Collectivist Value Orientations among Four Ethnic Groups: Collectivism in the New Zealand Context

Abstract

In this paper we present findings on individual level variation in individualismcollectivism (IC) among four ethnic groups (New Zealand European-NZE, Māori, Pacific Islanders-PI and Chinese) within the New Zealand context, using the Individualism-Collectivism Interpersonal Assessment Inventory (ICIAI) developed by Matsumoto, Preston, Brown and Kuppersbusch (1997). The investigation tested the reliability of the ICIAI instrument with different ethnic groups in a unique national context as well as prevalent value orientations and behavioural implications for those ethnic groups, measured across three social contexts (family, friends and strangers). There were a total of 400 participants (36% NZE, 20.8% Māori, 18.5% Chinese and 14.3% PI). The scale has proven to be cross-culturally valid and reliable in the New Zealand context, contributing to the development of cross-culturally equivalent measures for individual variations. In accordance with our predictions, family proved to be the most important social context for all ethnic groups and NZE indicated the least collective preferences in all domains. Interestingly, Pacific Islanders showed the most collective preferences and distinguished the least between family, friends and strangers. The differences between NZE and Māori were smaller, and the similarities between Māori and Chinese were closer than expected. The findings, their interpretation and implications for inter-group relations add to the available body of international and intranational multi-ethnic data on IC.

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