Kiasuism - individualistic or collectivistic?

• Main Author: Wong, Zi Jun.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52534
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This study looks at the relationship of collectivism and individualism with kiasuism. Because kiasuism, a seemingly individualistic trait, exists in a collectivistic society like Singapore, previous research has been unable to agree if kiasuism is an individualistic or collectivistic trait. I proposed that kiasuism belongs more to the latter camp and that it is the conformity to social norms that created kiasuism in Singapore. In this study, I primed university students into collectivistic or individualistic frame of minds and measured their kiasu levels with a kiasu scale. It was hypothesized that collectivistic-primed individuals would be more kiasu than individualistic-primed individuals and individuals who were not primed at all. However, the results were not significant. This meant that either there is no actual relationship among kiasuism, collectivism and individualism or limitations of the study concealed the effect. This study provides preliminary answers to the nature of kiasuism as the need to refine existing kiasu scales and to consider other constructs in future research is discussed.