Weak ties, strong ties, and job mobility in urban China: 1978–2008

Tian, Felicia F.; Lin, Nan

doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2015.08.002

Cited by 42 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 79 publications

(121 reference statements)

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“…In China, despite the growing market-based sector, there is perhaps less leeway for social ties to actually offer positions (Hanser, 2002;Huang, 2008), but both information and influence are frequently exchanged in China. Research on the Chinese job market has found that one can use social ties to influence decision-makers in the state sector who are responsible for allocating jobs or promotions as well as in the nonstate sector where decisions may be made by entrepreneurs or their designated managers Burt & Opper, 2017;Tian & Lin, 2016;Zhao, 2013).…”

Section: Social Ties In the Us And China: Social Capital And Guanximentioning

confidence: 99%

The Structure of Labor Markets in the US and China: Social Capital andGuanxi

DiTomaso

Bian

2018

Manag. Organ. Rev.

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Despite the major cultural and political differences between the United States and China, in both countries access to jobs is supposed to be guided by fair and equitable procedures. In the US, there is a presumption of an open labor market in which potential employees compete on the basis of their qualifications, where the fairness of decisions is guided by anti-discrimination laws and normative organizational policies. In China, although there is a history of close relationships that guide the exchange of favors, following the 1949 revolution, Communist Party leaders were given the authority to allocate positions in ways that were supposed to eliminate special privileges of class and background. Yet recent research has suggested that social connections are an important part of getting a job in both the US and China for two-thirds to three-quarters of job seekers. In the US context, such connections are described as social capital. In the Chinese context, connections are defined as guanxi. In this article, we review research on labor market processes in both the US and China to address three important questions: (a) How can we understand the similar functioning of labor markets in such distinct cultural and political systems as the US and China? (b) What are the mechanisms or processes by which people find jobs in the US and China, and how are people able to access these mechanisms or processes in the context of constraining social structures and legal environments? and (c) What are the theoretical implications of the ‘generalized particularism’ that seems to shape labor markets in both the US and China.

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Section: Social Ties In the Us And China: Social Capital And Guanximentioning

confidence: 99%

The Structure of Labor Markets in the US and China: Social Capital andGuanxi

DiTomaso

Bian

2018

Manag. Organ. Rev.

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“…The cultural view suggests that guanxi persists in Chinese society no matter how the institutional environment changes because its roots reside in the Confucian culture (Yang, 1994). Consistent with this argument, previous research has found that the effect of guanxi on entry-level wages in the Chinese labor market persisted after the reform (Bian & Huang, 2015a), and the role of guanxi in finding jobs increased after the reform (Bian, 1997(Bian, , 2002Bian & Huang, 2015b), especially in the state sector (Tian & Lin, 2016). However, the institutional view argues that the importance of guanxi has declined in China as the development of rational and legal system has resolved the institutional uncertainty that fosters guanxi behavior (Guthrie, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Under the institutional logic of socialism, the power of the state in coordinating economic activities is an important reason that organizations tend to build guanxi with government. A review of previous research consistently shows that guanxi is more important in the state sector than in the non-state sector (Luo et al, 2013;Tian & Lin, 2016). Because SOEs rely more on government protection to access scarce resources, SOE managers develop more government ties (Li, Yao, Sue-Chan, & Xi, 2011).…”

Section: Soe Identity and Guanxi Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

The State-Owned Enterprise as an Identity: The Influence of Institutional Logics onGuanxiBehavior

Chen

2020

Manag. Organ. Rev.

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Previous research has debated whether guanxi persists or declines with the development of formal institutions. This study addresses this debate by investigating how the development of formal institutions in China's state-owned organizations influences employees’ guanxi behavior. Building on institutional logics theory, I propose that guanxi behavior is a reaction to the socialist institutions adopted by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and is associated with the collective identity of SOEs. Thus, employees’ identification with SOEs is the mechanism that influences their guanxi behavior. A survey of 721 employees from 12 organizations compared guanxi behavior across three types of organizations with different degrees of state ownership: SOEs, public firms, and joint ventures. The results showed that the employees of joint ventures identify less with SOEs and engage in less guanxi behaviors than do SOE employees. The employees of public firms still identify with SOEs, and their guanxi behavior did not differ from that of SOE employees. Identification with SOEs mediated the effect of organizational type on guanxi behavior, whereas formalization did not. Therefore, the development of formal institutions does not necessarily decrease guanxi behavior, and its effect depends on whether the collective identity underlying guanxi is changed. This study has important implications for guanxi research, institutional logics theory, and transition economies.

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“…It shows that China's society is not a society of weak ties like the United States, but rather it is a society of strong ties. Achieving success in China does not depend on weak ties, but rather on strong ties [86][87][88][89]. Prof. Fei found that a sequential structure exists in Chinese village societies [90], whereby individuals are involved in various layers of private social networks from the inside to the outside, relying heavily on the intimacy of interpersonal relationships [91].…”

Section: Informal Institutions and Village Social Relationship Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the Residential Sustainability of Two Transformation Models for Chinese Urban Villages: Demolition/Relocation Market-Oriented and New Rural Construction

2019

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In China, large-scale urban village transformation has profoundly influenced the residential sustainability and interests of indigenous villagers. Local governments have widely adopted a demolition/relocation market-oriented model (D/RMM) for transformation of most of the urban villages (UVs) in China. During the D/RMM process, the interests of indigenous villagers have generally suffered to a certain extent. Originally, the new rural construction model (NRCM) was only used to improve rural development and sustainability. However, it has now occasionally been applied in the UV transformation process to safeguard and guarantee the interests of the village collective and villagers. Given the considerable difference between the two transformation models, we explored the sustainability and impact mechanisms of residential landscapes in terms of housing condition sustainability, community environment sustainability, and livelihood sustainability, through the cases of Beimiantan New Village (BNV) with NRCM and Xiaoyantan Village (XV) with D/RMM in Lanzhou, Gansu, China. The research findings reveal the differences in institutional design and social influence, and changes in the redistribution of benefits between the two transformation models. Overall, the residential sustainability of NRCM is higher than the D/RMM’s. Meanwhile, the influence factors in the residential sustainability of the two transformation models can mostly be attributed to three aspects: (1) Land development rights allocation models and earning redistribution fundamentally affect villagers’ housing condition sustainability; (2) The collective economy and the informal economy are the potential drivers of sustainable village community transformation; (3) Informal institutions and village social networks protect and continue the social capitals in village. Specifically, the NRCM in BNV has the following advantages in improving residential sustainability: (1) Collective land assets can be further activated; (2) Villagers’ vested interests are largely safeguarded; (3) The main role of social low-rent housing and informal employment places in the original village is optimized to a larger extent; (4) The original villagers’ social networks remain stable and intact. In summary, villagers’ rights are maintained and enhanced via informal institutions, informal economies, and original social relationship networks are completely preserved through NRCM in BNV, as much as possible. Therefore, NRCM can maximize the villagers’ interests, that may be conducive to residential sustainability in the transformation of China’s urban villages.

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Weak ties, strong ties, and job mobility in urban China: 1978–2008

Cited by 42 publications

References 79 publications

The Structure of Labor Markets in the US and China: Social Capital andGuanxi

The Structure of Labor Markets in the US and China: Social Capital andGuanxi

The State-Owned Enterprise as an Identity: The Influence of Institutional Logics onGuanxiBehavior

Comparing the Residential Sustainability of Two Transformation Models for Chinese Urban Villages: Demolition/Relocation Market-Oriented and New Rural Construction

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