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Confucian Trustworthiness and the Practice of Business in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Daryl Koehn
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Abstract:

Confucius’s teachings fall under four headings: “culture, moral conduct, doing one’s best, and being trustworthy in what one says” (7/25). Trust or, more precisely, being trustworthy, plays a central role in the Confucian ethic. This paper begins by examining the Confucian concept of trustworthiness. The second part of the paper discusses how the ideal of trustworthiness makes itself felt in business practices within China. The paper concludes by raising and addressing several objections to the Confucian emphasis on trustworthiness.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 2001 , pp. 415 - 429
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2001

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References

Notes

1 All references to Confucian sayings are to the chapter and paragraph listing in Confucius, The Analects, trans. D. C. Lau (London: Penguin Books, 1979).

2 See, e.g., Annette Baier, “Trust,” in Tanner Lectures on Human Value, ed. Grethe B. Peterson, vol. 13 (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1992), pp. 107-136; Trudy Govier, “An Epistemology of Trust,” International Journal of Morality and Social Studies 8 (Spring 1993): 155-174.

3 Boye Lafayette De Mente, Chinese Etiquette and Ethics in Business (New York: NTC Publishing Group, 1994), p. 121.

4 Of course that is not to deny that some unscrupulous persons may abuse one’s trust. Mente contends: “The Chinese continuously emphasize that all agreements should be based on friendship and good will, making finely detailed contracts unnecessary. However, in any disagreement, they take a legalistic view of contracts and do not feel bound by anything that is not explicitly stated in a contract.” Mente goes on to complain that the Chinese will always try to make business relationships conform to the laws of their own country. Mente, Chinese Etiquette, p. 121. However, given that Americans, English, and Germans also prefer to do business in accordance with the laws of their respective countries, this last point hardly counts as evidence that the Chinese are more grasping or unjust than other peoples.

5 Mente, Chinese Etiquette, p. 119.

6 Chin-Ning Chu, The Asian Mind Game (New York: Rawson Associates, 1991), p. 171.

7 Asians consistently complain about Americans’ impatience and their preference for studying trade statistics and neglecting cultural and historical studies. Some Chinese describe Americans as tean-zu, a term meaning “childlike.” Americans have been blessed with growth and peace and have not known the level of suffering the Chinese endured for centuries. Their optimism can lead them to a superficial understanding of other people’s positions. Chu, p. 172.

8 Mente, Chinese Etiquette, p. 90.

9 Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn, China Wakes (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), p. 96.

10 Francis Fukuyama argues the Chinese are a low-trust society in Trust (New York: Free Press, 1996), passim. The same point has been made by Mente, Chinese Etiquette, p. 90.

11 Kristoff and Wudunn, p. 316.

12 Ibid., p. 344.

13 Ibid., p. 317.

14 “P&G Wants to be on Tip of Tongues in, Let’s Say, Tianjin,” Wall Street Journal, August 24, 1998, p. B8.

15 Kristoff and Wudunn, p. 141; Lu Xiaohe, “On Ethical and Economic Value” at <http://www.stthom.edu/cbes>.

16 Peter B. Vaili, “The Learning Challenges of Leadership,” in The Balance of Leadership and Followership, Kellogg Leadership Studies Project, July 1997, pp. 71-83.