A Study of the Moral Behavior of Fujian Province University Lecturers Based on Traditional Chinese Cultural Identity
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Background and Aim: This study aimed to investigate the current state of moral behavior among university lecturers in Fujian Province, China, as shaped by traditional Chinese cultural identity. The research further explored the constituent cultural factors influencing lecturers’ moral behavior and proposed practical guidelines for strengthening moral and professional practices in higher education institutions.
Materials and Methods: A mixed-methods research design was employed across nine universities located in provincial capitals, special economic zones, and prefecture-level cities in Fujian Province. Qualitative data were collected through life story interviews and focus group discussions to explore lecturers’ cultural identities, moral values, and teaching experiences. Quantitative data were gathered from 397 university lecturers using stratified random sampling. The quantitative analysis applied descriptive statistics, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the relationships between traditional Chinese cultural values and lecturers’ moral behavior.
Results: The findings demonstrated that traditional Chinese cultural identity significantly influenced lecturers’ moral behavior and professional conduct. Core cultural values—including benevolence, integrity, harmony, and justice—were identified as major determinants of ethical teaching practices and professional responsibility. The results revealed that Integrity had the strongest positive influence on lecturers’ moral behavior (β = 0.304, p < 0.001), followed by Harmony (β = 0.266), Justice (β = 0.239), and Benevolence (β = 0.169). In addition, self-cultivation, social responsibility, and student-centered educational values emerged as essential components shaping lecturers’ ethical and professional development.
Conclusion: The study confirms the important role of traditional Chinese cultural values in fostering lecturers’ moral behavior within higher education. The findings provide empirical support for integrating cultural identity into institutional policies, professional development programs, and lecturer evaluation systems. Furthermore, the proposed guidelines offer practical implications for strengthening moral integrity, promoting ethical teaching practices, and enhancing the overall quality of China’s higher education system.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright on any article in the International Journal of Sociologies and Anthropologies Science Reviews is retained by the author(s) under the under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Permission to use text, content, images, etc. of publication. Any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose. But do not use it for commercial use or with the intent to benefit any business.
References
An, M. (2024). The value of traditional Chinese culture in the new era. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 8(1), 172–176. https://doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2024.01.029
Buxarrais, M. R. (2021). Lecturer's ethos and morals, and professional identity. In Springer eBooks (pp. 125–143). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73644-6_9
Chen, J., & Wu, Q. (2021). Innovation elements in Chinese traditional culture. In Oxford University Press eBooks.
Fallona, C. (2019). The manner of teaching is a moral aspect of the lecturer's conduct. In Springer eBooks (pp. 1–5). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1179-6_151-1
Hu, G., & Shen, Y. (2020). Chinese university lecturers' perceptions and practices regarding plagiarism: Knowledge, stance, and intertextual competence. Morality and Behavior, 31(6), 433–450. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2020.1776616
King, L., Li, J., & Jia, J. (2017). The professional morality of Chinese university lecturers. In The Professional Morality of Chinese University Lecturers (pp. 1–5). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1179-6_1
Li, J., & Xue, E. (2023). The lecturers' morality policy in China's education system. In Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World (pp. 59–69). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1015-1_5
Lin, L., Yan, Y., & Hu, C. (2022). Influence of the degree of traditional Chinese cultural identity on consumption attitude for health care of traditional Chinese medicine. Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine, 2022, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3342169
Ministry of Education of China. (2023). The Ministry of Education publicly exposes the thirteenth batch of 7 typical cases of violating the ten guidelines for teachers' professional behavior. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/202308/t20230816_1074599.html
Ruggiero, G. M., Spada, M. M., Caselli, G., & Sassaroli, S. (2018). A historical and theoretical review of cognitive behavioral therapies: From structural self-knowledge to functional processes. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 11(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-018-0001-5
Szulevicz, T., & Pedersen, L. T. (2020). Generation calm—When education turns inward. In Cultural Psychology of Education (pp. 250–264). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37900-1_13
Tirri, K. (2019). Moral sensitivity in teaching and teacher education. In Springer eBooks (pp. 1–5). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1179-6_183-1
Xu, J., Hao, A., Guan, C., & Hsieh, T. J. (2023). Affective and cognitive dimensions in cultural identity: Scale development and validation. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 32(6), 1362–1375. https://doi.org/10.1108/apjml-03-2019-0200
Ye, W., & Law, W. W. (2019). Pre-service lecturers' perceptions of lecturers' morality in China. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 102876. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102876
