PROFESSIONAL SELF-IMPROVEMENT OF MANAGERS IN CHINA: EVOLUTION WITHIN THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING SYSTEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34142/2312-1548.2025.65.02Keywords:
vocational education, lifelong learning, managerial competence development, professional identity formation, historical-comparative analysis, regional educational modelsAbstract
The relevance of the study is determined by the growing role of managerial human capital in China’s socio-economic development and by the increasing importance of professional self-improvement as a key condition for managerial effectiveness within a rapidly transforming vocational training system influenced by globalization, digitalization, and regional differentiation. The problem addressed in the article lies in the insufficient conceptualization of professional self-improvement of managers in China as a historically evolving phenomenon, particularly in the context of vocational training models that differ between Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau and combine traditional cultural foundations with modern management paradigms.
The ways of solving the identified problem are based on a historical-comparative and systemic analysis of the evolution of vocational training for managers in China, integrating pedagogical, managerial, and socio-cultural approaches, and examining how Confucian educational values, socialist ideology, and global management standards have jointly shaped the understanding of professional self-improvement across different historical stages and regional contexts. The research methodology includes historical-genetic analysis, comparative analysis, and conceptual modeling, which together allow the identification of key stages, dominant ideas, and structural components of professional self-improvement within China’s vocational training system, as well as the clarification of regional specificities of Hong Kong and Macau as hybrid educational and managerial spaces.
The results of the study demonstrate that the concept of professional self-improvement of managers in China has evolved from a morally oriented model focused on self-discipline and collective responsibility to a multidimensional framework emphasizing lifelong learning, professional mobility, innovation capacity, and self-regulation within institutional training systems, while Hong Kong and Macau exhibit more market-oriented, flexible, and competency-based interpretations influenced by Western educational traditions. The conclusions substantiate that professional self-improvement functions not only as an individual managerial strategy but also as a systemic mechanism embedded in vocational training policies, organizational cultures, and regional governance models, which provides practical implications for the modernization of managerial training and for international comparative studies in professional education.
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