Collectivist Values for Productive Teamwork between Korean and Chinese Employees

The global marketplace increasingly demands that cultural diverse people work together but studies have documented important barriers to inter-cultural collaboration. Researchers have argued the need to study intercultural interaction directly in order to develop knowledge that diverse people can use to overcome obstacles and work productively. This study proposes that collectivist values are a basis upon which Korean and Chinese colleagues working in joint ventures in China develop quality collegial relationships and thereby work productively together. Chinese employees completed measures of collectivist and individualist values in their relationships with a Korean colleague. The Korean partners completed measures of collegial relationships, productivity, and confidence of future collaboration. In addition to supporting that collectivist values can promote quality collegial relationships, findings support the theorizing that quality relationships facilitate productive collaborative work. Results suggest that collectivist values can be an important basis for Korean and Chinese employees to develop a common platform where they work together
productively across cultural boundaries.