005). The construct of work commitment: Testing an integrative framework. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 241–259.
17.
De BaryT.ChanW. T.WatsonB. (1960). Sources of Chinese tradition (Vol. 1). New York, NY: Columbia Press.
18.
FurnhamA. F. (1984). The protestant work ethic: A review of the psychological literature. European Journal of Social Psychology, 14, 87–104.
19.
FurnhamA. F. (1987). Predicting protestant work ethic beliefs. European Journal of Personality, 1, 93–106.
20.
FurnhamA. F. (1989). The protestant work ethic: The psychology of work beliefs and values. London, England: Routledge.
21.
FurnhamA. F. (1990). A content, correlational, and factor analytic study of seven questionnaire measures of the protestant work ethic. Human Relations, 43, 383–399.
22.
FurnhamA. F.ReillyM. (1991). A cross-cultural comparison of British and Japanese Protestant work ethic and just world beliefs. Psychologia: An International Journal of Psychology in the Orient, 34, 1–14.
23.
Gorgievski-DuijvesteijnMSteensmaHBrakeE. T. (1998). Protestant work ethic as a moderator of mental and physical well-being. Psychological reports, 83, 1043–1050.
24.
HackmanJ. R.OldhamG. R. (1980). Work redesign. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
25.
HarrellS. (1985). Why do the Chinese work so hard? Reflections on an entrepreneurial ethic. Modern China, 11, 203–226.
26.
HoD. Y. F.PengS.-Q.Cheng LaiA.ChanS.-f. F. (2001). Personality across cultural traditions. Journal of Personality, 69, 925–954.
27.
HofstedeG.BondM. H. (1988). The Confucius connection: From cultural roots to economic growth. Organizational Dynamics, 16, 5–21.
28.
KidronA. (1978). Work values and organizational commitment. The Academy of Management Journal, 21, 239–247.
29.
KinickiA. J.McKee-RyanF. M.SchriesheimC. A.CarsonK. P. (2002). Assessing the construct validity of the job descriptive index: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 14–32.
30.
KimA. E.ParkG. (2003). Nationalism, Confucianism, work ethic and industrialization in South Korea. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 33, 37–49.
31.
KirkbrideP. S.TangS. F. Y.WestwoodR. I. (1991). Chinese conflict preferences and negotiating behaviour: Cultural and psychological influences. Organization Studies, 12, 365–386.
32.
KuahK. E. (1990). Confucian ideology and social engineering in Singapore. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 20, 371–383.
33.
LebretonJ. M.BinningJ. F.AdornoA. J.MelcherK. M. (2004). Importance of personality and job-specific affect for predicting job attitudes and withdrawal behavior. Organizational Research Methods, 7, 300–325.
34.
LeBretonJ. M.HargisM. B.GriepentrogB.OswaldF. L.PloyhartR. E. (2007). A multidimensional approach for evaluating variables in organizational research and practice. Personnel Psychology, 60, 475–498.
35.
LeongF. T. L.BrownM. T. (1995). Theoretical issues in cross-cultural career development: Cultural validity and cultural specificity. In WalshW. B.OsipowS. H. (Eds.), Handbook of vocational psychology: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 143–180). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
36.
LeongF. T. L.TangM. (2002). Asian American mental health: assessment, theories, and methods. In KurasakiD.OkazakiS.SueS. (Eds), A cultural accommodation approach to career assessment with Asian Americans (pp. 265–281). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Press.
37.
LiY. J.JohnsonK. A.CohenA. B.WilliamsM. J.KnowlesE. D.ChenZ. (2012). Fundamental(ist) attribution error: Protestants are dispositionally focused. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 281–290.
38.
LimC.LayC. S. (2003). Confucianism and the protestant work ethic. Asia Europe Journal, 1, 321–322.
39.
LinderbaumB. A.LevyP. E. (2010). The development and validation of the Feedback Orientation Scale (FOS). Journal of Management, 36, 1372–1405.
40.
LockettM. (1988). Culture and the problems of Chinese management. Organization Studies, 9, 475–496.
41.
MaL. I. C. (1986). The protestant ethic among Taiwanese college students. The Journal of Psychology, 120, 219–224.
42.
MatthewsB. M. (2000). The Chinese value survey: An interpretation of value scales and consideration of some preliminary results. International Education Journal, 1, 117–126.
43.
MillerM. J.WoehrD. J.HudspethN. (2002). The meaning and measurement of work ethic: Construction and initial validation of a multidimensional inventory. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60, 451–489.
44.
MeyerJ. P.AllenN. J. (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Human resource management review, 1, 61–89.
45.
MirelsH. L.GarrettJ. B. (1971). The protestant ethic as a personality variable. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 36, 40–44.
46.
MorrowP. C. (1983). Concept redundancy in organizational research: The case work of commitment. Academy of Management Review, 8, 486–500.
47.
OhT. K. (1991). Understanding managerial values and behaviour among the gang of four: South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Journal of Management Development, 10, 46–56.
48.
PowellD.MeyerJ. (2004). Side-bet theory and the three-component model of organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65, 157–177.
49.
RandallD. M.CoteJ. A. (1991). Interrelationships of work commitment constructs. Work and Occupations, 18, 194–211.
50.
RodeJ. C.JudgeT. A.SunJ. (2012). Incremental validity of core self-evaluations in the presence of other self-concept traits: An investigation of applied psychology criteria in the United States and China. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 19, 326–340.
51.
SchneiderB. (1987). The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40, 437–453.
52.
SchwartzS. H.BilskyW. (1987). Toward a universal psychological structure of human values. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 550–562.
53.
Singapore Department of Statistics. (2009). Yearbook of statistics Singapore. Singapore: Author.
54.
SmithA. H. (1894). Chinese characteristics. New York, NY: Fleming H. Revell.
55.
SmithP. C.KendallL. M.HulinC. L. (1969). The measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement. Chicago, IL: Rand-McNally.
56.
SpectorP. E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, cause, and consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
57.
TaiH. (Ed.). (1989). Confucianism and economic development: An oriental alternative?Washington, DC: Washington Institute Press.
58.
TangT. L. (1993). A factor analytic study of the protestant work ethic. Journal of Social Psychology, 133, 109–111.
59.
TangY. (1991). Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity, and Chinese culture. Washington, DC: The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy.
60.
TettR. P.MeyerJ. P. (1993). Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, and turnover: Path analyses based on meta-analytic findings. Personnel Psychology, 46, 259–293.
61.
TweedR. G.LehmanD. R. (2002). Learning considered within a cultural context: Confucian and Socratic approaches. American Psychologist, 57, 89–99.
62.
WahS. S. (2001). Chinese cultural values and their implication to Chinese management. Singapore Management Review, 23, 75–83.
63.
WangM.RussellS. S. (2005). Measurement equivalence of the job descriptive index across Chinese and American workers: Results from confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 65, 709–732.
64.
WardB. E. (1972). A small-scale factory in Hong Kong: Some aspects of its internal organization. In WillmottW. E. (Ed.), Economic organization in Chinese society (p. 364). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
65.
WeberM. (1905). The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. New York, NY: Scribners.
66.
WerkmeisterW. H. (1967). Man and his values. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
67.
WilliamsS.SandlerR. L. (1995). Work values and attitudes: Protestant and Confucian Ethics as predictors of satisfaction and commitment. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 3, 1–13.
68.
XieJ. L.SchaubroeckJ.LamS. S. K. (2008). Theories of job stress and the role of traditional values: A longitudinal study in China. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 831–848.
69.
YumJ. O. (1988). The impact of Confucianism on interpersonal relationships and communication patterns in East Asia. Communication Monographs, 55, 374–388.
70.
ZhangY. B.HarwoodJ. (2004). Modernization and tradition in an age of globalization: Cultural values in Chinese television commercials. The Journal of Communication, 54, 156–172.
