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We present two studies that examine the effects of guanxi on multiple social groups from the perspective of Chinese business people. Study 1 (N ¼ 203) tests the difference in perceived effects of six guanxi contextualizations. Study 2 (N ¼ 195) examines the duality of guanxi as either helpful or harmful to social groups, depending on the contextualization. Findings suggest guanxi may result in positive as well as negative outcomes for focal actors and the aggregate.

In response to pressures to be more "socially responsible," corporations are becoming more active in global communities through direct involvement in social initiatives. Critics, however, question the sincerity of these activities and argue that firms are simply attempting to stave off stakeholder pressures without providing a corresponding benefit to society. By drawing on institutional theory and resource dependence theory, we consider what factors influence the adoption of a "meaningful" social initiative-an initiative that is sustainable and has the potential for a significant positive impact on societyas opposed to a symbolic initiative. In addition, we raise the question of how social initiatives-both meaningful and symbolic-participate in the "institutional war" over the meaning of corporate social responsibility. T he pressure on firms to be "socially responsible" continuously increases and originates from a range of stakeholder groups,

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ABSTRACT:U.S. Organizational Sentencing Guidelines provide firms with incentives to develop formal ethics programs to promote ethical organizational cultures and thereby decrease corporate offenses. Yet critics argue such programs are cosmetic. Here we studied bank employees before and after the introduction of formal ethics training—an important component of formal ethics programs—to examine the effects of training on ethical organizational culture. Two years after a single training session, we find sustained, positive effects on indicators of an ethical organizational culture (observed unethical behavior, intentions to behave ethically, perceptions of organizational efficacy in managing ethics, and the firm’s normative structure). While espoused organizational values also rose in importance post-training, the boost dissipated after the second year which suggests perceptions of values are not driving sustained behavioral improvements. This finding conflicts with past theory which asserts that enduring behavioral improvements arise from the inculcation of organizational values. Implications for future research are discussed.