work as good-minded undertakings and effortless assignments: … · 2018-09-17 · work as...

Received: 10 April 2015 Revised: 5 May 2017 Accepted: 29 May 2017

DO
I: 10.1002/job.2209
R E S E A R CH AR T I C L E

Work as good‐minded undertakings and effortless assignments:Chinese meaning of working for hospitality workers and itsmotivational implications

Ryan Shuwei Hsu1 | James O. Stanworth2

1Department of Business Administration,

College of Management, National Taiwan

Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan

2Department of Business Administration,

College of Management, National Changhua

University of Education, Changhua City,

Taiwan

Correspondence

James O. Stanworth, Department of Business

Administration, College of Management,

National Changhua University of Education, 2,

Shi‐da Road, Changhua City, Taiwan.

Email: [email protected]

52 Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Lt

SummaryMeaning of working (MOW) or the understanding of the purpose of working is a cornerstone in

organizational behavior. This study answers the call to explain the MOW in Eastern contexts

characterized by interdependent identities. We collect our data from hospitality workers in

Taiwan, where Chinese Confucian and Taoist cultural precepts are strong. Our findings reveal

that our informants use 25 typical vocabularies of motive in establishing and maintaining five

salient identities that gain significance through two Chinese work meanings (i.e., good‐minded

undertakings and effortless assignments). These meanings demonstrate the theoretical

contributions of our findings to the MOW literature. We also explore the interplay between

our emic findings (grounded in Taoism and Confucianism Chinese cultures) with etic motivation

theory to advance understanding of prevention and promotion foci.

KEYWORDS

Chinese, independent and interdependent identity, meaning of working, promotion and prevention

foci, vocabulary

1 | INTRODUCTION

The meaning of working (MOW) is receiving increasing attention from

organization and management scholars (Budd, 2011; Rosso, Dekas, &

Wrzesniewski, 2010). The MOW includes understanding the purpose

of working (Brief & Nord, 1990). It has profound organizational

behavior (OB) implications as meaning shapes what people think, feel,

and do (cf. Weick, 1979). Although the literature acknowledges that

meanings are socially constructed and culturally sensitive (Tsui,

2012), few researchers examine the MOW outside Western cultural

contexts (Brief & Nord, 1990; Michaelson, Pratt, Grant, & Dunn,

2013; Rosso et al., 2010). The limited cultural scope of MOW research

provides an opportunity to challenge old and construct new theoretical

perspectives. Thus, the purpose of our study is an overarching research

question: “What is the MOW within Chinese culture?”

Our inquiry into this question starts with a meaning‐making

perspective (Pratt & Ashforth, 2003; Rosso et al., 2010). We under-

stand the MOW as the result of meaning‐making which we construe

through three theoretical pillars: meaning, identity, and vocabularies

of motive. We use these to frame four overall contributions. First,

we extend the understanding of the MOW from Western cultures

d. wileyonli

(e.g., Judeo‐Christian; Brief & Nord, 1990; Budd, 2011; Rosso et al.,

2010) to include Chinese Confucian and Taoist cultures. Second,

MOW scholars argue MOW stems from work identities (i.e., roles

and membership; Pratt & Ashforth, 2003). We reveal, in addition to

these identities, that Chinese workers also make meaning from an

identity we refer to as personhood. Our findings thus compel us to

present a Chinese notion of interdependent and independent

identities (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Third, we identify a new

concept (i.e., jìngyè) that can usefully explain and organize extant

fragmented studies on the Chinese work ethic (Chao, 1990; Kahn,

1979; Redding, 1990). We draw on our empirical evidence to demon-

strate its significance within the wider OB literature. Fourth, we

demonstrate the significance of our findings to enrich the OB

literature by focusing on motivations for promotion and prevention

foci (Molden, Lee, & Higgins, 2008). Notably, we draw on our emic

findings to elaborate an issue overlooked in the etic motivation

literature: Chinese workers' notion of promotion focus.

This article is structured as follows. We start by introducing the

meaning‐making perspective that underpins our study. This leads to

explanations of identity as an important resource in making MOW.

Our anchor in the Chinese culture leads us to elaborate on the way

J Organ Behav. 2018;39:52–66.nelibrary.com/journal/job

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2178-9760

http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8237-7829

mailto:[email protected]

https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2209

http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/job

HSU AND STANWORTH 53

cultural resources (i.e., vocabulary of motives) shape the construction

of identity and the emergence of MOW. The literature section ends

with a review of MOW in Chinese contexts. Our method section

reports a mixed‐method study. Findings, next, report the MOW for

workers in Taiwan. We then relate the Chinese work meanings to

motivations for promotion and prevention foci. Last, the implications

are discussed.

2 | A MEANING‐MAKING PERSPECTIVE:MEANING, IDENTITY, AND VOCABULARIESOF MOTIVE

TheMOW literature positionsmeaning as the result ofmeaning‐making

(Pratt & Ashforth, 2003; Rosso et al., 2010). Meaning is an answer to a

fundamental inquiry of purpose: a “why question” (Lepisto & Pratt,

2016; Pratt & Ashforth, 2003). A why question (e.g., why am I here?),

Pratt and Ashforth (2003) contend, is only answerable with reference

to the pronoun (i.e., who “I” am) or one's identity. Identity, an important

meaning‐making resource (Weick, 1979), refers to “a self‐referential

description that provides contextually appropriate answers to the

question, ‘Who am I? or ‘Who are we?’” (Ashforth, Harrison, & Corley,

2008, p. 327). Identities act as compasses to guide individuals towards

plausible explanations about MOW. Pratt and Ashforth, drawing on

identity (Stryker & Serpe, 1982) and social identity theories (Tajfel

& Turner, 1979), position two work identities as central to

meaning‐making about the purpose of work. The first identity

associates with individuals' role (e.g., nurse or checkout clerk). The

second identity relates to individuals' membership (e.g., group or

organization).

As individuals answer why questions they draw on vocabulary of

motives (Mills, 1940) relating to their identity in order to construct

their explanations. Vocabularies relating to purposes are central to

the emergence of meanings and the construction of identity. For

instance, when asking a nurse a why question (e.g., why do you do

what you do at work?), (s)he engages an array of vocabularies of

motives. These establish and maintain the identity of nurse by

relating to their role (e.g., “This test helps us to understand your

illness.”) or to their organizational membership (e.g., “This is how

things are done in this prestigious hospital.”). When individuals use

vocabularies of motive to unfold the domain of their identities (e.g.,

as a care giver or a loyal employee), we can make inferences about

the MOW (e.g., my job is about healing or my job is about maintain-

ing my hospital's reputation).

We begin by conceptualizing meaning‐making through three

theoretical pillars: vocabularies of motives, identity, and meaning.

Vocabulary is positioned as the foundation of a meaning‐making

perspective (Loewenstein, Ocasio, & Jones, 2012). As individuals

answer a why question, they draw on contextual meanings within

vocabularies of motives that allow them to establish and maintain their

identity. Researchers critically examine the interplay between

vocabulary of motives and identities in order to construct theoretical

accounts of the MOW. In the next section, we integrate culture into

the meaning‐making perspective.

3 | CULTURE AND MEANING ‐MAKING

We understand culture as a toolkit of “available symbolic forms

through which people experience and express meaning” (Swidler,

1986, p. 273; also Peterson & Barreto, 2014). Vocabularies, the

foundation for thoughts, meanings, and communications, are the raw

material from which people construct symbolic forms (Ferraro, Pfeffer,

& Sutton, 2005; Loewenstein et al., 2012; Mills, 1940; Weick, 1979).

Individuals draw on specific vocabularies to construct contextually

appropriate identities and thus meanings. Vocabulary informs the

way people see themselves (i.e., in constructing identities), the world

(i.e., in constructing meanings of their reality), and thus shapes their

action (Ferraro et al., 2005; Swidler, 2001; Weick, 1979). Cultural

differences emerge as individuals choose particular vocabularies of

motive.

Chinese people have ready access to Confucian doctrines, a

defining element of the Chinese cultural repertoire. When formality

is moderately high (e.g., work), people often draw on the Confucian

cultural repertoire of “miànzi,” that is, social face or public image

(Ho, 1976; Hu, 1944; Hwang, 1987; Redding & Ng, 1983). Chinese

individuals maintain and establish identities that associate with

meanings to shape making or saving their or related parties (e.g.,

extended family, supervisor, and organization) face. For example, a

son succeeds in securing a place at a top teaching hospital. By

engaging vocabulary from the repertoire of Chinese cultural

resources (e.g., miànzi), he shapes who he is (e.g., enacting the

identity of a filial son who seeks to gain miànzi to glorify his

extended family), how he understands the world (e.g., the public

images of himself and his extended family are mutually constitutive),

and his response (e.g., dedication). By using specific vocabularies of

motive (e.g., miànzi), people establish and maintain culturally

endorsed identities (e.g., a filial son).

Although Pratt and Ashforth's (2003) two work identities (i.e.,

role and membership) are a legitimate starting point for study of

MOW, it is unlikely that these are complete explanations of

Chinese work identities. The Chinese hold a social (Yang, 1995), or

relational (e.g., Ho, 1995; Hwang & Chang, 2009) identity. Rosso

et al. (2010) assert the relevance of an “interdependent” self‐identity

(Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Interdependent identity relates to a self

that is largely defined by multiple overlapping stable social ties, and

implies acting out a self with reference to attributes that are internal

to the bounded and separate self (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). For

workers in Far Eastern cultural contexts, an interdependent identity

primarily draws meanings from interrelationships with others (e.g.,

extended family), thus implying a distinct representation of self at

work. Despite substantive theoretical speculation about a Chinese

conception of identities, we lack understanding about how such

identities emerge from the individual's use of vocabularies of motive

and, moreover, how they inform the Chinese MOW.

54 HSU AND STANWORTH

Through a meaning‐making perspective, we reveal how identity

and vocabularies of motive are culturally sensitive. We now examine

the explanatory power of extant explanations of Chinese MOW via a

meaning‐making perspective.

4 | A MEANING‐MAKING PERSPECTIVE ONTHE CHINESE MOW

Extant explanations of the Chinese MOW include two divergent, but

complementary, discourses. The first is a historical view of work

drawing on the humanities literature. This discourse positions

individuals as “working for the household” (Budd, 2011; p. 170). This

aligns with Chinese identity as inseparable from the extended family

and thus interdependent (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Budd argues that

“this long‐standing view of work reflects the importance of the

Confucian tradition” (p. 170) where “work is seen as serving the

multigenerational family and the common good, not the individual”

(p. 171). The act of turning individual earning over to the extended

family metaphorically embodies how meanings, identities, and actions

associated with work naturally incorporate the extended family and

others (e.g., Redding, 1990).

This discourse is significant for asserting that nonwork settings

(e.g., extended family) are significant in making MOW under Chinese

culture. From a meaning‐making perspective, however, this

discourse does not reveal how individuals actually establish and

maintain their extended family‐related identity through their use of

vocabularies of motive at work. We address this oversight in order

to understand how Chinese workers translate Confucian cultural

resources into meanings about themselves, their work, and actions

at work.

The second discourse is the empiricist view of work (e.g., Meaning

of Working International Research Team (MOWIRT), 1987; Wang &

Xu, 1993; Westwood & Lok, 2003) and uses work centrality and

work values as representative measures of meaning. Westwood

and Lok's (2003) partial replication of the MOWIRT reveals that

Chinese informants have a high work centrality orientation. This

characterizes Chinese workers as valuing both the pragmatic (i.e.,

seeking adequate financial rewards, good working conditions, and

job security) and the instrumental (i.e., having opportunities to be

promoted and to learn). The merit of this literature is relating generic

vocabularies of motive (i.e., work values) to the MOW in different

cultural contexts.

Generic vocabularies, although useful, limit expressions about

MOW. In the absence of identity as a compass, generic vocabularies lack

pointers toward appropriate meanings. For instance, if we understand

financial rewards contextualized to interdependent identity (e.g., Budd,

2011), they imply mìanzi for the individual and their extended family.

Although under an independent identity (e.g., Westwood & Lok, 2003),

financial rewards to individuals suggest pragmatic meanings such as

being able to eat or to experience financial security.

Although both the historical and empiricist discourse assert

storylines about the Chinese MOW, they unfold in the absence of

the narrator. These discourses with a top–down approach lack

workers' narratives (e.g., vocabularies of motive) about meanings and

identities embedded in their everyday work lives. The historical view

of work starts with researchers' selectively drawing on the intellectual

tradition of Confucianism, and the empiricist view of work starts with

researchers' predefined list of work values.

The focus on the extended family (Budd, 2011) in the historical

view of work overlooks other points of reference. Other beliefs,

including self‐cultivation and self‐transcendence, are significant in

Chinese workers' interpretation of work experiences (Chuang, Hsu,

Wang, & Judge, 2015). To start to account for the complexity of

Chinese, we need to go beyond the cultural heritage of Confucianism

(Kulich & Zhang, 2010) and consider other cultural traditions; such

as, Taoism, Buddhism, Legalism, and the Art of War (Pan, Rowney, &

Peterson, 2012). Taoist culture is particularly relevant to people's

working lives as Taoist teachings as it associates with a wisdom to

escape or survive the interpersonal pressures of a Confucian‐

endorsed life. This positions Taoism as a significant counterbalancing

force to Confucianism (Hwang & Chang, 2009). Although a nascent

discourse asserts a Taoist conceptualization of identity (e.g., Ho,

1995; Hwang, 2012a; Hwang & Chang, 2009), it does not yet

associate with either making MOW or vocabularies of motive that

underpin the emergence of this identity. A reading of these streams

of discourse through the meaning‐making perspective suggests that

each is incomplete. They lack grounding in cultural understandings

of work meanings and impose researchers' perspective (Berry, 1989;

Morris, Leung, Ames, & Lickel, 1999; Peterson & Pike, 2002; Pike,

1967). This directs our study towards building a grounded explanation

of the Chinese MOW.

We argue that explaining the MOW as an output of meaning‐mak-

ing requires incorporating the vocabularies of motive that individuals

draw on to establish and maintain identity. This refines our overarching

research question, that is, “What is the MOWwithin Chinese culture?”

to “What is the MOW informed by identities and relevant vocabularies

of motive within Chinese culture?”

5 | METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

5.1 | An overview

Our examination of the MOW within Chinese culture and its

motivational implications is a six‐stage research design. Our design is

shaped by the meaning‐making perspective and informed by our

accumulated knowledge from being embedded in context. The

resulting design is grounded and qualitative while integrating a

quantitative exploration of the interrelationships underpinning

MOW. Scholars contend that vocabularies of motive are the

foundation of identity, a key resource in constructing MOW (e.g.,

Loewenstein et al., 2012; Pratt & Ashforth, 2003). Documenting

vocabularies of motive is thus the first stage of our six‐stage research

design. This stage, documenting idiosyncratic vocabularies of motive, is

framed by individual workers' responses to a why question (e.g., “Why

do you do what you do at work?”). This fits our study aims because the

act of answering a why question impels informants to use vocabularies

of motive to describe their actions (Briley, Morris, & Simonson, 2000;

Fine, 1996; Mills, 1940).


In the second stage, data reduction, we identify typical vocabular-

ies of motive (Loewenstein et al., 2012; Mills, 1940) using the

responses from the first stage. Our approach thus maintains cultural

flavor while producing a more manageable array of vocabularies.

Our third stage explores Chinese workers' identities as informed

by meaning‐making (Pratt & Ashforth, 2003; Weick, 1979) and our

immersion in the data. We understand identity as a latent concept

and vocabularies of motive as observable constituents of identity.

Our reference to cultural psychology (e.g., Ho, 1995; Hwang, 2012a;

Hwang & Chang, 2009; Markus & Kitayama, 1991) increases the

plausibility of our explanations.

The fourth stage relates the emergent identities to the vocabular-

ies of motive through the use of social network analysis (Wasserman &

Faust, 1994). The approach is particularly apt as it graphically

represents how informants' identities and vocabularies of motive

answer the why question (Bagozzi, Bergami, & Leone, 2003; Bagozzi

& Dabholkar, 2000).

In the fifth stage, we seek a Chinese notion of MOW that

integrates the typical vocabularies of motive (the second and third

stages) and salient identities (the third stage). This stage, analogous

to artificial selection, involves formulating, challenging, and

reformulating theoretical explanations to identify the most plausible

ideas in context (Weick, 1989).

In the sixth and final stage, we follow suggestions that grounded

work should impact relevant theory using an alternate context (Berry,

1989; Morris et al., 1999; Peterson & Pike, 2002). This stage draws

on the OB literature to facilitate scholarly engagement with our study's

potentially unfamiliar context.

5.2 | Context and sample

We sample hospitality workers in Taiwan because they are in the

Chinese diaspora (i.e., including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and

South Korea; Hofstede & Bond, 1988). We approached 15 restaurant

divisions of international tourist hotels accredited by the Tourist

Bureau of Taiwan, known for excellent service, and collected

questionnaires from 74 hospitality workers. Hospitality workers'

supervisors are generally locals who are promoted internally from

front‐line positions. Our informants have a mean age of 25 years

(SD = 5.14), an average organizational tenure of 2.3 years (SD = 1.83)

and total tenure in the hospitality business of 4.5 years (SD = 4.05).

5.3 | Data collection, analyses, and interpretation

5.3.1 | First stage: documenting idiosyncratic vocabularyof motives

We elicit informants' vocabularies of motive by exploring why they

do what they do at work. We consider both “What people do at

work” (i.e., actions at work that serve as reference points) and

“Why workers do what they do” (i.e., informant's idiosyncratic

reasons as constructed through vocabularies of motive). Our focus

on front‐line service employees in hospitality facilitates elicitation of

motives. Standardization of service behaviors limits our points of

reference to a manageable scale and helps to control for the possible

confounding effect of interindustry differences. The wide latitude to

exercise discretion in service behaviors makes informants' answers

to “why do you do what you do at work?” a meaningful inquiry.

What people do at work

We provide a list of important service behaviors to our informants that

draws from contextualized research in Chinese customer service in

high‐end restaurants (Stanworth, Hsu, & Chang, 2015). Informants to

rate the extent to which each service behavior fits their actual work

(1 = no match and 4 = very close match). Those service behaviors that

match or very closely match their actual work (i.e., a 3 or a 4) are a

reference points for the next part of the questionnaire.

Why people do what they do

This part invites informants to explain and justify the service behaviors

they identify in the first part. Informants answer, in their own words,

two open‐ended questions. The first asks their reasons for performing

the specified service behaviors. The second asks them to explain the

consequences of not performing the specified service behaviors. Both

questions contribute to our understanding of why people do what they

do at work (e.g., Bagozzi et al., 2003; Bagozzi & Dabholkar, 2000).

Chuang et al. (2015) argue that “appropriateness” is a central tenet that

shapes Chinese workers' construction of fit between themselves and

environments. Our first question positions informants as relatively

unconstrained to exhibit actions that express appropriateness in their

effects on others. The second question conceives informants as

relatively constrained by the need to shape behaviors that appropri-

ately account for the effect of others' actions on them.

To surface informants' self‐explicated motives for their behav-

iors, we ask open‐ended questions after the principle of laddering

(Bagozzi et al., 2003; Reynolds & Gutman, 1988). Informants begin

by providing two reasons for why they perform the specified service

behaviors at work. Next, informants are asked to think of the first

reason that they had provided and explain why it was important to

them in the adjacent column. Informants were then asked a final

time to consider the explanation they had just given and make a

further justification for it in the next column. We repeat this

procedure for the second reason. Finally, we instruct informants to

provide two anticipated consequences if they did not perform the

specified service behaviors. We apply the above procedure to both

consequences. Ideally, this results in a table of 12 work motives.

Our 74 informants provide 780 work motives and 565 linkages

among these motives for an average of 10.5 motives and 6.2

linkages per informant.

5.3.2 | The second stage: identifying typical vocabulariesof motive

We started by assigning each respondent's answers to a provisional

category or typical vocabulary of motive. Our constant comparison

between each provisional category and associating data followed the

principle of “maximal within‐group similarity and between‐group

dissimilarity” (Bagozzi et al., 2003, p. 920). For instance, the work

motives of “my passion can impress customers so that they will be able

to remember my name” (#74) and “enthusiastic interactions with

customers build personal guānxì” (#61) are emotional expressions that


build familiarity with customers. Consequently, we categorize them as

“building expressive guānxì.” We arrived at 25 typical vocabularies of

motives after thus categorizing all the data. We used two independent

analysts and performed an inter‐rater reliability check. The results

show a high level of agreement (.86 and .89; Perreault & Leigh, 1989).

5.3.3 | The third stage: construction of salient identities

This stage of our analysis identifies the interrelationships between

typical vocabularies of motive. Through reference to meaning‐making

(Pratt & Ashforth, 2003; Weick, 1979) and our immersion in the data, it

was apparent that the 25 typical vocabularies of motive expressed infor-

mants' salient identities. For example, some of vocabularies of motive

reflect informants' work roles as service employees (e.g., building guānxì

with customers). Others reveal their roles as colleagues (e.g., being a

good enough coworker or not being a bad subordinate). We refined

FIGURE 1 Overview of data structure

our emergent categorization of identities through reference to the psy-

chological literature and discussions with our academic colleagues. This

produced 25 vocabularies of motive related to five salient identities (see

Figure 1). Four out of the five identities directly reflect the nature of

hospitality work: service provider, employees, colleague, and

organizational member. The fifth and final identity, rén (人), relates

vocabulary of motives to individual notions of personhood in the

Chinese context. Rén translates as person or personhood and includes

meanings not present in its closest Western equivalent (Hsu, 1971).

5.3.4 | The fourth stage: graphically representing typicalvocabularies of motive in identity construction

We use social network analysis (Wasserman & Faust, 1994) with

supporting software (i.e., UCIINET 6.0; Borgatti, Everett, & Freeman,

2002) to reveal patterns between Chinese hospitality workers use of

the 25 typical vocabularies of motives and the five salient identities.

(b)

(a)

FIGURE 2 (a) Work as good‐minded undertakings. The white circles refer to the vocabularies of motives related to the identity of rén. The darkgray circles denote the vocabularies of motive associated with the identity of service provider. The black circles represent the vocabularies ofmotive related to the identity of organizational member. The numbers on the linkages represent the number of times one typical vocabulary ofmotive is justified by another. (b) Work as effortless assignments. The dark gray circles denote the vocabularies of motive associated with theidentity of service provider. The black circles represent the vocabularies of motive related to the identity of organizational member. The light gray

circles represent the vocabulary of motive related to the identity of colleague. The medium gray circles denote the vocabulary of motive associatedwith the identity of employee. The white circle refers to the vocabularies of motives related to the identity of rén. The numbers on the linkagesrepresent the number of times one typical vocabulary of motive is justified by another.



We start by constructing an implication matrix, which shows a square

matrix Z in which the cells (zij) reflect the number of times that

vocabulary of motive i leads to vocabulary of motive j. We remove

107 linkages where both starting and ending motives are identical.

The result is 458 useable linkages for further analysis (data available

from the authors on request). The use of a cutoff level enables a

meaningful, rather than overly detailed, graphical representation of

the findings. The cutoff value is the minimum value required by a cell

in the implication matrix for inclusion in the map. A rule of thumb is

to “choose a cutoff, producing a map accounting for a large proportion

of the total number of connections among motives with a relatively

small number of cells in the implication matrix” (Bagozzi et al., 2003,

p. 920). A cutoff level of three satisfies this requirement. The resulting

graphic representations show patterns in the interrelationships

between the 11 reasons and nine anticipated consequences (i.e.,

Figure 2(a) and (b), respectively).

5.3.5 | The fifth stage: theoretical explanations of theChinese MOW

In this stage, we construct explanations of MOW that underlie our two

graphic representations. We critically compare Figure 2(a) and (b) to

answer our research question: “What is the MOW informed by identi-

ties and relevant vocabularies of motive within Chinese culture?” We

evaluated the emergent ideas so that implausible explanations evolved

into credible but tentative explanations (Weick, 1989). We explored

tentative theoretical ideas about the MOW and our data, and cultural

psychology literature, Sinology, and comparative philosophy. Our

explanations were refined through critiques by scholars. Although we

have confidence that our theoretical explanations of the Chinese

MOW are grounded, plausible, and robust, they remain an output of

our “disciplined imagination” (Weick, 1989).

5.3.6 | The sixth stage: a thought experiment relating ourfindings to motivation theory

We relate motivations for promotion and prevention foci (Higgins,

1997) to our work for their significant and interesting alignment with

our two Chinese work meanings. We elaborate our thought experi-

ment, including the literature, after Section 6.

6 | FINDINGS

We report our findings in two parts. The first part reports typical

vocabularies of motive by Chinese workers' and their association with

salient identities (i.e., the first three stages of our method), and the

second part reveals the graphical representations of salient vocabulary

with identity and our construction of the MOW within the Chinese

culture (i.e., the fourth and fifth stages of our method).

6.1 | Chinese vocabulary of motive and theirassociations with salient identities

We construct 25 typical vocabularies of motive that Chinese

workers draw on to explain why they do what they do at work

(Figure 1). We highlight the typical vocabularies of motive in italics

and offer support with these translations from the Chinese (by

including Chinese characters we reduce confusion associating with

a Romanized style of translation). We elaborate our five salient

identities as established and maintained by vocabularies of motive.

Four of these five identities relate to service work settings (service

provider, employee, colleague, and organizational member). The

fifth and final identity, rén, represents an ideal personhood in

Chinese culture. The meaning of rén develops via three subcate-

gories: (a) rén with miànzi (having social face), (b) pragmatic rén

(conserving self‐energy), and (c) moral rén (actualizing the good

potential in‐self).

6.2 | Salient identities in the service work setting

6.2.1 | Service provider

Informants use six vocabularies of motive in constructing the identity

of service provider as a relational role in which one offers good or good

enough service to customers. Workers integrate references to the

process and outcomes of service to give meaning to self‐definition

appropriate to customer service. The service provider refers to satisfied

or dissatisfied customers (“keeping customers happy and pleased” and

“avoiding upsetting the customers”) and the potential for customer

complaints (“customers would file a complaint” and “customers would

blame me”). Our informants refer to feeling affiliation with the

customer, that is, guānxì. The indigenous and everyday expression

of guānxì refers to particularistic instrumental and expressive ties

between two people (Hwang, 1987). Building expressive guānxì with

customers relates to “reducing the distance between the customer

and I” so that the “customer will treat you like a friend, rather than

stranger.” The service provider's motives are to reduce psychological

distance by developing interpersonal understanding with the cus-

tomer (i.e., a closer guānxì). Service providers also refer to “treating

customers formally” in building instrumental guānxì or an appropriate

sense of distance inherent in being a customer and a service

provider.

Service providers refer to two vocabularies of motive, active

attentiveness and preventative attentiveness, as facilitating the goal of

satisfied customers. Chinese customers rarely make explicit public

requests for service (Stanworth et al., 2015). Service providers,

consequently, must read and appropriately respond to implicit social

cues (i.e., engage in high‐context communication; Cole, 2015). Active

attentiveness means “acting proactively before customers even ask”

or “thinking and doing before customers would realize.” Preventive

attentiveness, similarly relying on nonverbal social cues and need

anticipation, reduces opportunities for negative affects arising from

service provision. Service providers attempt to ensure “customers

would not feel any uncertainty” while reducing “unease in customers'

mind and making them less nervous.”

These vocabularies of motive (i.e., building instrumental and

expressive guānxì and active and preventive attentiveness) reveal

how our informants satisfy customers.

6.2.2 | Employee

The identity of employee uses four vocabularies of motive to describe

surviving or surviving well under human resource management (HRM)


practices. Chinese people draw on these vocabularies of motive to

reveal an identity of employee as constrained in everyday workplace

by HRM practices. Two out of the four motives relate to organizational

rules and performance appraisal. The vocabulary of motive, organiza-

tional rules, means that employees do what “the company asks me to

do” and adhere to approaches “written down as standard procedure.”

The meaning and impact of behavior on performance appraisal raises

fears that “it may look bad in the annual review.” The remaining two

vocabularies of motive describe the way HR practices affect outcomes

for workers. Raise/lower personal income anticipates behaviors that risk

“income reduction” or “make it easier for me to bargain additional

benefits with my supervisor.” Although layoff expresses the fundamen-

tal fear that “I would be out of job.”

These four vocabularies of motive reveal Chinese people as

employees responding to HRM policy‐related constraints and seeking

advantage to gain bargaining power.

6.2.3 | Colleague

Our informants draw on two vocabularies of motive to define a

role‐relationship with their supervisor and coworkers or the identity

of colleague. The motives for being a good enough coworker” anticipates

that “we can have better team work” and “reduce the potential

frictions between me and my coworkers.” The motive of not being a

bad subordinate frames the identity of colleague in relation to supervi-

sor. Workers struggle to avoid worsening rather than improving the

relationship with their supervisors. Employees work to avoid creating

bad impressions (e.g., “my supervisor would have a bad impression of

me” or “my supervisor would blame me”) or damaging interpersonal

trust (e.g., “my supervisor could not trust me anymore”).

Together, these vocabularies of motive describe a colleague that

at least adequately fits supervisors and coworkers.

6.2.4 | Organizational member

The identity of organizational member directs attention to what people

do at work to help the organization survive and prosper. Three

vocabularies of motive relate to organizational performance. The

significance of higher/lower customer traffic derives from “customers

are willing to visit again” and the potential that “they may become loyal

customers.” The motive of raise/lower organizational sales expresses

the fear that “we won't make money” or that “sales would drop.” Close

down, a frequently cited vocabulary, refers to the “company cannot

survive” or would simply “shut down.”

The fourth and final vocabulary concerns the public image of

their organization (where they belong) and thus its organizational

(social) survival. Image reflects social standing and aligns with

miànzi. Hwang (2012b, p. 479) states that “Chinese people are

concerned not only about enhancing or losing the face of one's

‘small self” [i.e., individual], but also about enhancing or losing

the face of one's ‘big self’ [e.g., organization].” Concern with their

organization's miànzi is shown by informants' desire that “the

company have a good reputation” and for “customers to like our

company.”

These vocabularies of motive reveal employees' wish to contribute

to the organization's financial and social survival.

6.3 | Salient identities in the Chinese cultural setting

6.3.1 | Rén with miànzi

Three vocabularies of motive construct the identity of rén with miànzi.

Two vocabularies of motive, achievement (“increase my confidence and

sense of achievement”) and recognition (“it is an honorable thing that

could be shared with others”), reveal a person's talent, endeavor, or

ability. References to upbringing asserts how consanguineous relation-

ships are significant. Providing quality service also “expresses and

presents how I am brought up” and relates to “how a person maintains

the reputation of his parents.” The way these vocabularies of motive

relate social face or public image with individual personhood aligns

with theory about how miànzi develops (Hwang 2012a).

6.3.2 | Pragmatic rén

This identity emerges through two pragmatic vocabularies of motive

that frame people's desire to safeguard their energy by making their

working life effortless. The vocabulary of motive reduction in workload

reflects people avoiding wasteful actions to arrive at a sense of

effortlessness in their work. People seek to “make my work easier”

and so avoid overtaxing themselves. Emotional stability includes

people's intention to conserve their psychological energy. By

maintaining a stable emotional status, people do not “feel disturbed

because of work” as they find ways that “save me from the sense of

awkward and troublesome working.” The foundation of this identity

rests in the Taoist intellectual heritage of wú‐wéi or effortless action

(Slingerland, 2003). This “does not mean doing nothing but rather

means forbearance, avoidance of pointless action, patience in waiting

and saving energy for the next effective action” (Jing & Van de Ven,

2014, p. 34).

6.3.3 | Moral rén

This identity, based on four vocabularies of motive, is an ideal sense of

personhood through which people actualize their moral potential

in‐self. Our informants' vocabularies of motive (i.e., good heart/mind,

jìngyè, development of learning, and social conduct) reproduce Confucian

morality. Informants refer directly to the vocabulary of motive a good

heart/mind (“I would fail my good heart/mind”). This reflects

Confucians' optimistic view that everyone has inherent (good)

potential (Yu, 2009). People condemn their own moral failure (“I would

blame myself”) when they fail to fully actualize their inherent potential.

The vocabulary of motive, jìngyè (敬業), captures the act of fully

exerting one's inherent moral potential at work. Jìngyè advocates that

a person must do their utmost at work to complete their part as “this is

a spirit of jìngyè” in that “I just do what I can do and do it well,” “I do

what I must do,” and “it is a duty to myself.” Reference to, development

and learning, reflects self‐cultivation where “working is a self‐training

opportunity.” Workers anticipate “learning from mistakes” that “reveal

my weakness and to know where I can do better”. A common

aspiration is that “I want to become better” in the sense of fully

engaging with their inherent good potential. Presenting a moral

identity is also social conduct in both avoiding what “is immoral” and

carrying out work behaviors “because it is worth doing.” This accounts

for people “following the rules of proper conduct and striving for

socially approved goals” (Hwang & Chang, 2009, p. 1012). The


meaning of self‐cultivation not only accounts for workers developing

their own potential but also reveals how they are socially appropriate

in learning about and using their innate moral potential. The vocabular-

ies of motive for this identity stress a moral duty to use and develop

the good potential in‐self. These notions of morality are anchored in

Confucian traditions (Ivanhoe, 2000; Metzger, 1988).

6.4 | Finding the MOW within Chinese culture

We now reveal and elaborate the meanings of two graphic representa-

tions of the interconnections between typical vocabularies of motive

and identities (Figure 2a and b).

6.4.1 | The significance of good‐minded undertakings inenacting moral rén

Informants answer open‐ended questions about the reasons why they

do what they do at work with vocabularies of motive that describe

work identities to their fullest extent (Figure 2a). They describe the

identities of both a service provider who offers good service to

customers and an organization member who enhances organizational

survival. Workers' rich array of vocabularies of motive relate to their

identities by giving unreservedly of their mental and physical energies

in a manner that eliminates the negative while accentuating the

positive. Jìngyè underlies workers' living out their work identities to

their fullest extent.

This pattern represents an ideal MOW. We refer to it as a “good‐

minded undertaking” or Chinese, “liangxin shìyè” (良心事業). This

compound word expresses workers' attitudes towards their

conscience (to be good‐minded) within a specific conceptualization

of work (as an undertaking). Our attention to “good‐mind” (or “liangxin”

in Chinese; “liang” means good, and “xin” means heart/mind) draws

from everyday moral vocabulary. The overtone in Figure 2(a) (e.g.,

self‐cultivation, good heart/mind, and doing good to others) is an

expression of Confucian morality (Jullien, 1995/2002). Figure 2(a)

reveals how jìngyè is the source of the good‐minded undertaking.

Meanings within jìngyè frame a person's moral duty at work as giving

of their utmost in undertakings (or shìyè in Chinese; “shì” means things

or tasks, and yè means something larger, important, or more enduring).

Overall, this MOW inspires people to actualize their good self‐poten-

tial and to seek opportunities for cultivating such potential as they

dedicate themselves in working (jìngyè).

6.4.2 | The significance of effortless assignments inenacting pragmatic rén

Although responding to open‐ended questions about the anticipated

consequences of not doing what they do at work, our informants

draw on vocabularies of motive associating each work identity with

a minimum acceptable expectation. They describe the identities of

a service provider who merely offers good enough service to

customers (preventive attentiveness, not dissatisfied customers and

avoiding customer complaints) and of an organization member who

merely supports organizational survival (avoiding firm's negative

image, lower customer traffic, and decline in organizational sales).

The identity of a colleague involves being adequately collegial with

the supervisor (not being a bad subordinate). Informants' references

to a limited set of vocabularies of motive highlight eliminating the

negative while performing each work identity to a minimum accept-

able expectation.

We refer to this alternative MOW as an “effortless assignment”

or in Chinese, “chīngsōng chaīshì “(輕鬆差事). “Effortlessness” (or

“chīngsōng” in Chinese, literally, “chīng” means light, and “sōng”

means loose) describes workers' desire to relieve pressure and

unwind and collect themselves (following the rationale of performing

identities to minimal acceptable expectations; Figure 2(b)). We used

the word assignment (“chaīshì” or temporarily assigned work) to

represent work conceptualized as what one needs, but does not

necessarily want, to do. Justifying work as an effortless assignment

is not avoiding working but working to the extent that it can be

comfortably tolerated.

When workers' work to achieve an effortless assignment, they

avoid pointless actions and conserve their energy in performing each

work identity to a minimum acceptable expectation. They legitimize

this effortless assignment as protecting their personal income and

emotional stability. This is workers just accounting for others' expec-

tations in a pragmatic approach to survival. The Taoist notion of

wú‐wéi echoes natures' rhythms and the sense of flow of work

around man‐made rules in organizations (Jullien, 2004; Jing & Van

de Ven, 2014). When work is justified as effortless assignments,

workers seek a natural fit within the flow of interactions (avoiding

customer complaints) while attempting to pragmatically avoid over

exertion.

7 | THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS RELATINGOUR MOW TO PROMOTION ANDPREVENTION FOCI

7.1 | Positioning our thought experiment

We construct a thought experiment to explicate how our identified

two work meanings, good‐minded undertakings and effortless

assignments, elaborate on motivations for promotion and preven-

tion foci in the literature. This gives us the capacity to, “imagine

different action sequences and their possible consequences in

different contexts” (Ulrich & Probst, 1984; p.137).

The MOW acts as a framework which people use to make sense of

OB concepts such as motivation (e.g., Brief & Nord, 1990; Pratt &

Ashforth, 2003; Rosso et al., 2010). Regulatory focus theory (Higgins,

1997) posits that a promotion focus relates to growth, nourishment,

development, and advancement, and a prevention focus refers to

attention to safety, caution, protection, and security. These two foci

are fundamentally distinct orientations towards goal pursuits (Molden

et al., 2008). We focus on three aspects of these orientations. First,

people specify goals relating to actual or potential gains when attend-

ing to a promotion focus, while orientating towards goals that are

actual or potential losses under a prevention focus (Molden et al.,

2008). Second, promotion and prevention concerns are distinguishable

in the light of how goals are attained. A promotion concern engages

maximal goals (i.e., what one wishes for), and a prevention concern


involves minimal goals (i.e., what one could tolerate; Freitas, Liberman,

Salovey, & Higgins, 2002). Third, although promotion and prevention

foci coexist within an individual (Higgins, 1997), their relevance varies

according to the concept of who one is. An independent identity

reflects a promotion focus, and an interdependent identity reflects a

prevention focus (e.g., Aaker & Lee, 2001; Lee, Gardner, & Aaker,

2000; Lee & Semin, 2009). Chinese people thus have minimal cultural

resources to enable an independent identity and are

promotion‐focused.

The starting point of this study, in cross‐cultural scholars' language

(Berry, 1989; Morris et al., 1999; Peterson & Pike, 2002; Pike, 1967), is

indigenous and emic in that we propose two Chinese meanings of

working: good‐minded undertakings and effortless assignments.

Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between goal orientations to

explain motivation in a claim to the generic (if not universal) and etic.

Although an emic or etic starting point is equally valid (e.g.,

Berry, 1989), these perspectives are neither dichotomous nor incom-

mensurable but can be integrated (e.g., Morris et al., 1999). We

attempt a concurrent viewing by assuming theory as a constructed

reality (cf. Hwang, 2006). Discussion about theoretical positions

becomes possible when emic (etic) scholars use the language of their

etic (emic) counterparts.

We attempt to discuss theoretical positions by performing two

thought experiments. The first interprets our work through the etic

lens of promotion–prevention foci. The second reads promotion–

prevention foci through the emic lens of our work. Our purpose

is to enrich both etic and emic viewpoints.

7.2 | Thought experiment 1: reading our emicthrough the etic

We start by asking ourselves the question: Does the language of

promotion and prevention foci (e.g., gains or losses, maximal or minimal

goals, and independent or interdependent identity) usefully explain our

work? We find, prima facie, the defining aspects of promotion and

prevention foci broadly fit our findings as good‐minded undertakings

and effortless assignments. The fit between good‐minded undertaking

fits and promotion focus has an emphasis on achieving gains (satisfied

customers and firm's positive image) and maximal enactment

(performing identities to their fullest extent; Figure 2(a)). Effortless

assignment aligns with a prevention focus as both highlighting

undesirable losses (unsatisfied customers, lower personal income)

and minimal enactment (performing identities to a minimal acceptable

expectation; Figure 2(b)). As both promotion and prevention foci are

relevant to workers, this reinforces the assertion that promotion and

prevention foci coexist within a person.

By reading our emic through the etic, we reveal theoretical

inconsistencies in the relationship between regulatory theory

(promotion–prevention foci) and the conception of identities

(independent–interdependent). A significant narrative in the literature

asserts that people with an interdependent identity such as the

Chinese are primarily prevention focused (Aaker & Lee, 2001; Lee

et al., 2000; Lee & Semin, 2009). Our findings assert that Chinese

workers view work as good‐minded undertaking, which aligns with

the promotion focus, while having an interdependent self‐identity.

The defining voice towards achieving gains does not correspond to

the narrative that a promotion focus for interdependent identities

represents passively fitting in or avoiding conflict. This naturally invites

us to consider how interdependent identities facilitate the emergence

of both promotion and prevention foci within the Chinese context.

7.3 | Thought experiment 2: reading the eticthrough our emic

We now begin by revisiting the cognitive maps (Figure 2a and b) and

focus on the perspective of interdependent identities. The consistent

presence of work identity (e.g., service provider, colleague, and

organizational member) between both figures suggests that

differences are not explained by their presence. Our attention

therefore turns to two key differences: first, personhood in the moral

rén in Figure 2(a) and pragmatic rén in Figure 2(b), and second, the

interdependence between personhoods and other work identities.

Moral rén appears as a starting point that is subsequently justified by

other work identities (moral rén ! work identities). Pragmatic rén

appears near the end of the cognitive map and serves as justification

for relevant work identities (work identities ! pragmatic rén).

We then change perspective from current theorizing that asserts a

largely entitative conception of identities (e.g., what their presence is;

see also the graphic representations in Markus & Kitayama, 1991) to

consider the consequences of identities as concatenative (e.g., how

their presence unfolds from one to another). Construing identity as a

concatenative process fundamentally changes the reading of

Figure 2(a). We now envisage an identity process of inside‐out. One's

moral personhood (as good self‐potential) thus flows from oneself

through proximal to more distal connections (moral rén ! work iden-

tities). Figure 2(b), by contrast, shows an inflow: an identity process of

outside‐in. Under these circumstances, interdependence frames

demands which overtax a person's energy and trigger their pragmatic

personhood to protect themselves from threats posed by their

immediate or distal connections (i.e., work identities ! pragmatic rén).

Markus and Kitayama's (1991) generic use of interdependent

identity refers to the way Far East Asians use connections to define

themselves. Our findings suggest refinements to reflect the Chinese

emic notions of connection. There is tendency to assume interdepen-

dence from a one‐directional perspective (e.g., emphasis on one's

attending to others, and one's intention to “fit in”; Markus & Kitayama,

1991). Our findings show that the fundamentally interconnected

nature of these peoples means they have to account for social or

relational influences in terms of both avoiding being harmed by others

(e.g., Figure 2b) and spreading their good self‐potential to others (e.g.,

Figure 2a). The former dominates conceptions of interdependent

identity. The latter is, however, largely muted in the discussion of

interdependent identity despite being substantiated by Chinese

psychologists (e.g., Bedford & Hwang, 2003; Hwang, 2012a).

Using our terminology, Markus and Kitayama amplify attention to

the identity process of outside‐in. This corresponds to and explains

reports that the primary concern of Chinese people is prevention focus

(Molden et al., 2008; Lee & Semin, 2009; i.e., avoiding negative events

or “losses” with respect to others). We now have evidence of

promotion focus in the form of an identity process of inside‐out. This


suggests the Chinese workers' promotions goals (contributing to inter-

connect others) emerge from the inside (moral duty to give of oneself).

8 | DISCUSSION

8.1 | Theoretical contributions

We now return to MOW, identity, and vocabularies of motive to

discuss how our meaning‐making perspective contributes to each,

followed by our contributions to the literature on motivation.

8.1.1 | Contextualizing MOW to Confucianism and Taoism

Our primary contribution is a theoretical account of the Chinese

MOW. This is a response to Rosso et al.'s (2010) call for theoretical

explanations of MOW in Eastern cultures. Although there are studies

of Chinese MOW (Budd, 2011; Westwood & Lok, 2003), we are the

first to develop theoretical explanations grounded in Chinese workers'

use of cultural resources in meaning‐making.

We extend the Chinese MOW beyond a focus on the extended

family (Budd, 2011). Our findings show how beliefs relating to

Confucian morality also construct the MOW. “Good‐minded

undertaking” urges workers to do their utmost at work. This dedication

means workers feel connected to work personally (in self‐cultivation),

morally (as they exert the potential in‐self), psychologically (as they

are fully dedicated), and socially (as they create a difference in the

world by satisfying customers). Our findings account for under

researched moral meanings (one's good heart/mind) associated with

work in a Chinese context.

Our findings also give importance to the Chinese cultural tradition

of Taoism. Notions of wú‐wéi, embedded in this tradition, shape

ChineseMOWas aneffortless assignment.Our findings show that prag-

matism (e.g., Redding, 1990; Westwood & Lok, 2003) is an element of

the Chinese MOW (maintaining a minimum emotional fluctuation at

work while also achieving an acceptable standard of living).

Our empirical evidence indicates that workers draw on Taoist

notions of wú‐wéi as they attempt to find and align with, rather than

go against, the expectations, demands, and pressures of work. We

argue that this specifies pragmatism in the Taoist ideal of conserving

of one's self‐energy in a coping strategy that can accommodate work-

place demands. The effortless assignment reflects secular notions of

wú‐wéi (Slingerland, 2003) as workers enact their identity to try and

meet the minimum acceptable interpersonal expectations. By ground-

ing our explanations of Chinese pragmatism in Taoist meanings, we

also deepen the empirical view of work (e.g., Westwood & Lok, 2003).

How is this discourse of moral underpinning of good‐minded

undertakings and traits different from Western discourses, such as

integrity? In the business ethics, literature integrity is cited as the most

morally desirable trait (Audi & Murphy, 2006). Its conceptual domain,

however, is far from clear. It encompasses multiple faces including,

honesty, sincerity, fairness, and adherence to high moral standards

(Audi & Murphy, 2006). Literature on organizational trust positions

interpersonal integrity as the trustee's adherence to a set of principles

that the trustor finds acceptable (Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995).

Key to this definition of integrity is one's devotion to a principle.

Our conception of moral rén does not reject the relevance of

principles but acknowledges that, under Confucian morality, they are

not a starting point (Hwang, 2012a). The assumption that people have

the moral potential in‐self for doing good (as in the vocabulary of

motive a good heart/mind) is central to Confucian morality. Such moral

potential in‐self is latent until a person acts out an expression of good

(as expressed through jìngyè). The optimistic Confucian view of human

nature gives primacy to the moral potential in‐self, while making

principles (as rigid adherence to ideal codes of conduct) secondary

(Tu, 1968). Principles, consequently, serve the moral potential in‐self

(for example, in the vocabulary of motive social conduct) and not vice

versa. This conception of morality allows individuals to adhere to or

reject principles according to their degree of alignment with the

intended expression of moral potential in‐self.

Reflection on our findings also invites questions about the degree

of (dis)similarity between effortless assignments and efficient work.

We argue that the fundamentals of effortless assignments and the

pursuit of efficient work differ. These differences are most apparent

when we consider the antithesis of effortless (effortful) assignment

and efficient (inefficient) work. Being effortful, for Taoists, is not virtu-

ous but instead is a waste of personal energy and resources as it

reduces vitality and aliveness (Jullien, 2007). The antithesis of an

effortless assignment is expressed in the everyday Chinese expression:

bitter assignment (kû chaī shì; 苦差事). This saying captures the pain

and burden of work that saps one's energy.

Inefficiency, by contrast, through the lens of scientific

management, represents waste of resources. Inefficiency is evaluated

against an ideal standard. Assumptions about organizing sit at the heart

of these differences. In a world where the organizing value is people

and their relations (i.e., the Chinese), it is critical to respond to

interpersonal expectations and demands. Individuals work effortlessly

by sensitively responding to interpersonal connections as required

but without overexerting themselves. In a world where the organizing

value is institutionalized procedures and rules (i.e., the West), the value

and meaning of efficiency gains credibility.

8.1.2 | Identity

Our research extends the literature on how identity informs MOW.

Pratt and Ashforth's (2003) propose two identities as important

meaning‐making resources for workers: role and membership. Our

findings overlap with Pratt and Ashforth's distinction. Chinese workers

develop their role identity through use of vocabularies of motive

relating to being a service provider, an employee, and a colleague. They

construct the identity of organizational member through the use of

vocabularies of motive that relate both role (role of organizational

membership includes raise organizational sales) and membership

(sharing the firm's positive/negative image).

Although our findings support Pratt and Ashforth's (2003) role‐

and membership‐based work identities, they also suggest a substantive

oversight. Our findings show Chinese workers draw on the identity of

rén to make sense of who they are. This makes personhood important

in a way not considered by Pratt and Ashforth. This has not received

much attention in the MOW literature. Our conception of rén broadly

aligns with Markus and Kitayama's (1991) work on interdependent


self‐identity. This reveals that, although Pratt and Ashforth's

understanding of work identity is a construal of the work setting,

Chinese workers' shape work meaning using a spectrum of

(interdependent) relations.

For instance, use of vocabularies of motive relating to extended

family‐centered understandings of work emerge in the personhood

of rén with miànzi (my work shows my upbringing so my performance

at work may reflect on my extended family). This complements the

extended family‐centered discourse on the Chinese MOW (Budd,

2011) by revealing how the use of the vocabulary miànzi integrates

the extended family into Chinese people's working lives.

The significance of rén within Chinese culture is beyond dispute.

Personhood transcends work and home lives in a way that defines how

people live out their lives. In contrast, theWestern American workplace

is influenced by the cultural traditions of Protestant relational ideology

(Dumas & Sanchez‐Burks, 2015; Sanchez‐Burks, 2005) that idealizes

separating work (where nonaffective, rational, and pragmatic relations

are desirable) and home (where social–emotional‐oriented relations are

favorable). We use this lens to interpret Pratt and Ashforth's (2003)

work.WeaffirmPratt andAshforth's assertion that role andmembership

are important meaning‐making resources while also revealing the need

to include personhoods as an additional meaning‐making resource for

the Chinese context.

8.1.3 | Vocabulary

Our work also documents vocabularies of motive that, to date, are not

discussed in the MOW literature. Although these motives provide a

substantive platform for further research by themselves, we direct

attention instead to the root motive of jìngyè. Although familiar and

significant in its everyday use in Chinese people's work lives, jìngyè

is, as yet, not represented in research. Through references to

Confucian moral meanings, our informants use jìngyè to direct efforts

towards actualizing a Chinese culturally endorsed notion of

personhood (cf. Figure 2a). By highlighting jìngyè, we contribute to a

growing discourse that positions meanings associating with indigenous

vocabulary (e.g., yīn‐yáng) as important in explaining contemporary

Chinese OB (e.g., organizational change in Jing & Van de Ven, 2014;

culture in Fang, 2011). Although jìngyè per se is not part of the

research discourse, it finds indirect support in the literature on the

Chinese work ethic (Redding, 1990). The Chinese are characterized

as a workforce that shows a distinctive “seriousness about tasks”

(Kahn, 1979, p. 121), “perseverance” (Redding, 1990, p. 70), with a

strong intention to fulfill “one's obligation to perform one's role” (Chao,

1990, p. 589), or to meet the “social and moral requirement to be

diligent and persistent in undertaking whatever task one is presented

with” (Westwood & Lok, 2003, p. 144). These fragmented descriptions,

bound to each scholar's idiosyncratic interpretations, share a certain

family resemblance to jìngyè. This suggests jìngyè holds significant

potential to act as a parsimonious theoretical vocabulary for these

disparate descriptions.

8.1.4 | Promotion–prevention foci

In the sixth stage of method, we reflect on the relationship between

our indigenous and emic study and extant generic and etic regulatory

focus theory. Our thought experiments reveal two paths to increase

the correspondence between our work and regulatory focus theory

for Chinese workers. Smith, Huang, Harb, and Torres (2011) argue that

concepts identified as indigenous tend to be generalizable to other

cultures. Our work demonstrates, however, that even though

promotion–prevention motivation is broadly generalizable, we cannot

overlook the critical nuances that define its conceptual domain in

Chinese culture (see also Wasti et al., 2016).

First, we reveal the largely overlooked expressions of cultural

resources enabling a promotion focus in a Chinese context. This

extends Chinese interdependence beyond a prevention focus (Molden

et al., 2008; Lee & Semin, 2009) to account for thought and behavior

under a promotion focus. Our study substantiates how cultural

resources, relating to Confucian morality, support a promotion focus

in a Chinese context. This is important as it rebalances theory to

account for Chinese interdependent individuals' motivation towards

gains.

Second, we tentatively theorize a way of construing Chinese inter-

dependence. By positioning identity as a concatenative process

instead of an entity, we reduce attention to the self‐other distinction

that characterizes the discussion of independent and interdependent

identities. The notion of an entity underlines the fact that individuals

are motivated to concatenate others to their personhoods. We refer

to these as the outside‐in and inside‐out processes of concatenating

interdependent identity.

8.2 | Limitations and future research

Our theorizing frames our limitations. First, the strength of our mono-

cultural research design is also its weakness. Because no comparable

information is available from any non‐Chinese society, all comments

about comparisons are speculations informed by other research. The

question about the replicability of our findings could be explored in

other cultures using our meaning‐making perspective and six‐stage

methodology. Our approach appears particularly suited to examining

culturally anchored topics that are both exploratory and explanatory

research. This will provide a substantive basis for comparing meanings

from different parts of the world and advancing theorizing (Berry,

1989; Morris et al., 1999; Peterson & Pike, 2002; Pike, 1967).

Second, as our data is from a single occupational group (i.e., hospi-

tality workers) and an organizational category (i.e., international tourist

hotels), the generalizability of our findings is limited. For instance, our

findings show a relative lack of emphasis on an extended

family‐related identity. Though organizations in the Chinese context

are often construed through the lens of extended family (Yang,

1995), we speculate that family‐related identities are not emphasized

by our informants. We call for future work to explore this issue.

Although our findings could partly be artifacts of collecting data in

hospitality settings (e.g., the identity of service provider), we expect

our many work identities (i.e., employee, colleague, and organizational

member) are pervasive in contemporary work and similar patterns may

emerge in other work contexts. For instance, in the medical setting,

alongside the identity of care provider, the identities of employee, col-

leagues, and organizational member are also likely to appear. The use

of vocabulary provides the means to speculate about the


generalizability of our findings. Generalizability is informed by vocabu-

lary in terms of the relevancy and availability of certain vocabulary

(Loewenstein et al., 2012). Such vocabularies relevant or available only

in a specific context such as customer service are relatively less gener-

alizable. Vocabulary applying to contexts beyond service work has a

greater degree of generalizability. Some vocabularies are so pervasive

that their scope reaches beyond work settings (e.g., rén with mìanzi).

We invite research into whether these findings are more generalizable

to other life domains.

Third, although our method enables us to reveal jìngyè as a critical

motive, we do not yet expand on its meaning in context. Systematic

future research in Chinese contexts is needed to enrich our

understanding of jìngyè (see also, Barney & Zhang, 2009; Huang &

Bond, 2012). We believe studying jìngyè can help explain how and

why Chinese workers work. This may deepen our understanding of

the MOW.We believe it is important to consider howWestern history

and civilization gives form to the dominant understanding of the MOW

(i.e., work orientation; viewing work as job, career, or calling; Bellah,

Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1985; Pratt, Pradies, & Lepisto,

2013; Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin, & Schwartz, 1997). Our study

aligns with work orientation research in that we seek to explain the

cultural foundation that legitimizes working. In our study, we draw

on culturally endorsed ideal personhoods, Confucian and Taoist, which

are not present in the West. A potentially fruitful avenue for future

research is to compare systematically the notions of calling in

Protestantism with jìngyè in Confucianism. They are comparable as

they both stem from important intellectual traditions and both claim

that secular affairs such as work have sacred meaning (seeking

redemption through work and acting out one's inherent moral

potential in work). They also differ deeply in many aspects such as their

conception of the religion and sacred and their views of human nature.

Further research can examine how these affinities and differences

shape different conceptions of morality and behavior at work.

Fourth, our methodology, cross‐sectional, yields data in a way that

excludes exploring the potential longitudinal interplay between good‐

minded undertakings and effortless assignments. Our educated guess

is that good‐minded undertakings and effortless assignments are not

two separate and independent categories but rather two coexisting

forces. This invites exploration through the theoretical lens of the

yīn‐yáng balance (Fang, 2011; Li, 2011). For instance, when there is

no threat to one's self‐energy, the good‐minded undertaking serves

as an explicit force (i.e., yáng), and the effortless assignment serves

as implicit force (i.e., yīn). However, when the good‐minded undertak-

ing becomes pointless or wasteful, then it is a harmful force (i.e., yīn),

and the effortless assignment becomes beneficial in helping a person

to conserve self‐energy (i.e., yáng). A yīn‐yáng perspective combined

with a thoughtful research design could provide rich insight into the

interplay in the duality of (Confucian morally) good‐minded undertak-

ings and (Taoist pragmatically) effortless assignments.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We appreciate the critical support of Mark Peterson and and three

anonymous reviewers. Hwang Kwang‐kuo and ClydeWarden also pro-

vided useful inputs.

REFERENCES

Aaker, J. L., & Lee, A. L. (2001). “I” seek pleasures and “we” avoid pains: Therole of self‐regulatory goals in information processing and persuasion.Journal of Consumer Research, 28(1), 33–49.

Ashforth, B. E., Harrison, S. H., & Corley, K. G. (2008). Identification in orga-nizations: An examination of four fundamental questions. Journal ofManagement, 34(3), 325–374. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308316059

Audi, R., & Murphy, P. E. (2006). The many faces of integrity. Business EthicsQuarterly, 16(1), 3–21.

Bagozzi, R. P., Bergami, M., & Leone, L. (2003). Hierarchical representationof motives in goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 915–943.https://doi.org/10.1037/0021‐9010.88.5.915

Bagozzi, R. P., & Dabholkar, P. A. (2000). Discursive psychology: An alterna-tive conceptual foundation to means‐end chain theory. Psychology andMarketing, 17(7), 535–586.

Barney, J. B., & Zhang, S. (2009). The future of Chinese managementresearch: A theory of Chinese management versus a Chinese theoryof management. Management and Organization Review, 5(1), 15–28.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740‐8784.2008.00102.x

Bedford, O., & Hwang, K. K. (2003). Guilt and shame in Chinese culture: Across‐cultural framework from the perspective of morality and identity.The Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 33, 127–144.

Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1985).Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life.Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California.

Berry, J. W. (1989). Imposed etics‐emics‐derived etics: Theoperationalization of a compelling idea. International Journal of Psychol-ogy, 24(6), 721–735. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207598908247841

Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Freeman, L. C. (2002). UCINET for Windows:Software for social network analysis. Harvard, MA: AnalyticTechnologies.

Brief, A. P., & Nord, W. R. (1990).Meanings of occupational work: A collectionof essays. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

Briley, D. A., Morris, M. W., & Simonson, I. (2000). Reasons as carriers ofculture: Dynamic versus dispositional models of cultural influence ondecision making. Journal of Consumer Research, 27(2), 157–178.https://doi.org/10.1086/314318

Budd, J. W. (2011). The thought of work. Ithaca: ILR Press.

Chao, Y. T. (1990). Culture and work organization the Chinese case. Interna-tional Journal of Psychology, 25(3–6), 583–592. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207599008247914

Chuang, A., Hsu, R. S., Wang, A. C., & Judge, T. A. (2015). Does West “fit”with East? In search of a Chinese model of person–environment fit.Academy of Management Journal, 58(2), 480–510. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.1076

Cole, B. (2015). Lessons from a martial arts dojo: A prolonged processmodel of high‐context communication. Academy of Management Jour-nal, 58(2), 567–591.

Dumas, T. L., & Sanchez‐Burks, J. (2015). The professional, the personal,and the ideal worker: Pressures and objectives shaping the boundarybetween life domains. The Academy of Management Annals, 9(1),803–843. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2015.1028810

Fang, T. (2011). Yin Yang: A new perspective on culture. Management andOrganization Review, 8(1), 25–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740‐8784.2011.00221.x

Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2005). Economics language andassumptions: How theories can become self‐fulfilling. Academy ofManagement Review, 30(1), 8–24. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2005.15281412

Fine, G. A. (1996). Justifying work: Occupational rhetorics as resources inrestaurant kitchens. Administrative Science Quarterly, 90–115.

Freitas, A. L., Liberman, N., Salovey, P., & Higgins, E. T. (2002). When tobegin?: Regulatory focus and initiating goal pursuit. Personality andSocial Psychology Bulletin, 28, 121–130.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308316059

https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308316059

https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.915

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8784.2008.00102.x

https://doi.org/10.1080/00207598908247841

https://doi.org/10.1086/314318

https://doi.org/10.1080/00207599008247914

https://doi.org/10.1080/00207599008247914

https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.1076

https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2012.1076

https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2015.1028810

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8784.2011.00221.x

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8784.2011.00221.x

https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2005.15281412

https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2005.15281412


Higgins, E. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52(12),1280–1300. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003‐066X.52.12.1280

Ho, D. Y. (1976). On the concept of face. American Journal of Sociology,81(4), 867–884.

Ho, D. Y. (1995). Selfhood and identity in Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism,and Hinduism: Contrasts with the West. Journal for the Theory of SocialBehaviour, 25(2), 115–139.

Hofstede, G., & Bond, M. H. (1988). The Confucius connection: From cul-tural roots to economic growth. Organizational Dynamics, 16(4), 5–21.

Hsu, F. L. (1971). Psychosocial homeostasis and jen: Conceptual tools foradvancing psychological anthropology. American Anthropologist, 73(1),23–44.

Hu, H. C. (1944). The Chinese concepts of “face”. American Anthropologist,46(1), 45–64.

Huang, X., & Bond, M. H. (2012). There is nothing more American thanresearch on Chinese organizational behavior: Into a more culturallysensitive future. In X. Huang, & M. H. Bond (Eds.), Handbook ofChinese organizational behavior: Integrating theory, research and practice(pp. 513–523). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Hwang, K. K. (1987). Face and favor: The Chinese power game. AmericanJournal of Sociology, 92(4), 944–974. https://doi.org/10.1086/228588

Hwang, K. K. (2006). Constructive realism and Confucian relationalism: Anepistemological strategy for the development of indigenous psychol-ogy. In U. Kim, K. S. Yang, & K. K. Hwang (Eds.), Indigenous andcultural psychology: Understanding people in context (pp. 73–107). NewYork: Springer.

Hwang, K. K. (2012a). Foundations of Chinese psychology: Confucian socialrelations. New York: Springer.

Hwang, K. K. (2012b). Social exchange and face dynamism in Confuciansociety. In X. Huang, & M. H. Bond (Eds.), Handbook of Chinese organiza-tional behavior: Integrating theory, research and practice (pp. 480–501).Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Hwang, K. K., & Chang, J. (2009). Self‐cultivation: Culturally sensitive psy-chotherapies in Confucian societies. The Counseling Psychologist, 37(7),1010–1032. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000009339976

Ivanhoe, P. J. (2000). Confucian moral self cultivation. Indianapolis, IN:Hackett Publishing.

Jing, R., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2014). A yin‐yang model of organizationalchange: The case of Chengdu Bus Group.Management and OrganizationReview, 10(1), 29–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/more.12045

Jullien, F. (1995/2002). Fonder la morale. Dialogue de Mencius avec unphilosophe des Lumières [Daode dianji: Mencius yu yiwei qimeng zherende duihua] (G. Song trans.). Paris: Grasset (in Chinese).

Jullien, F. (2004). A treatise on efficacy: Between Western and Chinesethinking. (J. Lloyd, Trans.) Honolulu, HA: University of Hawaii Press.

Jullien, F. (2007). Vital nourishment: Departing from happiness. (A.Goldhamme, Trans. New York: Zone Book.

Kahn, H. (1979). World economic development: 1979 and beyond. Boulder,CO: Westview Press.

Kulich, S. J., & Zhang, R. (2010). The multiple frames of “Chinese” values:From tradition to modernity and beyond. In M. H. Bond (Ed.), TheOxford Handbook of Chinese Psychology (pp. 241–278). New York:Oxford University Press.

Lee, A. Y., Gardner, W. L., & Aaker, J. L. (2000). The pleasures and pains ofdistinct self construals: The role of interdependence in regulatory focus.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(6), 1122–1134.

Lee, A. Y., & Semin, G. R. (2009). Culture through the lens of self‐regulatoryorientations. In R. S. Wyer, C. Chiu, & Y. Hong (Eds.), Understanding cul-ture: Theory, research and application (pp. 271–288). New York:Psychology Press.

Lepisto, D. A., & Pratt, M. G. (2016). Meaningful work as realization and jus-tification: Toward a dual conceptualization. Organizational PsychologyReview, first published on June, 12, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386616630039

Li, P. P. (2011). Toward an integrative framework of indigenous research:The geocentric implications of yin‐yang balance. Asia Pacific Journal ofManagement, 29(4), 849–872. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490‐011‐9250‐z

Loewenstein, J., Ocasio, W., & Jones, C. (2012). Vocabularies and vocabu-lary structure: A new approach linking categories, practices, andinstitutions. The Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 41–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2012.660763

Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implicationsfor cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2),224–253. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033‐295X.98.2.224

Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrativemodel of organizational trust. Academy of Management Journal,20(3), 709–734.

Meaning of Working International Research Team (MOWIRT) (1987). Themeaning of working: An international view. London: Academic Press.

Metzger, T. A. (1988). Confucian thought and the modern Chinese questfor moral autonomy. Journal of Social Science and Philosophy, 1(1),266–306.

Michaelson, C., Pratt, M. G., Grant, A. M., & Dunn, C. P. (2013). Meaningfulwork: Connecting business ethics and organization studies. Journal ofBusiness Ethics, 121, 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551‐013‐1675‐5

Mills, C. W. (1940). Situated actions and vocabularies of motive. AmericanSociological Review, 5(6), 904–913.

Molden, D. C., Lee, A. Y., & Higgins, E. T. (2008). Motivations for promotionand prevention. In J. Shah, & W. Gardner (Eds.), Handbook of motivationscience (pp. 169–187). New York: Guilford Press.

Morris, M. W., Leung, K., Ames, D., & Lickel, B. (1999). Views from insideand outside: Integrating emic and etic insights about culture and justicejudgment. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 781–796.

Pan, Y., Rowney, J., & Peterson, M. F. (2012). The structure of Chinese cul-tural traditions: An empirical study of business employees in China.Management and Organization Review, 8, 77–95.

Perreault, W. D., & Leigh, L. E. (1989). Reliability of nominal data based onqualitative judgments. Journal of Marketing Research, 26(2), 135–148.

Peterson, M. F., & Barreto, T. S. (2014). The like it or not proposition: Impli-cations of societal characteristics for the cultural expertise and personalvalues of organization members. Journal of Organizational Behavior,35(8), 1134–1152.

Peterson, M. F., & Pike, K. L. (2002). Emics and etics for organizational stud-ies: A lesson in contrast from linguistics. International Journal of CrossCultural Management, 2, 5–19.

Pike, K. L. (1967). Language in relation to a unified theory of the structure ofhuman behavior (2nd ed.). The Hague, Paris: Mouton and Co.

Pratt, M. G., & Ashforth, B. E. (2003). Fostering meaningfulness in workingand at work. In K. Cameron, J. Dutton, & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positiveorganizational scholarship (pp. 309–327). San Francisco, CA: Berrett‐Koehler Publishers.

Pratt, M. G., Pradies, C., & Lepisto, D. A. (2013). Doing well, doing good, anddoing with: Organizational practices for effectively cultivating meaning-ful work. In B. J. Dik, Z. S. Byrne, & M. F. Steger (Eds.), Purpose andmeaning in the workplace (pp. 173–196). Washington, DC: AmericanPsychological Association.

Redding, G. (1990). The spirit of Chinese capitalism. Berlin: Walter deGruyter.

Redding, S. G., & Ng, M. (1983). The role of “face” in organizational percep-tions of Chinese managers. International Studies of Management andOrganization, 13, 92–123.

Reynolds, T. J., & Gutman, J. (1988). Laddering theory, method, analysis,and interpretation. Journal of Advertising Research, 28(1), 11–31.

Rosso, B. D., Dekas, K. H., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2010). On the meaning ofwork: A theoretical integration and review. Research in OrganizationalBehavior, 30, 91–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2010.09.001

https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.52.12.1280

https://doi.org/10.1086/228588

https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000009339976

https://doi.org/10.1111/more.12045

https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386616630039

https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386616630039

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-011-9250-z

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-011-9250-z

https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2012.660763

https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2012.660763

https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.98.2.224

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1675-5

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1675-5

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.riob.2010.09.001


Sanchez‐Burks, J. (2005). Protestant relational ideology: The cognitiveunderpinnings and organizational implications of an American anomaly.Research in Organizational Behavior, 26, 265–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191‐3085(04)26007‐5

Slingerland, E. (2003). Effortless action: Wu‐wei as conceptual metaphor andspiritual ideal in early China. New York: Oxford University Press.

Smith, P. B., Huang, H. J., Harb, C., & Torres, C. (2011). How distinctive areindigenous ways of achieving influence? A comparative study of guanxi,wasta, jeitinho, and pulling strings. Journal of Cross‐Cultural Psychology,43(1), 135–150.

Stanworth, J. O., Hsu, R. S., & Chang, H. T. (2015). Interpersonal servicequality of the Chinese: Determinants and behavioral drivers. ServiceBusiness, 9(3), 515–540. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628‐014‐0238‐x

Stryker, S., & Serpe, R. T. (1982). Commitment, identity salience, and rolebehavior: A theory and research example. In W. Ickes, & E. Knowles(Eds.), Personality, roles, and social behavior (pp. 199–218). New York:Springer‐Verlag.

Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in action: Symbols and strategies. AmericanSociological Review, 15(2), 273–286.

Swidler, A. (2001). Talk of love: How culture matters. Chicago, IL: Universityof Chicago Press.

Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup con-flict. In W. G. Austin, & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology ofintergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Monterrey, CA: Brooks‐Cole.

Tsui, A. S. (2012). Contextualizing research in a modernizing China. In X.Huang, & M. H. Bond (Eds.), Handbook of Chinese organizational behav-ior: Integrating research, theory, and practice (pp. 29–47). Cheltenham,UK: Edward Edgar.

Tu, W.‐M. (1968). The creative tension between Jen and li. Philosophy Eastand West, 18(1/2), 29–39.

Ulrich, H., & Probst, G. (1984). Self‐organization and management of socialsystems: Insights, promises, doubts, and questions. Berlin: Springer‐Verlag.

Wang, E., & Xu, L. (1993). Societal norms concerning work among Beijingworkers: A cross‐cultural study. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 25(1), 31–38(in Chinese).

Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods andapplications. Cambridge, and New York: Cambridge University Press.

Wasti, S. A., Peterson, M. F., Breitsohl, H., Cohen, A., Jørgensen, F.,Rodrigues, A. C. A., … Xu, X. (2016). Location, location, location:Contextualizing workplace commitment. Journal of OrganizationalBehavior, 37(4), 613–632.

Weick, K. E. (1979). The social psychology of organizing (2nd ed.). Reading,MA: Addison‐Wesley.

Weick, K. E. (1989). Theory construction as disciplined imagination. Acad-emy of Management Review, 14(4), 516–531. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1989.4308376

Westwood, R., & Lok, P. (2003). The meaning of work in Chinese contexts:A comparative study. International Journal of Cross Cultural Manage-ment, 3(2), 139–165. https://doi.org/10.1177/14705958030032001

Wrzesniewski, A., McCauley, C., Rozin, P., & Schwartz, B. (1997). Jobs,careers, and callings: People's relations to their work. Journal ofResearch in Personality, 31(1), 21–33.

Yang, K. S. (1995). Chinese social orientation: An integrative analysis. In T.Y. Lin, W. S. Tseng, & Y. K. Yeh (Eds.), Chinese societies and mentalhealth. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.

Yu, N. (2009). The Chinese heart in a cognitive perspective. Berlin: Walter deGruyter.

Ryan Shuwei Hsu is an assistant professor in organizational behav-

ior at the National Taiwan Normal University. His research

revolves around bridging cultures and substantial theories in orga-

nizational behavior. Ryan has a particular interest in understanding

person–environment fit, meaningful work, and work motivation

from Chinese cultural perspectives.

James O. Stanworth is an associate professor at the National

Changhua University of Education, Taiwan. His research develops

insights into the design and management of service experiences

for Chinese customers. James' current interests center on Chinese

construction of meanings relating to service quality, motivation,

technology adoption and value creation.

How to cite this article: Hsu RS, Stanworth JO. Work as

good‐minded undertakings and effortless assignments: Chinese

meaning of working for hospitality workers and its motivational

implications. J Organ Behav. 2018;39:52–66. https://doi.org/

10.1002/job.2209

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-3085(04)26007-5

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-3085(04)26007-5

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-014-0238-x

https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1989.4308376

https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1989.4308376

https://doi.org/10.1177/14705958030032001



work as good-minded undertakings and effortless assignments: … · 2018-09-17 · work as...

Documents