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

• Date: 01 January 2018
• Author: James O. Stanworth,Ryan Shuwei Hsu
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/job.2209
• Published date: 01 January 2018

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Work as good‐minded undertakings and effortless assignments:

Chinese meaning of working for hospitality workers and its

motivational implications

Ryan Shuwei Hsu

1

|James O. Stanworth

2

1

Department of Business Administration,

College of Management, National Taiwan

Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan

2

Department 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: jamesstanworth@btinternet.com

Summary

Meaning 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, promotionand 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

(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

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

DOI: 10.1002/job.2209

52 Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J Organ Behav. 2018;39:52–66.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/job