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purpose of business; community participation for the businessmen; and workers' rights to company information. In each area, three statements are formulated to represent the various ideological standpoints. Respondents are asked to select one statement among the three which is closest to their own beliefs. Their choices are then taken to indicate whether they are predisposed to a laissez-faire, long term company interest, or social responsibility ideology.1
1 I have retained Nichols' areas of concern except for the group of statements on workers' rights to company information because I believe it is too narrowly confined to internal company policy which is also not a salient issue in Hong Kong industry. In its place, I substitute a group of statements on political participation for businessmen which I feel provides a clearer ideological contrast. After this alteration, the statements representing the three ideological positions are as follows:
(1) Laissez-faire -- Protecting workers against unemployment is not part of management's responsibility. A firm has little control over market fluctuations. During recessions, lay off of workers is necessary to ensure economic viability of the company./A firm exists for one purpose only: to make a profit. Managers should not, and cannot, be concerned with social and moral consequences. If they were, the firm's economic position could suffer which would be bad for the economy as well./An industrialist has enough work to do without becoming a leading figure in the community. If he wishes to do so, that is his affair. But as a manager his place is in the firm./Politics is politics and business is business. Industrialists should not get involved in political affairs.
(2) Long range interests -- An employee will work better if he has job security. It is therefore in the long-term interest of the company to avoid laying off workers during economic recessions./Profit is the one absolute in business and it is to the community's benefit that this be so. But in the interest of long-term survival, every firm must gain the sympathetic understanding and cooperation of other members of society./For the good of the enterprise, industrialists should convince