Search

Since the Chinese government proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, Chinese firms have been actively investing in countries participating in BRI. What kinds of firms are willing to respond to this geopolitical policy? According to resource dependence theory and resource-based view, this study examines the impact of CEO political connections on outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the context of BRI and its boundary conditions. The results show that CEO political connections can promote firm OFDI under BRI. However, a good institutional environment in the home region and host country weakens the positive impact of CEO political connections. Furthermore, central state ownership has a substitute role for CEO political connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive research has been conducted to scrutinize employee loyalty, but scant attention has been directed toward understanding this phenomenon within the context of the millennial workforce in China. To address this research gap, in this study we investigated the association between Confucian leadership and employee loyalty among millennials in China, incorporating the mediating role of supervisor–subordinate guanxi in this relationship. Participants were 250 employees of 15 firms, who completed a self-administered survey. We found a positive relationship between Confucian leadership and millennial employee loyalty. Moreover, supervisor–subordinate guanxi was a significant and partial mediator of this relationship. These findings suggest that it is important to adopt Confucian leadership as well as building quality supervisor–subordinate guanxi when enhancing millennial employee loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guanxi research would benefit from an empirical description of holistic guanxi network structures and consideration of sociologically meaningful antecedents such as one's cultural value endorsement. This study, inspired by the relational sociology and drawing on the reported trustworthiness of a rich array of referees in one's guanxi network collected from the Traditional Culture and Cognitive Pattern Survey, identifies two types of guanxi network structures in contemporary China: one is featured by the binary distinction between family and non‐family referees, and the other displays a fourfold classification scheme, respectively concerning parents, nuclear family members (children and spouse), other relatives and close friends, and acquaintances. Furthermore, traditional culture endorsement is positively correlated with the likelihood of being subject to the binary classification scheme, while some counter social forces, such as the establishment of quasi‐kinship relationships, encourage one to lean toward the more fine‐grained fourfold guanxi network partitioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Using social media (SM) in the workplace is controversial. Managers are concerned about boundary spanners' heavy use of SM for unproductive activities, while boundary spanners need task-focused SM usage to enhance cooperative intention, share mutual knowledge, and build long-term relations. To clarify the effects of SM usage, the authors draw on task–technology fit (TTF) theory to examine how task-focused SM usage (TSM) and relationship-focused SM usage (RSM) influence the efficacy of interpersonal guanxi in China's emerging economy. Methodology/approach: The authors test the proposed theoretical model by collecting 550 valid questionnaires of survey data from manufacturers in China. Ordinary least squares regression is used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. Findings: The results of the statistical analysis show that interpersonal guanxi improves interfirm coordination and exchange performance. Furthermore, TSM usage strengthens the positive impact of interpersonal guanxi on interfirm coordination but weakens the positive effect of interpersonal guanxi on exchange performance, while RSM usage enhances its positive impact on exchange performance but weakens the positive effect of interpersonal guanxi on interfirm coordination. Research implications: This study contributes to the literature by developing and testing the TTF-based framework of interpersonal guanxi and SM usage. The finding enriches our knowledge on the roles of interpersonal guanxi in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Practical implications: This study offers the guidance for firms using SM in the B2B context. SM usage should be fited with firms' and boundary spanners' tasks, considering the complementary and supplementary nature of SM usage. Originality/value/contribution: This study tests the different roles of SM usage, i.e., TSM versus RSM, in fostering the efficacy of interpersonal guanxi, providing a meaningful perspective on firms' knowledge activities. Moreover, by proposing a TTF-based framework of interpersonal guanxi and SM usage, it explores the informational roles of boundary spanners' SM usage in promoting dyadic relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guanxi is a ubiquitous, intricate, and enduring characteristic of Chinese society and permeates virtually every aspect of Chinese life. Drug policing is no exception. This study attempts to clarify the concept of guanxi and illustrate how guanxi affects police professionalisation in China through observing drug policing conducted by two Anti-Drug Squads and one Anti-Drug Corps in Jixiang City in China and interviewing 25 anti-drug police officers. Thematic analysis was employed to analyse the data. This article defines guanxi as a long-term, interpersonal, and transmittable relationship that is connected by ganqing (affective bonds) and renqing (instrumental bonds). It involves mianzi (face and reputation) maintenance and social reciprocity. It highlights the importance of the Guanxi Base, which has often been omitted in previous literature. It argues that guanxi may result in unfair police management and give rise to renqing cases that undermine police professionalisation and the rule of law. Furthermore, it is argued that police professionalisation may bring about some resistance to political interference, particularly when it violates the law. However, guanxi operates smoothly within legal boundaries during drug policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do citizens prefer to utilize personal connections (e.g. guanxi) with government officials to access public services? Conventional wisdom suggests that improvements in formal institutions can reduce the popularity of informal behaviors; however, limited research has explored the relevant roles of e-government and anticorruption endeavors. Thus, based on survey data from 30 Chinese municipalities and multilevel regression designs, this study shows that citizens in cities with higher e-government development levels or who perceive governments' anticorruption efforts to be effective are less likely to perform guanxi practices. The negative effect of e-government is also more salient among individuals with political connections. Therefore, this study contributes to the ongoing discussion on the relationship between formal institutions and guanxi practices by revealing the specific ways in which e-government development and anticorruption efforts lessen individuals' reliance on guanxi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The high-pressure nature of the construction industry, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, triggered abusive supervision (i.e. workplace bullying and incivility behaviour) that has diminished workers' well-being. However, despite the growing prevalence in practice and increasing concern in academia, abusive supervision remains largely unexplored by construction management scholars. This study aims to fill the gap in the current literature by analysing the effects of abusive supervision on construction workers' well-being, the mediating role of guanxi closeness and the moderating role of trust in the manager. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was completed by 258 Chinese construction workers. The data underwent mediation and moderation analyses using PROCESS macro 3.5 for SPSS. Findings: The results revealed that managers' abusive supervision reduced construction workers' well-being at work and in life. Guanxi closeness between manager and workers mediated the relationship between managers' abusive supervision and construction workers' well-being. Additionally, trust in managers moderated the mediating effect of guanxi closeness. This study further revealed that the emotional connection between construction managers and workers, such as expressive guanxi closeness and affective-based trust, is important in handling the impact of abusive supervision on the workers. Practical implications: The findings of this study provide support for recent calls to address negative manager behaviours such as abusive supervision in construction management. They aid the development of a more comprehensive internal mechanism that considers the influence of guanxi closeness on the outcomes of abusive supervision by managers at construction sites. Additionally, interventions that develop trust in managers may be particularly effective in alleviating the tension of abusive supervision. More attention should be paid to managers' emotional connections in daily construction project management. Originality/value: Rather than concentrate on positive leadership, this study shifts the focus to negative leadership in construction project management by identifying abusive supervision as a negative primary antecedent of workers' well-being. While prior research has highlighted how negative manager behaviours affect workers' well-being from the conservation of resources theory (COR) perspective, this study is the first, to the authors' knowledge, to adopt a social exchange theory perspective by introducing guanxi closeness as a mediator. It contributes to a greater understanding of how trust in the manager alleviates the negative effect of the person's abusive supervision on construction workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This document is a collection of presentations and research studies from the International Journal of Psychology. The presentations cover topics such as health disparities, mental health in Black communities, trauma in diverse cultural backgrounds, and the importance of addressing health equity in children and youth. The research studies explore global issues like trauma treatment, migration, intergroup relations, and dementia screening. The studies aim to provide insights and promote understanding of these topics in order to foster inclusive environments and cooperation. [Extracted from the article]

This article engages in theoretical reflection on how to transcend the imposition of Eurocentric theories onto Southern and Eastern examples. Specifically, I reflect on the examination of educational issues faced by marginalized migrant communities within Chinese contexts and explore the application of an "Asia as Method" conceptual framework to reimagine education opportunities for migrant children and community mobilization as it pertains to a politics of recognition and redistribution. The politics of location and identity shaped by Chinese society's historical and contemporary power structures highlight both the needs and potential of theoretical conceptualizations from within. The goal is not simply to replace the West/North with the East/South nor is it to generate a wholly new theoretical concept to be applicable to all contexts; instead, the task undertaken in this work is to foster historically grounded relational explanations in order for communities in previously-decentered contexts to become one another's multifaceted reference points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guanxi, a distinctive Chinese concept, reflects a shared vision of relationships and connections that include mutual understanding, trust, and a deep bond between individuals. Recognized for its potency in shaping the relationships that facilitate business undertakings and access to key resources, Guanxi is postulated as a potential mediator in the nexus between organizational justice and contextual work performance. The depth of Guanxi, intertwined with Chinese culture and values, may be perceived differently across age groups. Specifically, as Chinese millennials usually interact with global paradigms, generational disparities might emerge in valuing these traditional constructs. This study delves into how the dimensions of Guanxi—Ganqing (emotional connection), Renqing (reciprocity), and Xinren (loyalty)—mediate the relationship between organizational justice and contextual work performance, with chronological age as a moderator. The present study includes a convenience sample of 630 Chinese employees, aged 22–67 years, who participated in a quantitative online survey. The findings endorse the mediation role of Guanxi. The total influence of justice was found to be significant, as well as the indirect impacts, that were statistically salient. Although the age‐moderated mediation was not wholly substantiated, the age‐specific indirect effects of Renqing and Xinren did present significant variances between millennials and those above 42 years. The relevance of this study extends beyond the academic field, shedding light on the cultural dynamics at play within Chinese organizational settings. By unveiling the relationships between Guanxi, organizational justice, and performance, and by elucidating the age‐specific variations therein, this research provides insights for organizational leaders and human resource professionals. Based on these findings, businesses can craft targeted interventions that capitalize on the strengths of Guanxi, ensuring fair practices and enhancing performance across diverse age groups. Further, recognizing the unique attributes and values of different generational cohorts can aid in fostering a harmonious, culturally attuned, and efficient workplace environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a theoretical framework on the conditions and mechanisms of informal governance in international organizations by a major power. It argues that the condition for informal governance is that the major power has favourable outside options, i.e. the alternatives that bring about considerable gains in the absence of cooperation, while other countries do not. When conditions are not in place, the major power is unable to exert informal influence. Based on the theoretical lens of the conditions and mechanisms of informal governance by major powers in international organizations, this article assesses China's influence in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). It finds that China's influence in the AIIB does not remain static. In the early years after the establishment of the AIIB, China was not in a position to exercise informal governance and did not demonstrate influence beyond the confines of the AIIB's formal rules. As the situation of outside options for European countries worsening and as China's outside options improving, China became well placed to implement informal governance. Under such circumstances, China's preferences are well reflected in the AIIB's decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Cultural capital" and "field" are Pierre Bourdieu's most popular concepts, applied in sociological research around the world, including China. Yet, Bourdieu's overarching theory of reproduction in education implicitly bore the imprint of a culture-field connection specific to French schooling and society circa 1960–1980. This essay has two broad aims. First, it sketches a comparative framework for connecting cultural resources to their surrounding fields. Second, it applies that framework to three populations of Chinese students: domestic students in China, Chinese international students in North American universities, and Chinese first generation and immigrants in North America. Those populations are used to illustrate several arguments. First, domestic students in China and their diaspora in North America highlight how rationalized competitions in stratified systems trigger intensive "adaptations." Second, Chinese immigrants have inadvertently triggered new "valuation contests" in North American education. Third, international Chinese students exemplify emerging transnational strategies of opting out of intensive competitions by switching fields. Future directions for research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citrus peels are rich in flavonoids, and some valuable flavonoids with health benefits, such as polymethoxyflavones (PMFs), are found almost exclusively in citrus peels. While the peels usually regarded as by-product, leading to source waste. As a traditional method, drying is helpful to increase added-value of peels which can be used as medicine. However, the variations in variety and quantity of flavonoids during drying processes of citrus peel remain unknown. In this study, Guanxi honey pomelo peel investigated the effect of different drying methods on flavonoids content in citrus peels. Five drying techniques, namely, freeze-drying (FD) and hot air drying (HAD) at 30 °C, 50 °C, 70 °C and 90 °C were used employed for drying the pomelo peels and HPLC-Q-TOF-MS analysis identified 39 flavonoids changes in flavonoids across samples. FD proved to better preserve most glycosidic flavonoids. Flavonoid aglycones could be better preserved in samples of HAD at 30 ℃, 50 ℃ HAD and 90 ℃ HAD. Specifically, HAD at 30 ℃ and 50 ℃ HAD is beneficial for obtaining more valued polymethoxyflavones such as 5-hydroxy-6,7,4′-trimethoxyflavone, 5,7,8,4′-tetramethoxyflavone and 3,5,6,7,8,3′,4′-heptamethoxyflavone. The 90℃ HAD resulted in the highest content of naringenin and 5,7,8,4′-tetramethoxyflavanone. This study demonstrated the transformation characteristics of flavonoids in pomelo peel under varying drying conditions, providing benefits for comprehensive utilization of pomelo peel in extracting valued-added flavonoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosocial punishments by social media bystanders could block the path from misinformation spread to social media‐induced polarization (SMIP). However, prosocial punishments are inadequate for SMIP management because of the personal costs, and few studies propose effective ways to mobilize bystanders. The Chinese government implemented a regulation in 2017 to mobilize bystanders on social media through allocating accountability to act as misinformation supervisors. In China's guanxi culture, prosocial punishments are less observed considering the additional personal costs caused by breaking guanxi. Therefore, assessing the effectiveness of China's cyberspace accountability mobilization can help identify an effective tool for other governments to mitigate SMIP. We used a vignette survey experiment to collect data from WeChat users and applied a random regression model to analyse the data. Accountability mobilization significantly promotes bystanders' prosocial punishment to block the misinformation‐spread‐to‐SMIP path. Guanxi negatively moderates the relationship between accountability mobilization and prosocial punishment to the above path. The government could encourage the public to actively take prosocial punishments by using the new tool of accountability mobilization. Guanxi culture reduces the effectiveness of the tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Psychological Science is the property of Psychological Science Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: Drawing on the organizational learning and relational governance literature, this study aims to advance a theoretical model to explain the export performance of emerging market export ventures. Design/methodology/approach: This study selects quantitative methodology because the main objective of this study is to explore the role of export ventures' performance (past) on guanxi networking, co-creation marketing strategies and present performance. Findings: The empirical evidence suggests that guanxi networking and co-creation strategy can mediate the relationship between export venture performance in the preceding year and export venture performance in the following year. In addition, this study also provides some guidance for emerging market export ventures on how to build a strong guanxi networking and create opportunities for collaboration when the effect of export performance in the preceding year on current performance is absent. Originality/value: The authors propose the inclusion of strategic guanxi networking-related factors (e.g. top executives' ties with business-to-business customers, such as distributors in the host market) in the prior performance-current performance paradigm. The outcomes of this study also contribute to extant organizational learning theory research by integrating preceding performance research with the co-creation theory. The study offers new insights into organizational learning and relational governance from the emerging market perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College students represent a burgeoning force in mass entrepreneurship, underscoring the critical need to nurture their entrepreneurial endeavors. This study adopts a quantitative method, surveying 33,660 Chinese college students engaged in entrepreneurial activities. It examines the impact of various entrepreneurial policies and regional entrepreneurship spirit on these students' decision-making processes. The findings reveal a positive correlation between entrepreneurial policies and entrepreneurial decision-making among college students, with regional entrepreneurship spirit serving as a mediator. Gender influences the relationship between regional entrepreneurship spirit and entrepreneurial decision-making, primarily moderating the effects of supply-based and environmentally-oriented policies. Entrepreneurship must be deeply integrated within China's unique social networks and informal institutional frameworks. The moderating influence of gender also highlights differing policy impacts among various student groups. This research contributes to the enhancement and understanding of the policy support mechanism's effect on college students and underscores the necessity for precise implementation of entrepreneurship policies tailored to college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the ubiquity of workaholism and workplace incivility, extant research lacks sufficient empirical support on the underlying mechanisms between them, which hinders curtailing the uncivil behavior of workaholics. To systematically investigate the underlying mechanisms, we proposed two mediators: emotional exhaustion and psychological entitlement. The former illustrates why workaholics engage in uncivil behaviors uncontrollably from the existing conservation of resources perspective, which captures the behavioral dimension of workaholism. The latter explains why workaholics engage in workplace incivility voluntarily from a novel moral licensing perspective, which captures the overlooked cognitive dimension of workaholism. Further, we incorporate supervisor-subordinate guanxi as a critical moderator that helps differentiate the above two mediators. Results across two studies suggested that supervisor-subordinate guanxi alleviates the indirect effects of workaholism on workplace incivility via emotional exhaustion, while magnifying the indirect effects via psychological entitlement. Overall, these findings provide evidence that workaholism can also psychologically free employees to engage in subsequent uncivil behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With fierce market competition, for medium and small scaled businesses the innovation of the business model is meant as a significant method to obtain competitive benefits and improve performance. This paper takes Confucian culture as the guidance and innovatively takes Guanxi as the starting point to construct a theoretical model of "Guanxi Orientation—resource acquisition—business model innovation—SMEs' performance". On this basis, based on the data of 405 samples, using the linear regression analysis method, the bootstrapping test method, and other methods to understand the Guanxi orientation's intermediary mechanism on the execution of SMEs, and analyze the chain intermediary effect of resource acquisition and innovation of business model and the environment the moderating impact of turbulence. Descriptive statistics are used for questionnaire results and for the interviewees to have an in-depth conversation. The study uses a structural model, mediation, and moderation analysis for the results. The research outcomes firmly established that a pronounced Guanxi orientation positively impacts the performance of SMEs. Moreover, the investigation uncovered that resource acquisition and business model innovation act as intricate and multifaceted mediators in the relationship between Guanxi inclination and the performance of SMEs. The current study puts forward reasonable suggestions for SMEs to achieve business model innovation and performance improvement from the perspective of Guanxi along with researching the antecedents and processes driving novelty in commercial operations and SMEs' performance in the context of Chinese culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese guanxi may contribute to the explanation of the rapid growth of Chinese firms. This study uses drinking culture, regarded as a typical feature of guanxi-oriented culture, and political ties, regarded as indicating the cultural embeddedness of guanxi, to empirically examine the effects of cross-level interaction between guanxi-oriented regional culture and culturally embedded managers' guanxi on firm performance in China. Based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2019, multiple linear regression analysis is used to test hypotheses. The results show that guanxi improves firm financial performance but damage technological innovation. The contextspecific research offers novel insights and contextualized knowledge to enrich and extend the understanding of how guanxi affects firm growth and contribute to the knowledge of Chinese social philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do Chinese Muslims have their own voices heard under China's tightening online censorship amid a global health crisis like COVID-19? Based on 13-month ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the active participation and creative use of digital media by Chinese Muslims during the pandemic. This study uses multi-sited ethnography (MSE) and digital ethnography to identify major features of networked Islamic counterpublic in China. It shows how Chinese Muslims creatively blend Islamic discourses of hygiene, scientific discourse, official regulations, and global discourses of public health through digital media. It also examines how Chinese Muslims selectively use digital platforms to cultivate Islamic ethics and strengthening global connections to Muslim world both online and offline. Furthermore, this study shows how resilient the networked Islamic counterpublic in China has been in terms of strategically voicing dissent in the shadows of anti-Muslim sentiments and state policies during a major global pandemic of our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that paradoxical leadership has a strong positive but inconsistent relationship with firm performance. Drawing on leadership contingency theory, we provide a theoretical model explaining how business unit level (BU‐level) paradoxical leadership positively impacts BU‐level performance mediated by BU‐level corporate entrepreneurship (CE). However, we also show that this relationship can turn negative when the degree of firm‐level Guanxi on human resource development (Guanxi HRD) practices is high. By relying on the responses from 276 BUs and performance archival data from the Taiwan Economic Journal database, we found that BU‐level CE mediates the relationship between BU‐level paradoxical leadership and BU‐level performance. Firm‐level Guanxi HRD practices diminish this effect and turn the positive relationship between BU‐level paradoxical leadership and BU‐level performance through BU‐level CE negative. Our study reveals the dark side of firm‐level Guanxi HRD practices and provides new theoretical and empirical insights that reconcile the relationship between paradoxical leadership and firm performance. Practitioner Points: There is a positive relationship between BU‐level paradoxical leadership and BU‐level performance.BU‐level CE positively mediates the relationship between BU‐level paradoxical leadership and BU‐level performance.BU‐level CE positively mediates the relationship between BU‐level paradoxical leadership and BU‐level performance.Guanxi HRD practices negatively moderate the positive relationship between BU‐level paradoxical leadership and BU‐level performance.Guanxi HRD practices negatively moderate the positive relationship between BU‐level paradoxical leadership and BU‐level performance through BU‐level CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the Chinese central government's anti-corruption policies and restrictions on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres' conduct, many rural cadres still hold or join lavish banquets, but in secret. Why do cadres take such risks? Why is banqueting so important for them? This ethnographic study in one rural county shows how instrumental banqueting (fanju) and associated interactions enhance exchange among rural cadres and businessmen, which can be understood as a process of relational work. This relational work exaggerates and adorns participants' personal relationships and constructs a moral basis for corruption. This style of relational work uses the Confucian notion of li as an excuse to show benevolence(ren), creating "ritualized relational work." This paper contributes to an understanding of the resilience of guanxi practices during President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching is often regarded as a profession with a high probability of job burnout. Research has shown a close relationship between teachers' motivation and their burnout, but it has not been closely explored among EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers in Chinese contexts. Considering the large number of college English teachers in Chinese universities and recent changes in their role, the study explores the relationship between their motivation and burnout, as well as the factors that affect teacher burnout among Chinese college English teachers. For this purpose, a total of 261 college English teachers from ten Chinese universities participated in the survey. Among them, 68 teachers submitted their narratives on teacher burnout using the narrative frame. The results showed that high mastery and relational goals and a low level of work avoidance goals contributed to higher motivation and less teacher burnout. The demand for research, lack of autonomy, and guanxi-based practices influenced Chinese teachers' burnout. The results show that teacher burnout is highly context-dependent and affected by the organizational structure and cultural practices. An organizational support needs to be provided for teachers to maintain their mastery goal orientations and increase their autonomy as professional teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to explore the process of β-glucosidase-assisted extraction of flavonoids from thinned fruits of Guanxi pummelo and the inhibitory effect of the extracted flavonoids on tyrosinase. In this paper, the extraction amount of total flavonoids was used as the index, and the β-glucosidase activity, enzymatic hydrolysis pH, temperature and time were optimized by single factor and response surface experiments, and the inhibitory effect of total flavonoids extract on tyrosinase was studied. The results showed that the optimal conditions for the extraction of flavonoids from thinned fruits of Guanxi pummelo were as follows: β-Glucosidase enzyme activity 0.0128 U/mL, enzymolysis pH4.4, temperature 35 t, time 4.8 h. Under these conditions, the extraction amount of total flavonoids was 34.0 mg/g, the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of the flavonoids extract on tyrosinase was 0.31 mg/mL. The results of this study showed that the enzymatic process could significantly improve the extraction amount of flavonoids from thinned fruits of Guanxi pummelo, and the flavonoids from thinned fruits of Guanxi pummelo had strong tyrosinase inhibition. The results of this study provided a reference for the extraction and application of flavonoids from thinned fruits of Guanxi pummelo, which was conducive to promoting the high-value utilization of Guanxi pummelo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital encompassing ideas, knowledge, information, contacts, and referrals is crucial for business achievement. This study discusses the concept of social capital within Chinese society and its pivotal role as a strategic component in the business performance of Chinese entrepreneurs. The research identifies guanxi, originating from Confucian principles, as a cornerstone of Chinese social capital. Guanxi fosters trust, facilitates networks, and fulfills reciprocal obligations, enhancing business operations' efficiency and sustainability. It is a vital component of Chinese entrepreneurs' strategic approach, characterized by its ethical and insightful nature. The findings emphasize that leveraging social capital, especially guanxi, is a reliable predictor of Chinese business success. By exploring the dynamics of social relationships, the study sheds light on the strategic deployment of social capital as a critical determinant of business performance. This research significantly contributes to understanding social capital from a sociocultural perspective, suggesting the potential development of a refined social capital theory across diverse sociocultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractGiven the dual research gap between the topic of sustainable entrepreneurship in tourism and non-Western cultural contexts, this study integrates social identity and social embeddedness theories and introduces the concepts of face and guanxi to discuss the influence of residents’ allocentrism on their sustainable entrepreneurial intentions (SEI) in collectivist rural tourism destinations. The study adopted a dominant-sequential mixed research design. The study finds that residents’ allocentrism can directly influence or indirectly stimulate SEI by enhancing their desire to gain face and reinforcing guanxi. Residents desiring to pursue face are more willing to engage in sustainable entrepreneurship. Residents with stronger guanxi are more confident in overcoming the additional risks associated with maintaining entrepreneurial sustainability. This study suggests that the entrepreneurial process does not have to be a highly individualistic pursuit, and collectivist cultural values play a critical role in entrepreneurial decision-making processes regarding sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on social exchange theory, this study investigates whether supervisor-subordinate guanxi(SSG) promotes voice behavior in university teachers. Posting organizational identification as a mediator and traditionality as a moderator, we constructed a moderated mediation model. A sample of 218 Chinese university teachers completed a two-stage questionnaire, and the data obtained were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The findings reveal that SSG can positively predict the voice behavior of university teachers, and organizational identification partially mediates the relationship between SSG and voice behavior. Moreover, traditionality negatively moderates the relationship of SSG on voice behavior via organizational identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global workforce faces a common problem: women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. Based on goal congruity theory, the present study examined Chinese college students' career interests. In Study 1, a total of 413 Science/Engineering and Medicine/Business majors chose between two jobs: one was masculine, and one was feminine; one afforded a life goal, and the other did not. The life goals were agentic (high salary), or communal (time to spend with family, helping others, and social connection). Results showed that men and Science/Engineering majors preferred masculine jobs more than feminine ones, whereas women and Medicine/Business majors preferred feminine jobs more than masculine ones. Among the four life goals, family-friendly jobs were valued the highest for Science/Engineering men. However, high-salary jobs were valued as high as family-friendly jobs for Science/Engineering women. Medicine/Business majors did not differentiate among the four life goals. To replicate the results regarding life goals, 84 Science/Engineering and Medicine/Business majors participated in Study 2, where they ranked four jobs that afforded a different goal. High-salary and family-friendly jobs were rated higher than the other two types of jobs for Science/Engineering and Medicine/Business majors. Our study showed the impact of different life goals on career preference. Theoretical and practical implications of the results were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China does not have a unified and consistent ethical understanding. Ethics have to be mostly conceived and applied in personal terms. At the negotiation table, parties bring their own moral principles and values from their cultural background, education, and experience. Justice principles anchored in Chinese moral philosophy clearly take precedence over legal justice principles. For a Chinese negotiator, striking a deal is a process of balancing between two contradictory sets of values: Confucius' notions of rightness, and those of modern distributive (and procedural) justice. Now, distributive justice implies a whole range of criteria, such as rewards according to efforts, merits, and contribution, as well as need. Equality is still not on the Chinese justice agenda. Fairness has to find its own way between guanxi requirements, traditional nepotism, the influence of symbols, propitious numbers, references to ancestors, feng shui, and astrology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explore the enabling and suppressing effects of leader affiliative and aggressive humor on employee knowledge sharing form the lens of emotional contagion process, which provides theoretical reference for the applications of different leader humor style, thereby enhancing employee knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach: This study collected three waves of data and surveyed 379 employees in China. Regression analysis, bootstrapping and latent moderation structural equation were adopted to test the hypotheses. Findings: Leader affiliative humor has a positive impact on employee knowledge sharing, whereas leader aggressive humor has a negative impact on employee knowledge sharing. Positive emotion plays a mediating role between leader affiliative humor and employee knowledge sharing, and negative emotion plays a mediating role between leader aggressive humor and employee knowledge sharing. Moreover, supervisor–subordinate Guanxi moderates the relationship between leader affiliative humor and positive emotion, and between leader aggressive humor and negative emotion, respectively. Originality/value: This study not only adds to the knowledge sharing literature calling for the exploration of antecedents and mechanism of employee knowledge sharing, but also contributes to our comprehensive understanding of the suppressing and enabling effects of leader humor style on employee knowledge sharing. Besides, this study also unpacks the dual-path mechanism and boundary condition between leader humor style and employee knowledge sharing and augments the theoretical explanations of emotional contagion theory between leader humor style and employee knowledge sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on guanxi and conservation of resources theory we explore how close personal ties between middle managers who participated in leadership development, constitutes an important social resource in an East Asian public sector context. We contribute to studies exploring the importance of informal leadership development opportunities and techniques, specifically utilised to overcome public sector structural barriers. We gathered qualitative data from 44 middle managers who had completed formal leadership development within the Hong Kong Civil Service. Our data revealed that high quality Superior-to-Subordinate Guanxi helped study participants to gain access to important development resources including further developmental opportunities, stretch assignments, developmental support and feedback. High quality Peer-to-Peer Guanxi helped them to gain access to peer tacit knowledge, participation in collaborative development projects and positive peer developmental feedback. Our findings inform future leadership development design and are relevant to East Asian public sector context's where guanxi ties are significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout contemporary China, consumers have the option of purchasing food products from “traditional” Chinese wet markets or “modern” supermarket chains. Wet market vendors are economically disadvantaged as the operators of small‐scale businesses with limited investment and high labor costs. Nevertheless, wet market vendors continue to thrive in urban China, despite the continued expansion of supermarket chains. This article combines ethnographic data and social network analysis to examine how social networks provide wet market vendors with some important competitive advantages. The article draws on fourteen months of fieldwork in Sanya City, China, and provides an analysis of the composition, structure, and strength of the network ties of 113 wet market vendors. Vendors tend to have strong and dense ties to individuals who help them establish their businesses. Vendors also rely on strong ties with regular suppliers to help them reduce costs and ensure a regular supply of goods. These strong ties are balanced by weaker ties with a diverse range of customers, including small businesses and household consumers. A combination of both strong and weak network ties contributes to the collective resilience of wet market vendors, allowing them to confront crises, reduce risk and uncertainty, and improve performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textbooks, as potentially implemented curricula, play an important role in supporting classroom teaching and learning. Mathematical connections, one of the essential and hot topics advocated in mathematics education, have been emphasized in national curriculum reforms in various countries. However, little is known about the connection networks represented in school textbooks; even less has been done to compare textbooks from different countries. In this study, we propose an innovative method for examining how connections are represented in two popular U.S. (the UCSMP series) and Chinese (the PEP-A series) high school textbook problems involving quadratic relations. By using social network analysis, we identified 1129 connections, characterized connection networks into dense, moderate, and sparse digraphs, identified influential, prominent, and dual concepts and representations, and evaluated the strength between typical and reverse connections. The results revealed that the Chinese series presented a denser network of balanced between-concept connections but limited within-concept connections. The U.S. series exhibited more within-concept connections but emphasized typical connections, thus validating the potential of this innovative method. From this study, we suggest that our novel method provides a theoretical contribution to textbook analysis and connection analysis, which has rich implications for practice, for example, examining the network of connections students construct as a way to assess and to promote their conceptual understanding, and our approach opens the possibility of adopting new and efficient analytical tools from social network analysis in mathematics education research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical and empirical work has identified a relationship between benevolent leadership and employee creativity. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain to be confirmed. This study examined the link between benevolent leadership and employee creativity by focusing on the mediating role of supervisor–subordinate guanxi. The study sample comprised 228 subordinates and their 136 supervisors from eight knowledge-intensive enterprises in China. Structural equation modeling was used for the data analysis. The results showed that benevolent leadership was positively connected with employee creativity, and supervisor–subordinate guanxi partially mediated this positive relationship. The study findings might be useful for organizations in the context of utilizing benevolent leadership roles for facilitating creative behavior among employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the number of Chinese Christian organizations in Europe has grown considerably compared to other overseas Chinese community organizations. They can mobilize transnational networks and resources to expand religious space in host societies and form a highly visible social force. Although the rise of early Christianity in the Western world has been considered an outcome of inherent religious strength, especially in terms of its central doctrines and religious ethics, this article suggests that in the diasporic Chinese world where Christianity constitutes a non-indigenous religious tradition, social relatedness based on native place, family, and kinship ties provides a more useful context for understanding its dynamic expansion and cross-regional transmission. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Europe among overseas Chinese Christian traders and entrepreneurs, this research seeks an alternative framework for understanding the religious-cultural dynamics of Chinese Christianity in the context of transnational migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Drawing on the challenge–hindrance stressor framework and the "too-much-of-a-good-thing" principle, this study examined the curvilinear effects of two emic social challenge stressors (guanxi beliefs and participative decision-making (PDM)) and the moderating effect of an etic social hindrance stressor (perceived organizational politics) on Hong Kong and United States nurses' job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative survey method was implemented, with the data provided by 355 Hong Kong nurses and 116 United States nurses. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the degree of measurement equivalence across Hong Kong and US nurses. The proposed model and the research questions were tested using nonlinear structural equation modeling analyses. Findings: The results show that while guanxi beliefs only showed an inverted U-shaped relation on Hong Kong nurses' job satisfaction, PDM had an inverted U-shaped relation with both Hong Kong and United States nurses' job satisfaction. The authors also found that Hong Kong nurses experienced the highest job satisfaction when their guanxi beliefs and perceived organization politics were both high. Research limitations/implications: The results add to the comprehension of the nuances of the often-held assumption of linearity in organizational sciences and support the speculation of social stressors-outcomes linkages. Practical implications: Managers need to recognize that while the nurturing and development of effective relationships with employees via social interaction are important, managers also need to be aware that too much guanxi and PDM may lead employees to feel overwhelmed with expectations of reciprocity and reconciliation to such an extent that they suffer adverse outcomes and become dissatisfied with their jobs. Originality/value: First, the authors found that influences of guanxi beliefs and PDM are not purely linear and that previous research may have neglected the curvilinear nature of their influences on job satisfaction. Second, the authors echo researchers' call to consider an organization's political context to fully understand employees' attitudes and reactions toward social interactions at work. Third, the authors examine boundary conditions of curvilinear relationships to understand the delicate dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Drawing on institutional theory, this study investigates the role of individual cultural values on the adoption of socially sustainable supply chain management (socially SSCM) for Chinese suppliers facing the normative institutional pressures of guanxi (interpersonal relationships). Design/methodology/approach: Using empirical data collected in three waves from 205 Chinese manufacturers supplying international markets, the proposed theoretical model is tested through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings: The results indicate that guanxi has a positive impact on socially SSCM, and this positive effect is strengthened when the individual cultural values of the supplier's representative embody high collectivism and low uncertainty avoidance. Research limitations/implications: This study highlights the leading role of guanxi in improving socially SSCM practices due to its normative institutional force. In addition, the findings suggest that future studies should consider individual differences in supply chain partners, which may lead to distinct reactions when facing normative institutional pressures. Practical implications: This study suggests international buyers should adopt guanxi management with their Chinese suppliers to encourage them to adopt socially SSCM. In addition, managers should note that the guanxi strategy is more effective when the supplier's representative collectivism is high and uncertainty avoidance is low. Originality/value: This study contributes to socially SSCM research in emerging economies by unveiling the role of guanxi as a key driver of socially SSCM in the Chinese market and providing empirical evidence of the moderating effect of individual culture on the guanxi normative institutionalization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory, we examined the link between abusive supervision and subordinates job strain and frustration via subordinates' work overload and time pressure. Data were collected using time-lagged design from Chinese service sector employees. The results showed that abusive supervision predicts subordinates job strain and frustration both directly and indirectly via work overload and time pressure. The present study elucidates how supervisor abuse affects service workers wellbeing. Also, we highlighted the need for interventions to improve workers wellbeing. Prior studies investigating the effects of abusive supervision in service industry is scant. We investigated the impact of supervisor abuse in Chinese service industry. Thus, the findings add to leadership literature in service sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the emerging field of research on collaborative governance in crises. It asks how social organisations see their contribution of skills and expertise to tackling a wicked problem such as the Covid-19 pandemic. For this purpose, I interviewed representatives of ethnic Chinese organisations about their work and relationships with the local government in Manchester in 2020 and 2021. Ethnic Chinese organisations are an interesting group because they had early access to knowledge about the spread of the virus and its harmfulness. Collaboration with them could potentially have helped to contain the pandemic in the ethnic Chinese community in the city and beyond. Based on semi-structured interviews with representatives of ethnic Chinese organisations and applying the combined theoretical frameworks of social capital and collaborative governance theories, the study identifies five organisational types in terms of their involvement in collaborative governance efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research intends to examine whether and how university academics' workplace guanxi has impact on their display of knowledge sharing. Cross-sectional data were collected from 485 academics in seven universities across Guangdong Province, China. A multi-mediation path model from workplace guanxi to knowledge sharing via leader-member exchange, team-member exchange, job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment was analysed using structural equation modelling. The results of this research support the positive relationship between workplace guanxi and knowledge sharing, but only at the co-worker level. Two paths of indirect effect were identified between co-worker guanxi and knowledge sharing. One path is of the full mediation of team-member exchange alone. The other path is of the full mediation of team-member exchange and job satisfaction, consecutively. This research extends the knowledge of workplace guanxi and knowledge sharing via providing an insight on the relational mechanism between them, while targeting the academics of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing network research has mainly adopted functional and/or structural approaches to study the instrumental goals behind entrepreneurs' networking as well as the influence of personal position on access to resources and eventual performance. The variety of entrepreneurs' networking styles and their normative underpinnings have not been adequately explored. Contextualized in China, this study asks: How do entrepreneurs' understandings of social norms shape their networking styles? Through an inductive comparison of two entrepreneur generations in China, we identify three networking styles: guanxi-oriented networking, market-based networking, and mixed networking. We theorize that three types of norms shape these styles: market-inferred norms, dyadically formed norms, and identity-induced norms. This study provides new insights into the understanding of Chinese entrepreneurs' distinctive networking styles and their normative underpinnings. Further, it suggests implications both for the wider study of entrepreneurs' networking behaviors in transition economies, and for practitioners wishing to enhance their network building in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights diversity and pluralism in the field of public relations. It challenges the normative ideals that books have traditionally taught us about how communication between organizations and their public should be. A review of the importance of personal and patronage relationships in non-western countries from every continent (Latin America and Southern Europe, China, India and Sub-Saharan Africa) shows a rich and complex reality about how communication happens. It reveals that we do not live in a perfect, predictable world – not necessarily a negative factor, but rather a source of richness. This should not be surprising news since the United States, Canada, Australia and western EU countries represent approximately just 8 per cent of the world population. A main diversity factor in strategic communication is the importance of patronage relationships, often ignored or minimized in books on the subject. Offering multiple perspectives aims to show how the importance of considering the construction of personal relationships as part of the strategic menu of organizations should not be stigmatized or considered an undesired outcome to eradicate. In most societies, patronage relationships and personal relations play a large role when organizations build relationships with their public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Handbook of Research on Cross-Culture Business and Management, edited and authored by Chandan Maheshkar and Vinod Sharma, explores the importance of cross-cultural interactions in the business world. The book covers various topics such as communication styles, cultural intelligence, globalization, managing diversity, and international management education. It includes 14 chapters written by authors from different countries, providing diverse perspectives on the subject. While the content may be dense for undergraduate students, it is recommended for graduate courses and anyone interested in understanding the current research in cross-cultural business and management. [Extracted from the article]

Innovation is an important driver for organizational development. Stimulating innovative behavior among employees becomes an important way to improve the competitive advantage of a company. The main purpose of this study is to explore the mechanisms of influence of superior-subordinate guanxi (SSG) on employees' innovative behavior and to test the mediating role of psychological ownership and the moderating role of emotional uncertainty. We collected data from 88 China Mobile's service centers in Shandong Province. The research participants comprised 88 supervisors and 321 subordinates. The results indicated that SSG enhanced employees' psychological ownership and innovative behavior. Moreover, the mediation effect of psychological ownership on the relationship between SSG and subordinates' innovative behavior was significant only for employees with high emotional uncertainty and not for employees with low emotional uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived overqualification (POQ) has become a common experience across different workplaces. However, the present research has overlooked the circumstances in which overqualification can lead to favorable results, not to mention the career development of overqualified employees. Drawing on career construction theory, we formulate a model examining how POQ relates to subjective career success/promotability. The questionnaire survey collected data from 204 supervisor-subordinate dyads within 65 teams from three Chinese companies in Shanghai, Shandong, and Hebei provinces across three time periods. The results revealed that POQ is related to career adaptability positively when perceived supervisor support is high but negatively when it is low. Career adaptability positively affects subjective career success and promotability. The indirect effect of POQ on career-related results through career adaptability is positive when perceived supervisor support is high but negative when it is low. We analyze these findings' potential implications in theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]