The Performative Role of Soft Skills Education: Reshaping Business Realities through Cross-Cultural Learning in Chinese Organizations

Jie Wu, J. Ignacio Canales, Peng Zhou and Haifeng Yan

No E2026/1, Cardiff Economics Working Papers from Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section

Abstract: This study examines how soft skills education performatively shapes business realities across cultural boundaries. While prior research has treated soft skills as static capabilities, we demonstrate their role as performative forces actively reshaping organizational practices. Through in-depth interviews with Chinese graduates of UK universities working in China, our findings reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between structural performativity and organizational transformation, moderated by collective orientation (weakening effect) and absorptive capacity (strengthening effect) and pinpoint six key domains through which soft skills education acts as a performative mechanism. Our findings suggest that successful organizational transformation through soft skills education requires balancing international connections, cultural values, and knowledge integration capabilities. The study advances performativity theory in management education by demonstrating how educational practices actively construct organizational realities rather than merely describing them and provides insights for business schools on effectively harnessing performativity to create desirable organizational outcomes in cross-cultural contexts.

Keywords: Performativity; Management Education; Soft Skills; Cross-Cultural Learning; Chinese Business; Business Schools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A2 I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2026-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-mac
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