Title: Combining Korean Confucianism with European values to build successful business relationships

Authors: Alison Pearce; Katarzyna Dziewanowska; Rose Quan; Ilsang Ko

Addresses: Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, England, UK ' Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw, Szturmowa 1/3, 02-678 Warszawa, Warsaw, Poland ' Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, England, UK ' College of Business Administration, Chonnam National University, 300 Yongbong-Dong, Buk-Gu, Gwangju, Chonnam, South Korea

Abstract: Confucian and Buddhist influences in Korea combine to create paradoxical culture in which different ideas merge harmoniously. Meanwhile, Aristotelian European values have developed in a different direction. With increasing collaboration between European Union (EU) countries and Korea, developing enduring and successful business relationships is imperative. This paper addresses the lack of focus on Korean Confucianism and its effect on relations with Europe. It emerges from an evaluation of successful EU-Korean collaborations over 11 years in higher education and industry. Using thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 'critical cases', our findings show that Korean Confucianism is a positive influence on relationships to achieve complex, ambitious aims. We posit that a combination of Korean and European values is ideal as Korean society undergoes rapid change and Europe faces political upheaval. Finally, we find that value adjustment from both sides is essential and a new framework of approaches to this process is proposed.

Keywords: Korean Confucianism; European values; successful business relationship.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2022.120706

European Journal of International Management, 2022 Vol.17 No.2/3, pp.441 - 468

Received: 01 Mar 2019
Accepted: 08 Dec 2019
Published online: 04 Feb 2022 *

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