# Beyond the Stereotype of Tolerance: Diversified Milieu and Contextual Difference

## TL;DR

This study examines how creative workers in China and the U.S. have different value preferences beyond tolerance, revealing cultural and occupational variations.

## Contribution

It introduces a nuanced understanding of creative workers' value preferences, challenging the stereotype of tolerance as the sole driver.

## Key findings

- Chinese participants show balanced tolerance toward migrants, religions, and homosexuality, while Americans focus more on accepting homosexuality.
- American creative workers prioritize responsibility, technology, work style, and political actions, whereas Chinese workers emphasize happiness and political actions.
- Higher creativity levels highlight differences in how tolerance is understood between China and the U.S.

## Abstract

We explore whether there are value preferences of creative workers in addition to tolerance and how these value preferences vary among different occupation categories and countries. We use a dataset of 1968 and 1076 observations in China and the U.S., respectively, from the World Values Survey dataset (2017–2020, wave 7) (WVS 7), with a Structure Equation Modelling (SEM) and Multinomial Logit Model (MLM) at the micro level. The findings reveal that (1) the Chinese sample is more likely to have a balanced preference of tolerance towards migrants, religions, and homosexuality, while the American sample’s preference of tolerance is much more likely to be interpreted as accepting homosexuality only; (2) the American sample also shows preferences towards responsibility, technology, work style, and political actions, while a preference for happiness and political actions is identified in the Chinese sample; and (3) with a higher level of creativity, the difference regarding understanding of tolerance is more likely to be highlighted between China and the U.S. This study provides a quite unconventional perspective for understanding the composition of preferences and, to a certain extent, reconciles the inconsistency between the theoretical advocacy of building up a selected milieu and the reality of creative workers’ blended value mix.