Are Chinese Engineers in the Same Profession as Western Engineers? A Research Agenda

The integration of global scientific and technological innovation has brought new opportunities for technical advancement to many fields of engineering. It has also raised difficult questions about the relationship between national cultures and international standards—for example, whether the professional ethics of Chinese engineers are the same as (or similar enough to) the professional ethics of engineers in the West. There are two main positions: first, the majority view, that national culture trumps international standards (where the two differ); second, the minority view, that international standards—especially, engineering codes of ethics—trump national standards (where the two differ). Focusing on China, this chapter compares the evidence for these views. We conclude that the minority view has the stronger case. This evidence and these claims are related to a broader, interdisciplinary research agenda, assessing claims within engineering ethics using empirical research findings and methods.