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Foundations of Chinese Psychology pp 297–326Cite as

Guanxi and Organizational Behaviors in Chinese Society

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Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology ((ICUP,volume 1))

Abstract

The cultural perspective and institutional perspective on guanxi were combined to construct a theoretical framework for analyzing guanxi practices in five types of business organizations in Chinese society, namely, patrilinealism, patriarchicalism, market despotism, paternalism, and monopoly. Those five types of organizations were classified along with a combination of three dichotomous dimensions. Based on the premise that guanxi practices are used to establish interpersonal trust, a conceptual framework was proposed to explain the features and domains for five prototypes of trust in Chinese society, and researches on guanxi practices between organizations were discussed with a special concern about its negative connotations. Various patterns of guanxi practices within organizations were analyzed to explain the organizational culture and leadership in Chinese businesses. The theoretical frameworks provided in this chapter may clarify several crucial issues related to the guanxi usage in Chinese society.

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  1. Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Kwang-Kuo Hwang

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Hwang, KK. (2012). Guanxi and Organizational Behaviors in Chinese Society. In: Foundations of Chinese Psychology. International and Cultural Psychology, vol 1. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1439-1_11

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