The Influence of National Culture on Knowledge Management in China Managerial Implications for Central European Countries

Abstract

Together with the ever increasing economic position of China, the importance of understanding the specifics of Chinese national culture and their influence on knowledge management, or on the management of Chinese knowledge workers, is also increasing. The objective of this article is to present the most important specifics of Chinese national culture and clarify their influence on the behavior and ways of work of Chinese knowledge workers. The second objective is to sum up some managerial implications for managers from Central European Countries (CEC) - Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Methodologically, this article is based upon Hofstede's characteristics of cultural dimensions and their application on China. Also, an analysis of case studies from the Chinese environment has been used and comparison to Western approaches to knowledge management and knowledge workers performed. The article shall prepare managers for cooperation with their Chinese partners while emphasizing that this cooperation will be interesting, though absolutely not easy, since the Chinese approach to knowledge and its sharing under the influence of their national culture is very specific and different from Western ways. The term "Western cultures" is understood to mean namely the cultures of Europe and the U.S.A. (Hofstede, 2007); thus, CEC is a part of Western culture.