A comparison between North and South business ethics: the concepts of Renzhi and Fazhi in China

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to compare the ethical standards of business practitioners of Northern provinces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) who follow the ‘rule by man’ (i.e. the Renzhi system) versus those of southern provinces who follow the ‘rule by law’ (i.e. the Fazhi system). Our Shanghai survey represented the south Chinese sample, and our Shijiazhuang mailing represented our north Chinese sample. We received 95 completed responses for the former and 102 completed responses for the latter. Our results found that the south Chinese practitioners were more likely to be idealistic, possessed virtue epistemic traits and were more sensitive to ethical practices than north Chinese practitioners were.

KEYWORDS:

• China
• ethics
• epistemology
• Fazhi
• idealism
• marketing
• PRC
• relativism
• Renzhi

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohammed Y. A. Rawwas

Mohammed Y. A. Rawwas, Ph.D., is professor of Marketing and Senior Fulbright Specialist at the University of Northern Iowa in the U.S.A. (1991–present). He has taught as Visiting Professor at a range of institutions including Austria, Brazil, Chile, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Lebanon, Russia and Trinidad and Tobago. His areas of research include consumer behaviour, business ethics and cross-cultural studies. He has published across these areas more than 60 manuscripts, including works in Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Journal of Marketing Education, and Journal of Business Ethics. He is the recipient of many awards including the CBA Research Award (2018), Lubker Research Creativity Award (2016), among several others.

Yanfang Wang

Yanfang Wang, Ph.D. candidate, at Beijing Normal University and is assistant professor at the Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China (2006–present). Her areas of research include consumer behaviour, financial depth and economic development in China.

Baochun Zhao

Baochun Zhao, Ph.D., is professor of Marketing at the South-Central University for Nationalities in China, and a visitor scholar of the University of Northern Iowa in the U.S.A. (2014–2015). His research areas include consumer behaviour, business ethics, tourism behaviour and marketing. He has published across these areas more than 10 manuscripts and two academic monographs including works in Journal of Business Ethics, Management World, among others. He is the recipient of many awards including the first class of CM research Award (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014). Before obtaining his Ph.D., he worked at a large state-owned company in China from as an assistant manager, deputy director general and senior manager from 1996 to 2008.

Basharat Javed

Basharat Javed, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Human Resource Management at the Namal College Mianwali, Pakistan (2017–present). His areas of research include religious work ethic, innovative work behaviour, ethical leadership and inclusive leadership. He has published across these areas seven manuscripts including works in Current Issues in Tourism, Journal of Management & Organization, Personnel Review, Journal of Creative Behavior and Journal of Psychology.