Insights on measuring China’s new national culture from leaders of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Abstract

Understanding China’s national culture is increasingly important for enabling greater international collaborative activities as China takes her central stage in the global arena. However, the country’s rapid modernization, such as through leading innovations in Industry 4.0 (specifically the ‘Made in China 2025’ policy), may have provoked a cultural turn that is difficult to capture with existing cultural measurement tools. This study conducted interviews with leaders of Chinese establishments that have updated their operations to the Industry 4.0 specification to understand their impact on general perception and workplace culture. Based on these insights, this article argues that existing models for measuring national culture are not necessarily being old that makes them unsuitable for application to a ‘new’ China but that Chinese establishments operating Industry 4.0 are a unique case for which generalized models can no longer be universally applicable. Instead, augmented/alternative cultural dimensions are suggested as new theoretical constructs for this unique context.