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An Exploratory Study of Chinese Motives for Building Supervisor–Subordinate Guanxi

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Abstract

Despite the growing number of studies on supervisor–subordinate guanxi in Chinese society, there is a paucity of research on its antecedents. The purpose of this study was to determine Chinese people’s motives for building supervisor–subordinate guanxi. We interviewed 60 Chinese employees and found evidence that most of the respondents attached importance to building supervisor–subordinate guanxi. Their motives for building this guanxi spanned a wide range of issues, from personal benefits to other-oriented and organizational concerns. From the data we collected, we developed a preliminary model of the decision to build supervisor–subordinate guanxi.

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Notes

  1. Detailed data are available upon request from the corresponding author of this paper.

  2. Following the same procedure that we used to analyze the group differences in motives for building guanxi with supervisor, we tested the group differences in terms of motives for building guanxi with subordinate. The results show that compared with the respondents from foreign investment companies, those from private enterprises are more ready to mention job concern motives (p < 0.01) and less ready to mention supporting subordinate (p < 0.01) and impression management motives (p < 0.05). Compared with male respondents, female respondents are less ready to mention communication concern motives (p < 0.10). Compared with the respondents with no more than 5 years of organizational tenure, those with more than 5 years of organizational tenure are less ready to mention supporting subordinate motives (p < 0.10). Compared with top-level managers, middle-level managers are more ready to mention communication concern motives (p < 0.01) and less ready to mention job concern motives (p < 0.01), and low-level managers are less ready to mention organizational concern motives (p < 0.01). Detailed data are available upon request from the corresponding author of this paper.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Deborah C. Poff and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. This research received support from the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fund of the Ministry of Education of China (11YJC630285), Jiangsu Province Social Sciences Fund of China (12GLC005), and the Outstanding Innovative Talent Program of Hohai University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, Hohai University, Jiangning Campus, Boxue Building, Rm. 1127, 8# Focheng West Road, Nanjing, 211100, China

    Long Zhang, Yulin Deng & Qun Wang

  2. School of Business, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

    Yulin Deng

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  1. Long Zhang
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  2. Yulin Deng
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Correspondence to Yulin Deng.

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Zhang, L., Deng, Y. & Wang, Q. An Exploratory Study of Chinese Motives for Building Supervisor–Subordinate Guanxi . J Bus Ethics 124, 659–675 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1899-4

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