Randy K. Chiu

Income, Money Ethic, Pay Satisfaction, Commitment, and Unethical Behavior: Is the Love of Money the Root of Evil for Hong Kong Employees?

This study examines a model involving income, the love of money, pay satisfaction, organizational commitment, job changes, and unethical behavior among 211 full-time employees in Hong Kong, China. Direct paths suggested that the love of money was related to unethical behavior, but income (money) was not. Indirect paths showed that income was negatively related to the love of money that, in turn, was negatively related to pay satisfaction that, in turn, was negatively associated with unethical behavior. Pay satisfaction was positively related to organizational commitment. Thus, the love of money is the root of evil, but money is not.

Retaining and motivating employees

This paper reports two studies involving data collected from 583 participants in Hong Kong and 121 participants in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and examines the most popular compensation components offered by organizations to employees and participants’ perceptions regarding the five most important compensation components to retain and motivate people in Hong Kong and PRC, respectively. Results suggested that in Hong Kong, base salary, merit pay, year‐end bonus, annual leave, mortgage loan, and profit sharing were the most important factors to retain and motivate employees. In China, base salary, merit pay, year‐end bonus, housing provision, cash allowance, overtime allowance, and individual bonus were the most important factors to retain and motivate employees. Results are discussed in light of economic, geographic, and culture‐related factors.

Ethical Judgment and Whistleblowing Intention: Examining the Moderating Role of Locus of Control

The growing body of whistleblowing literature includes many studies that have attempted to identify the individual level antecedents of whistleblowing behavior. However, cross-cultural differences in perceptions of the ethicality of whistleblowing affect the judgment of whistleblowing intention. This study ascertains how Chinese managers/professionals decide to blow the whistle in terms of their locus of control and subjective judgment regarding the intention of whistleblowing. Hypotheses that are derived from these speculations are tested with data on Chinese managers and professionals (n = 306). Statistical analysis largely supports the hypotheses, which suggests that an individuals locus of control does moderate the relationship between ethical judgment and whistleblowing.

Dispositional traits and turnover intention

This paper investigates the relationships between turnover intention and positive affectivity (PA) and negative affectivity (NA), and the mediating roles of job satisfaction and affective commitment in those relationships. Based on a sample of 279 Chinese managers, PA predicts turnover intention, and job satisfaction mediates the relationship. However, NA is neither directly nor indirectly related to turnover intention.

Cultural distance asymmetry in expatriate adjustment

Purpose – The current literature implicitly assumes a symmetric impact of cultural distance (CD) on expatriate adjustment. By using distance as a predictor of adjustment, the literature has rendered the direction of the flow irrelevant: a US expatriate in Germany is presumed to face the same hurdle as a German expatriate in the USA. Not only is there no evidence to justify that suggestion, but logic and related findings suggest just the opposite. The aim of the present paper is to test the proposition that such impact is asymmetric, that is, the impact of CD is contingent on the direction of the assignment.Design/methodology/approach – Using a two‐flow sample of US expatriates in Germany and German expatriates in the USA, we examine and compare the psychological and socio‐cultural adjustment of each group of executives.Findings – Controlling for the length of assignment, we find that German expatriates in the USA were better adjusted, both socio‐culturally and psychologically, than American expatriates in...

The relative importance of facial attractiveness and gender in Hong Kong selection decisions

This field experiment found that Hong Kong human resources management specialists were influenced by the attractiveness bias in evaluating short-listed candidates for an entry-level trainee position. Zero order, stepwise and hierarchical regressions showed that perceived attractiveness of the candidates was more related to their work experience and work-related skills than to grade-point average and public examination results. Women candidates were generally preferred over male candidates. Further research is suggested to determine if the influence of attractiveness extends over a wider range of jobs and to measure more precisely the influence of attractiveness in different cultures and for men and women.

Ethical judgement, locus of control, and whistleblowing intention: a case study of mainland Chinese MBA students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ethics of whistleblowing in Chinese society. A framework is suggested to explain whistleblowing behaviour in terms of the individual’s locus of control and subjective judgement regarding the intention of whistleblowing. Hypotheses derived from these speculations are tested with data from Chinese MBA students (n = 254). Statistical analysis largely supports the hypotheses, and the implications of the findings are discussed.

Hong Kong and China: The Cash Mentality Revisited

The research for this article surveyed 583 professional employees in Hong Kong and 121 managers of overseas companies operating in People’s Republic of China and identified the five most popular compensation components to attract and motivate employees. People in Hong Kong identified base salary, merit pay, year-end bonus, annual leave, mortgage loans and profit sharing as the most important components for attracting and motivating employees. Employees in People’s Republic of China cited base salary, year-end bonus, merit pay, housing provisions, annual leave and individual bonus as the most important components to attract and motivate employees. Because of a number of cultural and socioeconomic factors, the cash mentality is still a very important factor in attracting and motivating employees in Hong Kong and People’s Republic of China.

On whistleblowing judgment and intention

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose whistleblowing judgment (WBJ), positive mood (PM), and organizational ethical culture (OEC) as predictors of whistleblowing intention (WBI).Design/methodology/approach – The study obtains the data from 364 usable questionnaires collected from Chinese employees of ten banks in China.Findings – WBJ explains a high variance in WBI while OEC moderate the relationship. A three‐way interaction effect is observed, in which organizational culture affects the strength of PM as a moderator.Research limitations/implications – Findings are interpreted with respect to theories of moral psychology and organizational behavior. Theoretical implications and limitations of the study are discussed, including potential self‐report bias and self‐selection bias.Originality/value – The effect of PM on whistleblowing decision making depends on peoples perceptions of OEC. Only when people perceive their organizational culture to be unethical do the effect of PM come into play.

Pay Differentials in the People’s Republic of China: An Examination of Internal Equity and External Competitiveness

interested in three types of equity: internal equity, external equity, and individual equity (merit). A pay differential based on internal equity is the salary at one level divided by the salary at the next lower level, irrespective of job content or function. Pay differentials reflect the relative worth of these positions to the organization and are not related to the individual’s or job incumbent’s knowledge, skills and abilities. Pay differentials can be compared across organizations to reveal external competitiveness. The pay differential of the average U.S. CEO/average worker has changed from 41 in 1960, to 79 in 1970, 42 in 1980, 157 in 1992, 152 in 1993, 109 in 1994, 141 in 1995, 209 in 1996, and about 326 in 1997. The pay differential of the highest-paid CEO/average worker also has changed from 3,190 in 1991, to 5,203 in 1992, 8,019 in 1993, 983 in 1994, 2,461 in 1995, 3,704 in 1996, and about 8,130 in 1997.1 The highest-paid CEO earned