The old "paternalistic" relationship between employer and employees began to break down, as more and more employees followed the Chinese adage of "better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox" and went out to set up businesses of their own.
此外，由於中國人「寧為雞首，不為牛後」的觀念，隨著工商業日益興盛、創業機會增加，而大行其道。每個人動不動就想自立門戶，對雇主的忠誠受影響，資方對員工的信賴於是也有限，重要業務多交給「自己人」經手，所以國內的中小企業，絕大部分是家族經營型態。