Management and Organization Review 2:1 67-94 1740-8776 Stability and Change in Managerial Work Values: A Longitudinal Study of China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. David A. Ralston, 1 James Pounder, 2 Carlos W. H. Lo, 3 Yim-Yu Wong, 4 Carolyn P. Egri, 5 and Joseph Stauffer 6 1 University of Oklahoma, USA, 2 Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates, 3 Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (SAR), 4 San Francisco State University, USA, b Simon Fraser University, Canada, 6 Texas A&M, USA ABSTRACT This study presents a 12-year (1989-2001) longitudinal comparison of managerial values systems in China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, we test the validity of the three competing perspectives - convergence, divergence, and crossvergence - on values system evolution in these three societies. We use the sociocultural influence and business ideology influence typology as the foundation for developing our hypotheses. Additionally, we assess the contribution of the specific values within the values system to the overall system values findings. Our data most strongly support the multicultural crossvergence perspective. During a time period of stability in the U.S. and substantial change in both Hong Kong and China, the values of Hong Kong and China became more similar, while the values of these two Greater China societies became more different from those of the U.S. INTRODUCTION Do changes in societal values require years, decades, or centuries? This question has been debated for decades (Webber, 1969). The debate focuses around the con- vergence, divergence, or crossvergence perspectives, as well as the reasons or influ- ences that lead to each of these three perspectives (Dunphy, 1987; Ralston, Holt, Terpstra, and Yu, 1997). The purpose of the current study is to shed some addi- tional insight on this debate using longitudinal data from three societies. Ralston, Gustafson, Cheung, and Terpstra (1993) observed differences in values among mainland China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. in 1989. The goal of this cross- sectional study was to assess the level of values convergence—divergence—crossver- gence among these societies. Hong Kong was the focus of the Ralston et al. (1993) © 2006 The Authors Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Maiden, MA, 02148, USA available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8784.2006.00031.x Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 34.228.24.229, on 10 Jun 2020 at 20:11:46, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use,