International Journal of Intercultural Relations 34 (2010) 493–506 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Intercultural Relations journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel Values, commitment, and OCB among Chinese employees  Ying Liu a,∗ , Aaron Cohen b,1 a Institute of Organization and Human Resource, School of Public Administration, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China b School of Political Science, Division of Public Administration, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel article info Article history: Accepted 12 May 2010 Keywords: Cultural values Commitment Chinese employees abstract This study examines relationships and interactions between (1) individual values, (2) orga- nizational and occupational commitment, and (3) organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and in-role performance in a sample of 166 employees working for a public organization in northern China. The results show several differences between the Chinese employees and previously studied Western samples, some of them expected and others surprising. Among the notable findings, the results show a strong role for continuance commitment as both a dependent variable (affected by values) and independent variable (affecting OCB). A strong negative relationship between self-direction and all commitment forms is also interesting and quite unexpected. As one of the few studies to examine such relationships in a highly traditional, non-Western culture, the study offers a new perspective on the vari- ables examined here. We conclude by emphasizing the need for further research on other non-Western cultures and by suggesting some directions for such research. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction As the role of personality traits in work-related behaviors and values has received renewed interest over the past decade (Furnham, Petrides, Tsaosis, Pappas, & Garrod, 2005), researchers have begun to examine the effect of values on commitment (Cohen, 2007b; Cohen & Keren, 2008; Kirkman & Shapiro, 2001; Pearson & Chong, 1997; Wasti, 2003) and on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and performance (Ang, Van Dyne, & Begley, 2003; Cohen & Keren, 2008; Farh, Hackett, & Liang, 2007). Fischer and Smith (2006) highlight the importance of such an examination, arguing that employees from different socio-cultural backgrounds bring different career aspirations and value systems to their work. Their own research has shown that employees are influenced differently by justice perceptions depending on their value orientation (Fischer & Smith, 2006). But values are thought to play a functional role in all sorts of work-related processes and outcomes (Lam, Schaubroeck, & Aryee, 2002). Most studies on values have focused on the national level of analysis, in that they have compared aggregated scales of values across countries (key examples are Hofstede, 1980; Schwartz, 1999). Few studies have examined the effect of values on attitudes and behaviors at the individual level (Fischer & Smith, 2006, discussed above, is a notable exception). Yet individuals both within and across societies may have quite different value priorities that reflect their heritage, personal experiences, socio-economic level, and acculturation (Schwartz & Bardi, 2001). Values can influence how an individual perceives and interprets a given situation and the importance he or she gives it (Schwartz, Sagiv, & Boehnke, 2000), as well as how he or  This study is funded by 211 project of Renmin University of China. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 82502336; fax: +86 10 62513554. E-mail addresses: lylw.liu@gmail.com (Y. Liu), acohen@poli.haifa.ac.il (A. Cohen). 1 Tel.: +972 4 8240 041; fax: +972 4 8257 785. 0147-1767/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2010.05.001