The Influence of Relational Demography and Guanxi: The Chinese Case

Jiing-Lih Farh, Anne S. Tsui, Katherine Xin and Bor-Shiuan Cheng
Additional contact information
Jiing-Lih Farh: School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong
Anne S. Tsui: School of Business and Management, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong
Katherine Xin: School of Business Administration, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007
Bor-Shiuan Cheng: Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Organization Science, 1998, vol. 9, issue 4, 471-488

Abstract: Two studies were conducted to investigate the indigenous concept of guanxi and its applications in the Chinese context. Guanxi refers to the existence of direct particularistic ties between an individual and others. We relate the concept to the idea of relational demography, which refers to similarities or differences between an individual and others on such factors as age, gender, race, religion, education, and occupation. The two studies focused on the importance of guanxi and relational demography in Chinese employment settings. In study 1, their importance was examined in a sample of 560 vertical dyads (i.e., between supervisor and subordinate) in Taiwan. In study 2, the effects were analyzed in a sample of 205 horizontal dyads, specifically between business executives and their important business connections (e.g., key customers, suppliers, bankers, government officials) in mainland China. Results support the importance of both guanxi and relational demography for subordinate trust in the supervisor, but only guanxi is found to be (extremely) important for business executives' trust in their connections. Implications for future cross-cultural research on the effect of common ties are discussed.

Keywords: Guanxi; Trust; Relational Demography; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (128)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.9.4.471 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:9:y:1998:i:4:p:471-488

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().