Out study of ethnically Chinese people in Malaysia shows some of the assumptions about what leads to their business success might be wrong. Past studies point to traditional Confucian values and a refugee mentality as a reason for success, but we found it comes down to a new set of beliefs in hard work and enterprise.
We used data on Malaysia from the World Values Survey, which has been conducted since 1981 with samples of more than 1000 respondents in each of more than 100 countries. The survey questionnaire now has some 250 questions about different social, economic and political values and attitudes. We chose Malaysia in particular because it's a country where Chinese immigration is both recent and historic and where the economic dominance of the Chinese is stark.
We compared eight potentially relevant values: Confucianism, low trust and confidence in the state, ethnocentrism (evaluating other cultures by your own), opportunism and belief in hard work, progress as well as free enterprise. We wanted to know whether the Malaysian Chinese show these values more than other ethnic groups in Malaysia.
More than 10 million Chinese nationals live abroad. Add the descendants of China's historical emigration waves, and an estimated 40 million Chinese people live in 130 countries across the world. Compared with other cultures, Chinese immigrants tend to maintain their cultural identity and traditions more.
They also have a huge economic footprint. Exact figures are hard to get because Chinese businesses and immigrants maintain a low profile not least to avoid the scrutiny their success invites. However, estimates exist.
In Southeast Asia, ethnically Chinese make up only 5% of the population but control between one and three-quarters of the economy, according to a range of indicators (such as business ownership, investment, capital or taxes paid). In Malaysia, only a quarter of the population are ethnic Chinese, but they own around 70% of business real estate and market capitalisation, control all the top private listed companies and make up eight out of the 10 richest people.
According to previous research, Confucian values drive efficient family businesses, run autocratically by patriarchs based on interpersonal ties. These flourished in times of great uncertainty in informal, co-operative Chinese networks.
Similar theories were proposed to explain the rise of the so-called ``tiger economies'' (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore) in the 1960s.
The Confucian values we examined include respect for tradition, security, the authority of elders and conformism. The individual is subsumed under the collective.
We found no evidence the values of the Chinese in Malaysia are any more Confucian than those of indigenous Malays and Malaysian Indians. The much-touted Confucian culture is common to all three groups and probably reflects Asian values generally.
The other possible source of the success of Chinese people living overseas lies in the refugee mentality. It emerges from the trauma of emigration to often hostile conditions abroad.
It's a belief in hard work and enterprise to overcome adversity, a mistrust of the state and other social groups as well as opportunism, the tendency to take advantage.
Progress and business risk-taking became the only way to make a living for Chinese immigrants who were originally excluded, often by law, from the civil services or land ownership.
We found evidence Malaysian Chinese have much lower confidence in government and may discriminate against other groups more than other Malaysians. Malaysia's three ethnic groups, however, did not differ from each other in terms of interpersonal trust in strangers or opportunism.
We also found ethnic Chinese had a much greater belief in free enterprise and hard work than other Malaysian ethnic groups. However, we found no differences in attitudes towards progress, science and technology.
Our analysis suggests Chinese people living overseas forged a new culture by adapting their traditional values to the immigration experience. That may explain their success in Malaysia and elsewhere.
To some, hard work, enterprise and distrust of the state may look like capitalist ideology. However, Western principles do not fit the typically pragmatic Chinese mindset. It's more likely these values developed in response to lacking state and social support abroad.
What are the lessons for present-day Australia? Will Chinese immigration take a different course from Southeast Asia, where ethnic and economic conflicts continue to simmer? We found in our study that Chinese people adapt to the circumstances they face. The prospects of integration therefore depend both on the culture they bring and the conditions created for them. - the conversation.com
Robert Hoffmann is a economics professor at RMIT University, Melbourne, and Swee Hoon Chuah an economics senior lecturer.
