The impact of personal and professional guanxi relationships on leader–member exchange in the Chinese hotel industry

ABSTRACT

Leader–member exchange (LMX) theory has been tested across numerous cultures to determine employee satisfaction and turnover intentions based on the quality of the supervisor–subordinate relationship. Originating as a theory from Western culture, LMX is criticized for its inefficiency in predicting employee satisfaction in collectivist cultures. The purpose of this research was to examine guanxi as a predictor of worker satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention in the Chinese hotel industry. The results confirmed personal and professional guanxi relationships, distinct from LMX, as antecedents in the causal model. Theoretical contributions from this study included the incorporation of complex Chinese societal norms with the traditional Western LMX model, suggesting a hybridization effect. Practical implications revealed high correlations among LMX, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment in the Chinese hotel industry, demonstrating the critical nature of the supervisor–subordinate relationship in a hospitality organization.

KEYWORDS:

• Guanxi
• leader–member exchange
• Chinese hotel industry
• job satisfaction
• organizational commitment
• turnover intention