Social capital, guanxi and political influence in Chinese government relations

Residents’ social capital in rural tourism development: Guanxi in housing demolition

“…From a network perspective, social capital is the connection between people and community groups (Batjargal & Liu, 2004;Davidsson & Honig, 2003;Hou & Zhu, 2020), and the positive relationship between social capital and tourism development has been demonstrated in a broader international context. For example, social capital can solve problems for good governance or sustainable tourism (Nunkoo, 2017;Woolcock & Narayan, 2000), increase the level of community participant in tourism development (Hwang & Stewart, 2017), and promote the successful implementation of tourism projects (Jones, 2005).…”

“…Guanxi, a variant form of social capital in China, originates from personal connections (Batjargal & Liu, 2004;Hou & Zhu, 2020;Yang, 2002). It refers to the social networks, relationships, connections, and ties among individuals or organizations (Chen & Chen, 2004;Tsang, 1998;Yang & Wang, 2011).…”

“…Guanxi is a local concept rooted in the context of traditional Chinese culture (Huang & Aaltio, 2014;Wang, 2013), but its internal connotations of social network and social connection have been well represented by social capital in a general sense (Batjargal & Liu, 2004;Hou & Zhu, 2020;Huang & Aaltio, 2014;Taylor & Doerfel, 2003;Yang, 2002) in many societies. Specifically, social capital has been regarded as a double-edged sword and could produce both positive and negative effects.…”

Kinship Ties to Government Staff and Local Political Trust: Evidence from Rural China

“…Third, the guanxi connection to government staff can stand for a kind of political "capital" for the companies in Chinese societies. The guanxi to government authorities is pursued intentionally by Chinese firms as a strategic mechanism to overcome competitive and resource disadvantages, so that, this perspective is often adopted by economists (Hou and Zhu 2020;Park and Luo 2001).…”

Meeting Consumers’ Expectations: Exploring Corporate Social Advocacy Communication in China

“…The adoption of corporate social advocacy (CSA) by major corporations, such as Starbucks, PayPal, and Amazon in the United States indicates that CSA has emerged as an important proactive public relations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy [1][2][3]. Although many visionary Chinese companies have been looking to their Western counterparts as benchmarks for strategic public relations and CSR practices [4][5][6], very few Chinese companies choose to engage in CSA on controversial social and political issues, to remain on the "safe" side in the traditional Chinese political and social climate [7][8][9].…”