Cultural values in Malaysia: Chinese, Malays and Indians compared

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. is a lec turer in cross-cul tural man age ment at Mul ti me dia Uni ver sity in Ma lay sia.Dr. Stan ley Rich ard son is an As sis tant Pro fes sor and a for mer ma jor in the Brit ish army. Since 1963 he has taught in var i ous coun tries around the world, es pe cially in Hong Kong, Sin ga pore and Ma lay sia. He has been teach ing in Mul ti me dia Univer sity since 1997. Back groundThis ar ti cle re ports the find ings of re search that was orig i nally fo cused on work val ues. The in de pend ent vari able was cul ture and the de pend ent vari able work val ues. The find ings on work val ues are be ing pub lished else where. How ever, the find ings on cul ture were in ter est ing enough to be shared. Shared Val uesSchnei der and Barsoux (2003: 30-33) dis cuss how man ag ers in var i ous cul tures around the world see the cri te ria for suc cess in man age ment. Thus, the Amer i cans fo cus on profit, the Ger mans on prod uct qual ity, the French on tech nol ogy lead ership and the Jap a nese on mar ket share. Launched in 1991, Vi sion 2020 out lines nine chal lenges that Ma lay sia faces, of which the most im por tant one is es tab lishing a united Ma lay sian na tion with a sense of com mon and shared des tiny. The idea of shared des tiny nat u rally leads to shared val ues.Asma (2001: 1), for ex am ple, ob serves that "Ma lay sia has of ten been described as a mine field of cul tural sen si tiv i ties due to its di verse ra cial and eth nic com po si tion. Yet, Ma lay sians work in ap par ent har mony and unity brought about by a few uni fy ing fac tors, the most im por tant of which are val ues that have stood the test of time." Al though there have been sev eral at tempts to iden tify shared values, most of these at tempts have used a qual i ta tive ap proach (for ex am ple, Elashmawari and Har ris, 2000). One ex cep tion is the work of Asma Abdullah. She has de vel oped a model of Ma lay sian cul ture de rived from an an thro po log i cal approach. Her re search points to wards eight di men sions: Re la tion ship -Task, Harmony-Con trol, Shame-Guilt, We-I, Re li gious-Sec u lar, Hi er ar chy -Equal ity,

Convergence in the priorities of entrepreneurial values: Empirical evidence from Malaysia

“…There are significant differences between Malay and Chinese small-and medium-sized entrepreneurs with respect to self-direction and stimulation. This finding is partially consistent with findings that ethnicity causes value differences (PrinceGibson and Schwartz 1998;Schwartz and Rubel 2005) but contradicts previous research using Schwartz's Values Survey (SVS) instrument that Malays and Chinese only differ in the achievement value (Fontaine and Richardson 2005). The higher self-direction of Chinese relative to Malay entrepreneurs is in line with prior literature on culture and entrepreneurship (e.g., Abdullah 1996;Mohamed 1990;Tan 2002;Yeh 1988).…”

Universal Values, Creative Behavior and Leadership: Turkish Case

“…Individual Values: The Schwartz Value Survey has gained importance and widely accepted as a valid and reliable instrument (Fontaine & Richardson, 2005). Schwartz and his colleagues developed the measurement device (Schwartz Value Survey/SVS), composed of 56 items with 10 value dimensions.…”

Ergonomics Issues in Malaysia

“…Examples of relevant research outside Malaysia are from Singapore (Richardson et al, 1972) and Hong Kong (Courtney, 1994). The importance of cross-cultural differences in Malaysia has been discussed, for instance, by Fontaine and Richardson (2005). But the topic requires continuing attention.…”