Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T04:13:39.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cooperative and Competitive Orientation among Chinese People: Scale Development and Validation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Xiao-Ping Chen ,
Xiaofei Xie  and
Shiqing Chang
Xiao-Ping Chen
Affiliation:
University of Washington, USA
Xiaofei Xie
Affiliation:
University of Washington, USA
Shiqing Chang
Affiliation:
Peking University, China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Chinese people are known to be strong in dialectical thinking – a cognitive tendency toward the acceptance of contradiction. Based on this finding, we conceptualized cooperative and competitive orientation as two distinct constructs that represent individual beliefs about and attitudes toward the nature of their relationship with others. We hypothesized that as stable individual differences, cooperative and competitive orientation would have differential effects on people's cognition and behaviour. Adopting a contextualization approach to Chinese management research, we developed a seven-item cooperative orientation scale and a six-item competitive orientation scale that demonstrated high reliabilities and validities. A laboratory experiment using the response latency method showed that people scoring higher on cooperative orientation responded significantly faster toward words of a cooperative nature, whereas people scoring higher on competitive orientation responded significantly faster toward words of a competitive nature. A field survey in multiple Chinese organizations further showed that cooperative and competitive orientation had differential effects on employee task performance and organizational citizenship behaviour beyond the effects of the personality differences. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed in the context of work groups in Chinese organizations and beyond.

Keywords

Chinacompetitive orientationcontextualizationcooperative orientationscale developement竞争倾向合作倾向量表发展
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 2011 , pp. 353 - 379
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Argyle, M. 1991. Cooperation: The basis of sociability. London: Routlege.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. 1997. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.Google Scholar
Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. 1991. The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44: 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, P. M. 1964. Exchange and power in social life. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Borman, W. C., & Motowidlo, S. J. 1993. Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In Schmitt, N. & Borman, W. C. (Eds.), Personnel selection in organizations: 11–98. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Bornstein, G. 1992. The free-rider problem in intergroup conflicts over step-level and continuous public goods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62(4): 597–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandenburger, A. M., & Nalebuff, B.J. 1996. Co-opetition. New York: Doubleday Currency.Google Scholar
Chen, C. C. 1995. New trends in rewards allocation preferences: A Sino-US comparison. Academy of Management Journal, 38(2): 408–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, C. C., & Chen, X. P. 2009. A critical analysis of guanxi and its negative externalities in Chinese organizations. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 26: 37–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, M. 2005. Asian management systems: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean styles of business. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chen, X. P., & Chen, C. C. 2004. On the intricacies of Chinese guanxi: A process model of guanxi development. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 21(3): 305–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, X. P., & Li, S. 2005. Cross-national diilerences in cooperative decision-making in mixed-motive business contexts: The mediating effect of vertical and horizontal individualism. Journal of International Business Studies, 36(6): 622–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, P. T. Jr, & McCrae, R. R. 1985. The NEO personality inventory manual, Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Dean, P. G., & Carnevale, P. J. 1993. Negotiation in social conflict. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Deutsch, M. 1949a. A theory of cooperation and competition. Human Relations, 2(2): 129–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deutsch, M. 1949b. An experimental study of the e fleets of cooperation and competition upon group process. Human Relations, 2(3): 199–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Digman, J. M. 1990. Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41(1): 417–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erdle, S., & Lalonde, R. N. 1986. Processing information about self: Evidence for personality traits as cognitive prototypes. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Toronto.Google Scholar
Fang, X. Y., Wang, G., & Bai, X. J. 1992. The development of cooperation and competition in children: A review. Psychological Development and Education, 1: 38–42. (in Chinese.)Google Scholar
Farh, J. L., Earley, P. C., & Lin, S. C. 1997. Impetus for action: A cultural analysis of justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(3): 421–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farh, J. L., Canella, A. A., & Lee, C. 2006. Approaches to scale development in Chinese management research. Management and Organization Review, 2(3): 301–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazio, R. H. 1990. A practical guide to the use of response latency in social psychology research. In Hendrick, C. & Clark, M. S. (Eds.), Research methods in personality and social psychology: 74–97. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Fekken, G. C., & Holden, R. R. 1992. Response latency evidence for viewing personality traits as schema indicators. Journal of Research in Personality, 26(2): 103–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fong, C. T. 2006. The effects of emotional ambivalence on creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 49: 1016–1030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fong, C. T., & Tiedens, L. Z. 2002. Dueling experiences and dual ambivalences: Emotional and motivational ambivalence of women in high status position. Motivation and Emotion, 26: 105–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofstede, G. 1980. Cultural consequences: International differences in work-related values, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hough, L. M. 1992. The ‘Big Five’ personality variables–construct confusion: Description versus prediction. Human Performance, 5: 139–155.Google Scholar
Hui, C., Law, K., & Chen, Z. X. 1999. A structural equation model of the effects of negative affecivity, leader-member exchange, and perceived job mobility on in-role and extra-role performance: A Chinese case. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 77; 3–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hurtz, G. M., & Donovan, J. J. 2000. Personality and job performance: The Big Five revisited. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(6): 869–879.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hwang, K. K. 1987. Face and favor: The Chinese power game. American Journal of Sociology, 92(4): 944–974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D. W., & Norem-Hebeisen, A. 1977. Attitudes toward interdependence among persons and psychological health. Psychological Reports, 40(3): 843–850.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, D. W., & Norem-Hebeisen, A. 1979. A measure of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic attitudes. Journal of Social Psychology, 109: 253–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. 1978. The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Keller, J., & Lowenstein, J. 2010. The cultural category of cooperation: A cultural consensus model analysis for China and the US. Organizational Science (in press).Google Scholar
Kellcy, H. H., & Stahelski, A.J. 1970. Social interaction basis of cooperators' and competitors' beliefs about others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 3 16(1): 66–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelley, H. H., & Thibaut, J. W. 1978. Interpersonal relations. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Kim, T., Weber, T., Leung, K., & Muramoto, Y. 2010. Perceived fairness of pay: The importance of task versus maintenance inputs in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Management and Organization Review, 6(1): 31–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komorita, S. S., & Parks, C. D. 1995. Interpersonal relations: Mixed-motive interaction. Annual Review of Psychology, 46(2): 183–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuiper, N. 1981. Convergent evidence for the self as a prototype: The inverted-URT effect for self and other judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7: 438–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LePine, J. & Van Dyne, L. 2001. Voice and cooperative behavior as contrasting norms of contextual performance: Evidence of differential relationships with Big Five personality characteristics and cognitive ability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86: 326–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liebrand, W. B. G. 1984. The effect of social motives, communication and group size on behavior in an n-person multi-stage mixed-motive game. European Journal of Social Psychology, 14(3): 239–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liebrand, W. B. G.3 & McClintock, C. G. 1988. The ring measure of social values: A computerized procedure for assessing individual diffrences in information processing and social value orientation. European Journal of Personality, 2: 217–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClintock, C. G., & Liebrand, W. B. G. 1988. Role of interdependence structure, individual value orientation, and another's strategy in social decision making: A transformational analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55: 396–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markus, H. 1977. Self-schemata and processing information about the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(2): 63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mead, M. 1976. Cooperation and competition among primitive people. Boston, MA: Beacon.Google Scholar
Messick, D. M., & McClintock, C. G. 1968. Motivational bases of choice in experimental games. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 4(1): 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, M. W., & Leungs, K. 2010. Creativity east and west: Perspectives and parallels. Management and Organization Review, 6(3): 313–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Motowidlo, S.J., Borman, W. C., & Schmit, M.J. 1997. A theory of individual differences in task and contextual performance. Human Performance, 10(2): 71–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mount, M. K., Barrick, M. R., & Stewart, G. L. 1998. Five-factor model of personality and performance in jobs involving interpersonal interactions. Human Performance, 11(1): 145–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organ, D. W. 1997. Organizational citizenship behavior: It's construct clean-up time. Human Performance, 10(2): 85–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organ, D. W., & Ryan, K. 1995. A meta-analytic review of attitudinal and dispositional predictors of organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology, 48: 775–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M., & Kemmelmeicr, M. 2002. Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128(1): 3–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parks, C. D. 1994. The predictive ability of social values in resource dilemmas and public goods games. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(4): 431–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, K. P., & Nisbctt, R. E. 1999. Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction. American Psychologist, 54(9): 741–754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. 2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5): 879–903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapoport, A., & Chammah, A. M. 1965. Prisoner's dilemma. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapoport, A., & Suleiman, R. 1993. Incremental contribution in step-level public goods games with asymmetric players. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 55(2): 171–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, T. B. 1971. The process of responding to personality items; Some issues, a theory and some research. Multivariate Behavioral Research Monographs, 6(2): 1–65.Google Scholar
Saucier, G. 1994. Mini-Markers: A brief version of Goldberg's unipolar Big-Five markers. Journal of Personality Assessment, 63(3): 506–516.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shore, L. M., Coyle-Shapiro, J. A.-M., Chen, X. P., & Tetrick, L. E. 2009. Social exchange in work settings: Content, process, and mixed models. Management and Organization Review, 5(3): 289–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snijders, T. A. B., & Bosker, R. J. 1999. Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling. London; Sage.Google Scholar
Spencer-Rodgers, J., Boucher, H., Mori, S., Wang, L., & Peng, K. 2009. The Dialectical self-concept: Contradiction, Change, and Holism in East Asian cultures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(1): 29–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sui, X.; & Zhao, L. 2003. An explorative study of primary school students' mental structure of competition. Psychological Science, 26: 1132–1133. (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C. 1995. Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S., & Lau, C. M. 2002. Research on the management of enterprises in the People's Republic of China: Current status and future directions. In Tsui, A. S. & Lau, C. M. (Eds.), The management of enterprises in the People's Republic of China: 1–27. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vinchur, A. J., Schippmann, J. S., Switzer, F. S. III, & Roth, P. L. 1998. A meta-analytic review of predictors of job performance for salespeople. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(4): 586–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X. L., Peng, D. H., & Wu, T. J. 2008. Comparing college students' implicit and explicit attitude toward cooperation. Higher Education Exploration, 1: 129–131. (in Chinese.)Google Scholar
Williams, L.J., & Anderson, S. E. 1991. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behavior. Journal of Management, 17(3): 601–617.CrossRefGoogle Scholar