A comparison between North and South business ethics: the concepts of Renzhi and Fazhi in China |
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| Authors: | Mohammed Y A Rawwas Yanfang Wang Baochun Zhao Basharat Javed |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA;2. Department of Business, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China;3. Department of E-Business, South-Central University for Nationalities, Hubei, China;4. Department of Business Studies, Namal College, Mianwali, Pakistan |
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| 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. |
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| Keywords: | China ethics epistemology Fazhi idealism marketing PRC relativism Renzhi |
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