Factoring Culture Into Relationship Management Theory: Traditional Chinese Value Orientations and Cultivation Strategies

This study employed the theories of Chinese culture value orientations and relationship cultivation strategies in investigating how culture plays a role in relationship cultivation in the Chinese societies. An exploratory factor analysis yielded 8 Chinese culture value orientations, labeled as "self discipline," "temperament," "hierarchical responsibility," "moral values," "social stability," "professional ethics,"relational reciprocation," and "affective neutrality." The findings also revealed that culture did have impacts on perceptions of the relational cultivation strategies in the Chinese organization-public context, although the maganitudes are not large. Hierarchical responsibility affected four out of the seven cultivation strategies. Relational reciprocation affected the perception of networking, openness, and sharing of tasks; while professional ethics significantly contributed to the perception of being unconditionally constructive. A discussion of the cultural value scale and findling implications is provided.