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Corporate Social Capital in Chinese Guanxi Culture

Contemporary Perspectives on Organizational Social Networks

ISBN: 978-1-78350-751-1, eISBN: 978-1-78350-752-8

Publication date: 14 July 2014

Abstract

We conceptualize corporate social capital within the context of Chinese guanxi culture. We assert that the formation and mobilization of corporate social capital are culturally and institutionally contextualized. Building upon a relational approach to corporate performance, we examine culture-sensitive properties of Chinese guanxi and compare guanxi social capital with non-guanxi social capital. We then explain why guanxi-based corporate social capital is of growing significance to the Chinese transitional economy in an era of increasing market competition and institutional uncertainty. We conclude by proposing a research agenda about the roles that guanxi-based corporate social capital plays for boosting corporate performance.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgment

The coauthors are grateful for the helpful comments of Dan Brass, Jieming Chen, Deborah Davis, Joe Galaskiewicz, Nan Lin, Jeylan Mortimer, Anne Tsui, and the audiences of symposiums at Yale (March 26, 2012), Duke (April 2, 2012), and Tsinghua (July 16, 2012) Universities.

Citation

Bian, Y. and Zhang, L. (2014), "Corporate Social Capital in Chinese Guanxi Culture", Contemporary Perspectives on Organizational Social Networks (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 40), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 421-443. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X(2014)0000040021

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited