Chi-en Hwang

Holding up half of the sky? Attitudes toward women as managers in the People's Republic of China

China has become a popular host country for multinational corporations since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. However, there is a general lack of understanding of the Chinese culture and lack of empirical study on perception of women as managers in China. This study provides historical, cultural, social and legal contexts of the Chinese society and empirically compares attitudes toward women as managers among students and workers. Results show significant gender and sample effects. Further analysis revealed that the gender effect was stronger than the sample effect. Women have a much more positive, liberal and egalitarian attitude toward women as managers than men. However, the unfortunate similarities in attitudes toward women as managers between younger male students and older male workers show that we still have a while to wait before women really hold up half of the sky in China. Implications of these results are discussed based on the cultural and social contexts. Managerial implications are provided.

A Comparison of Coping Factors in Western and Non-Western Cultures

This study presents convergent support for the use of three empirically constructed factors, across four samples, from the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Planning, Positive Reappraisal, and Distancing factors were congruent for comparisons made between U.S. healthcare workers, Chinese healthcare workers, Chinese teachers, and Taiwanese teachers. Additional evidence of congruency was provided on specific factors between specific pairs of groups. The results support the usage of common factors across languages, cultures, and occupational groups but also highlight the importance of not administering a test in a different cultural setting without assessing its dimensionality.

The Dimensionality of Coping Among Chinese Health Care Workers

Abstract The transactional model defines coping as a process that changes on the basis of the context of an environmental encounter. An instrument used to investigate coping in diverse person-environment interactions is the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOC; S. Folkman & R. S. Lazarus, 1988). Although evidence exists to support the basic underlying structure of the WOC in Western societies, no research has been conducted on the instruments dimensionality in non-Western societies. The authors identified 14 factors for the WOC administered to a sample of health care workers in Beijing, China. The 14 factors identified in the present study were similar to the 8 factors identified in the original validation study (S. Folkman, R. S. Lazarus, C. Dunkel-Schetter, A. DeLongis, & R. J. Gruen, 1986), but they were more content specific.