Knowing Guanxi from the perspective of Tao: a mixed methodological approach
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to, from a Taoism perspective, one of Chinese inveterate cultures and mindsets, add knowledge into how Chinese indigenous cultures and mindsets will affect the way of Chinese people perceive and process guanxi. Specifically, this paper outlines the mechanism of guanxi from a culture perspective. Cultures significantly affect local people behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods survey (Study 1) – analyzed with one-way ANOVA – and interview (Study 2) – analyzed with grounded theory – were used to answer the research questions. In total, 248 surveys were collected for Study 1, and 34 interviews for Study 2 that were transcribed into a word file, which consists of 609 pages with 327,463 Chinese characters, were processed.
Findings
The findings show that guanxi is determined by positive and negative forces between instrumental and affective components. Further, two essential conditions – fitness of personality and clear contract, which would determine when a positive or negative force would emerge in a guanxi – were identified.
Originality/value
The main contribution is that this paper clarifies the guanxi mechanism based upon one of the most significant Chinese cultures and mindsets. Or guanxi is viewed from a new perspective – how Taoism affects Chinese people’s perception and evaluation of guanxi. This paper also finds evidence for the main arguments based upon the two studies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Science Foundation Committee of China [71132006; 71421002; 71302005]. The authors thank Professor Mike W. Peng, Associate Professor Zelong Wei and other colleagues for their helpful comments over this paper. The authors also want to thank Dr Guang Zhou for his efforts on data collecting and analyzing. Most importantly, the authors owe thanks to CMS Editor-in-Chief Dr Check Teck Foo, Associate Editor Dr Weiwei Wu and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable assistance. Of course, all errors remain the authors’ responsibility.
Citation
Tian, L., Ma, Y., Hu, W. and Li, Y. (2015), "Knowing
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited