“Don't Worry, I Know A Guy”: Foreign firm employee views on ‘guanxi’ culture.
(2020) IBUH19 20201Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Purpose: The study aims to examine how employees of foreign firms operating in China perceive guanxi and its influence in business settings. Further, it will analyze how these views align with existing research on guanxi in business, with the aim of identifying promising directions for future research.
Theoretical perspectives: Three primary theoretical themes are explored
(1) definitions of guanxi
(2) cultural roots of guanxi and how it is distinct from Western networking,
(3) the significance of guanxi in business settings and the degree to which this has changed or is believed likely to in the future.
Methodology: An explorative qualitative study has been conducted, with an abductive
research approach. In order to receive... (More) - Purpose: The study aims to examine how employees of foreign firms operating in China perceive guanxi and its influence in business settings. Further, it will analyze how these views align with existing research on guanxi in business, with the aim of identifying promising directions for future research.
Theoretical perspectives: Three primary theoretical themes are explored
(1) definitions of guanxi
(2) cultural roots of guanxi and how it is distinct from Western networking,
(3) the significance of guanxi in business settings and the degree to which this has changed or is believed likely to in the future.
Methodology: An explorative qualitative study has been conducted, with an abductive
research approach. In order to receive in-depth and clear perspectives, semi-structured interviews were carried out.
Empirical foundation: The empirical findings and analysis are based on interviews of non-native and native Chinese employees who have worked or are currently working
for foreign firms conducting business in China.
Conclusion: Those interviewed for this study portray guanxi as a significant—but not static or monolithic—force in Chinese business, one influenced by a number of underexplored factors stemming from the country, region, or industry’s maturity, politicization and legal development. Their views mostly align with one of the larger and more recent trends of thought in academic guanxi research and, while not proving it correct, offer additional empirical support and a variety of potential directions for more conclusive future research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9022869
- author
- Nohre, Alexander LU and Bergum, Nikita LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- IBUH19 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Guanxi, China, Cultural Distance, Networks, Corruption
- language
- English
- id
- 9022869
- date added to LUP
- 2020-11-16 14:11:49
- date last changed
- 2020-11-16 14:11:49
@misc{9022869,
abstract = {{Purpose: The study aims to examine how employees of foreign firms operating in China perceive guanxi and its influence in business settings. Further, it will analyze how these views align with existing research on guanxi in business, with the aim of identifying promising directions for future research.
Theoretical perspectives: Three primary theoretical themes are explored
(1) definitions of guanxi
(2) cultural roots of guanxi and how it is distinct from Western networking,
(3) the significance of guanxi in business settings and the degree to which this has changed or is believed likely to in the future.
Methodology: An explorative qualitative study has been conducted, with an abductive
research approach. In order to receive in-depth and clear perspectives, semi-structured interviews were carried out.
Empirical foundation: The empirical findings and analysis are based on interviews of non-native and native Chinese employees who have worked or are currently working
for foreign firms conducting business in China.
Conclusion: Those interviewed for this study portray guanxi as a significant—but not static or monolithic—force in Chinese business, one influenced by a number of underexplored factors stemming from the country, region, or industry’s maturity, politicization and legal development. Their views mostly align with one of the larger and more recent trends of thought in academic guanxi research and, while not proving it correct, offer additional empirical support and a variety of potential directions for more conclusive future research.}},
author = {{Nohre, Alexander and Bergum, Nikita}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{“Don't Worry, I Know A Guy”: Foreign firm employee views on ‘guanxi’ culture.}},
year = {{2020}},
}