The economy of Asia Pacific is becoming increasingly important in the 21st century. Since most economic activities are under the control of Overseas Chinese, the study of the influence of Chinese Culture has become an important item in strategic management research. Despite the criticality of understanding the strategic decision processes of Chinese managers, very few empirical studies have addressed this gap. This research attempts to develop an integrative model that explains the causal relationships between Chinese culture, strategic decision making processes and organizational performance. The study uses the quantitative research design and structural equation analysis technique to develop and test the model. The major findings are two causal paths in the model, namely cognitive-speed path and social-political path. The cognitive-speed path suggests that the Chinese focus on the big picture and that the adoption of a holistic view, as well as drawing analogues from past experience and extensive network, will reduce the duration of the decision process. The social-political path shows that Chinese managers focus on the collective interest, strive to maintain harmony and save face; the managers also use a collaborative approach to handling conflict, thus reducing dysfunctional political behavior, while reinforcing the decision team's focus on common goals, factual data and fair processes. These two paths are found to have a positive relationship with organizational performance with the cognitive-speed path showing a stronger effect. The most significant contribution of this study is the establishment of a Chinese strategic decision making process model that can benefit both Western and Chinese organizations by adapting some of its implications. Future studies can enhance the model using longitudinal design with more detailed variables and larger sample size to study the effect of other contextual differences like ownership or age groups.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/284066 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Cheng, Ting Pong Vincent |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | EN-AUS |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Cheng Ting Pong Vincent 2008 |
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