Chung-Leung Luk

Individual Perceptions of Organizational Cultures: A Methodological Treatise on Levels of Analysis

Data from a survey study of organizational cultures in 20 organizational units in Denmark and the Netherlands were re-analyzed at the individual level, after elimination of between-unit variance. A factor analysis showed individuals values to be composed of six dimensions, and individuals perceptions of their organiza tions practices of another six dimensions, entirely different from the dimensions found earlier to apply at the organizational level. The scores on these new dimen sions are related to various demographic characteristics of the respondents. This case is used for a methodological treatise stressing the need to choose the proper level of analysis for the problem at hand, a need which is too seldom recognized.

Customers' adoption of banking channels in Hong Kong

Purpose – The study sought to investigate factors that influenced Hong Kong bank customers’ adoption of four major banking channels, i.e. branch banking, ATM, telephone banking, and internet banking. Specifically, it aimed to focus on the influences of demographic variables and psychological beliefs about the positive attributes possessed by the channels.Design/methodology/approach – Based on extant literature on bank marketing and interviews with ten bank managers in Hong Kong, a questionnaire was designed. Then, in a large‐scale survey by means of mall‐intercept and telephone interviews, we successfully obtained data from 314 bank customers.Findings – Overall, ATM was the most frequently adopted channel, followed by internet banking and branch banking, and telephone banking was the least frequently adopted channel. Psychological beliefs about the extent to which a channel possessed certain positive attributes were more predictive of adoptions of ATM and internet banking than adoptions of branch banking ...

Personality variation and values endorsement in Chinese University students

Abstract Few empirical studies have addressed the connection between personality traits and value endorsements. In this study it was proposed that people with different personalities have different needs which in turn define what is desirable and should be valued. To evaluate this hypothesis, personality was assessed using Costa and McCraes (1985, 1989; The NEO Personality Manual (and supplement) Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources) questionnaire measure of the five basic dimensions of individual variation; values were measured, using Schwartzs (1992; Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 25, pp. 1–65. New York: Academic) survey of ten universal domains of desirable goals. All personality traits were related to value domains either alone or in interaction, but Agreeableness was most frequently related. The pattern of these connections provided confirming evidence for the circumplex model of Schwartzs value domains. These results were also discussed in terms of possible cultural influences and similar research in other cultures was encouraged in order to distinguish universal from culture-specific processes.

Stakeholder Orientation and Business Performance: The Case of Service Companies in China

Previous research on stakeholder orientation has examined only the main effects of its components on business performance. However, the interaction effects that result from different combinations of the components of stakeholder orientation have been overlooked. This article proposes and tests two types of interaction effects, synergy and hindering effects, using a sample of 193 service companies in China.

Effects of Comparative Advertising in High-and Low-Cognitive Elaboration Conditions

An experiment using print ads as experimental stimuli found that the relationship between consumer attitudes and comparative advertisement intensity (CAI) follows a rotated S-shaped pattern; in other words, it is a third-order curve with a local maximum at the minimum value of CAI, and also a local maximum at the approximately third quartile value of CAI. Consumer attitudes were most positive either when there was no brand comparison (the minimum condition) or when the comparison was moderately intense (the third quartile condition). The rotated S-shaped pattern was more pronounced in the high-cognitive elaboration (CE) condition than in the low-CE condition. One week after exposure to the ads, the rotated S-shaped pattern disappeared in both the high- and low-CE conditions, but the attitudes declined more in the high-CE condition than in the low-CE condition. Managerial implications are discussed.

Personality correlates of loving styles among Chinese students in Hong Kong

Abstract The present study explored how the six loving styles of ludus, mania, eros, agape, storge, and pragma were correlated with the Big Five personality traits among Chinese university students. Two hundred and eleven university students in Hong Kong filled out a Chinese version of Hendrick and Hendrick’s revised Love Attitudes Questionnaire and the Chinese version of the NEO Personality Inventory — Short Form. Personality correlates of the six loving styles were markedly different from those found in the West. These differences are discussed in light of Chinese cultural characteristics.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH AMONG HONG KONG CHINESE WOMEN

The impact of unemployment on psychological health, indexed by the General Health Questionnaire, was studied in 86 unemployed and 79 employed Chinese women in Hong Kong. As with findings reported in the West, the present results showed that the unemployed participants were more disturbed than their steadily employed peers. In addition, the prevalence rate of disturbance (54%) observed in the present sample of unemployed women is comparatively higher than those of Western samples reported previously. Implications of these preliminary findings for research on psychological aspects of unemployment among Hong Kong Chinese were discussed.

Ethnic Stereotyping and Identification in a Multicultural Context: "Acculturation", Self-esteem and Identity Diffusion in Hong Kong Chinese University Students

Ethnic identity and acculturation in a multicultural context were investigated in terms of the relationship between peoples intergenerational identification and their varying degrees of identification with stereotyped alternative ethnic groupings, and the consequences for their self-esteem and identity diffusion. The conceptual frame work of Identity Structure Analysis (Weinreich, 1989a) is outlined and used to formulate hypotheses concerning the relationship of patterns of identification with self-esteem and identity diffusion. A group of 156 Hong Kong Chinese university students responded to an identity instrument using constructs suitable for the Chinese perception of personality characteristics. Results demonstrated that a greater degree of (a) identification with the mainstream Hong Kong Chinese was correlated with continuity of parental and peer identification, where greater emphasis was on peers, and with self-esteem; (b) identification with the modern Oriental peoples was also correlated with continuity of intergenerational identification, but with a greater emphasis on parents, and with identity diffusion; (c) identification with the tradi tional Chinese was correlated solely with identification with the parental generation and with identity diffusion; (d) identification with the Western world was correlated . solely with the peer generation and with self-esteem; and (e) identification with the developing peoples was correlated with identity diffusion and inversely correlated with self-esteem. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.

A Posteriori Information Effects on Culpability Judgments From a Cross-Cultural Perspective

A posteriori information about the moral attributes of the victim of a crime can affect an observers judgment on the culpability of the actor of the crime so that negative moral attributes of the victim will lead to a lower judgment of culpability. The authors found this effect of a posteriori information among 118 American and 123 Chinese participants, but the underlying mechanisms were different between the two cultural groups. The Americans considered the psychological state of the actor during the crime, whereas the Chinese considered the morality of the actor during the crime. The authors discussed these results in light of the respondents implicit theories of morality.

CONSISTENCY IN CHOICE OF SOCIAL REFERENT

Similarity has been an important but ill-defined concept in social comparison theory. For social comparisons of competence, similarity should be defined within the same evaluative social context, for example, the same school for students or the same workplace for workers. 104 postsecondary school students, 96 full-time university students, and 81 part-time mature university students were recruited to participate in this study. They filled out a questionnaire to indicate whether they compared themselves with each of 11 categories of social referent in each of 10 domains of competence. Comparers preferred to choose those in the same evaluative social context as referents for social comparisons in domains of competence, and their comparisons with dissimilar others were rare. This preference was consistent across the three different samples.