Whither Guanxi in China? A Review of Theory and Practice

Introduction

This Special Issue is devoted to a traditional-cum-ongoing practice, known as ‘guanxi’, prevalent in both the old and new Chinas, as well as among the Overseas Chinese, as well as elsewhere in East Asia in its respective forms.

The term guanxi has been long used to describe many different aspects of the link between personal relationships and business in China (Nolan, Rowley, and Warner 2016). On the one hand, guanxi is widely recognized as a culturally distinct form of social networking with its roots in Confucianism (Warner 2014). On the other, its influence in business and public life more generally is partly a product of historical, political, and economic factors that encouraged a preference for particularist ties (Guthrie 2012). A number of debates have developed from this basic tension between cultural and institutional explanations. One standpoint is that the shift towards open-market competition will decrease the importance of guanxi in business, especially in privately-owned enterprises. Another is that the turmoil associated with economic transition may create greater uncertainty and could enhance the need for businesses to rely on guanxi connections. A third position is that guanxi will endure in a modified form and that a hybrid form of organization and capitalist economy will emerge combining both Chinese cultural preferences and key features of modern corporations.

Aims

The aims of this Special Issue are to examine the latest developments in these debates and to explore new models and empirical research on the current state of guanxi research in business and management both in China and elsewhere in East Asia.

Topics

Topics of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

Effects of guanxi in organizations at the individual level (for example, in terms of recruitment, promotion, and supervisor relationships).

Under what circumstances does the strength of guanxi networks effect job search and recruitment? Is it more important for accessing jobs in the state sector than the non-state sector? How does it influence role obligations and promotion in the supervisor-subordinate relationship? Does the quality of links between the supervisor and supervisee impact the employee’s promotion opportunities and bonus allocation? Or is the relationship shifting toward a more conventionally defined type of social exchange? If so, in what particular contexts might this occur?

Implications of guanxi at the firm level (in terms of strategy, market entry, and performance).

Under what circumstances are the personal networks of managers used to gain a competitive advantage? What kinds of guanxi strategy, such as the allocation of resources such as time, money, personnel aimed at cultivating relationships, are needed to achieve organizational goals? What are the guanxi strategies used by multinational corporations (MNCs) to improve their business prospects in China? How important is it for market entry and expansion? If so what are the mechanisms by which this operates? For example, is it used to identify potential partners and gathering information about their trustworthiness? What is the relationship between the phenomenon and firm performance and does this depend on how ‘performance’ is defined (e.g. market share, growth rate compared to competitors, or return on assets)? Does a positive impact on firm performance vary depending on what type of guanxi is used (business or political), which sector is investigated, and the ownership structure of the firm (state or non-state owned)?

The ethics of guanxi in a globalized economy.

Both culturally relativist and normative arguments are found in the literature, but can ‘gift and favour’ exchange simply be equated with bribery and corruption? Under what circumstances is the relationship itself valued over and above any specific ‘cost-benefit’ evaluation? Is it possible to distinguish between ‘modern’ guanxi as an urban, instrumental construction and the more traditional rural gift economy, which may be based on more ‘sincere’ feelings of warmth and reciprocity in relationships?

Guanxi and network capitalism.

Both cultural and institutional arguments suggest that guanxi can be understood as part of a broader form of ‘network capitalism’ that has emerged in Chinese and other Confucian-influenced societies. One of the key network relationships in China is between local government and local businesses. To what extent is it still important for organizations to have guanxi with local government officials? Under what circumstances are such links important in providing access to resources?

Comparing guanxi and other informal networks.

To what extent does guanxi remain a culturally distinct form of social networking? Do cross-cultural comparisons demonstrate similarities and differences between forms of informal networking? How might this vary within different countries in East Asia and between East Asia and other regions? What are the institutional and historical roots of any differences? What might indigenous management research tell us about the way in which such concepts are appropriated by the Western academy? What kind of political and ethical issues does this raise for management researchers?

The gendered nature of power differentials in guanxi.

What are the gendered dimensions of informal guanxi practices for personal and organizational outcomes? Are women excluded from informal after-work activities because of family commitments or a tendency for the activities to be male oriented? What are the consequences for guanxi building for women when there are power imbalances in male-female dyads, where the older male is in the position of authority? For example, does this cause reputational damage for women perceived to be good at guanxi building? On the other hand, does drawing on close family guanxi help women build and finance their own businesses?

Future of guanxi in the 21^st century.

Whither guanxi in the new millennium? Will it have a future in the 21^st century? In what ways will it be modified to fit into a globalized China?

Submission instructions

Timelines:

Abstracts in by 1 April 2018

First drafts by 1 October 2018

Final drafts by 30 December 2018

Each submission will be subject to normal APBR refereeing.

See journal’s website regarding style requirements and sections needed at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=fapb20&page=instructions#.V3eLN-yECWU.

Please email expressions of interest and papers as soon as possible to each of the Guest Editors below:

Professor Malcolm Warner: [email protected]

and

Dr Jane Nolan: [email protected]

About the Journal

The APBR is ranked by the SCI, ABS, ABDC, etc. and abstracted and indexed in: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) ESI; ABI/Inform; Asian Pacific Economic Literature; EBSCOhost; EconLit; Emerald Management Reviews; Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management; IBSS - International Bibliography of the Social Sciences; International Development Abstracts; Geographical Abstracts: Human Geography and GEOBASE; OCLC; Risk Abstracts; SCOPUS; Swets Information Services; The Abstracts Journal (Institute of Scientific Information of the USSR Academy of Sciences); and Thomson Gale.