2012 Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2013), "2012 Awards for Excellence", Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jchrm.2013.46504aaa.002

2012 Awards for Excellence

Article Type: 2012 Awards for Excellence From: Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management, Volume 4, Issue 1

The following article was selected for this year's Outstanding Paper Award for Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management

“Business ethics and workplace guanxi in Chinese SOEs: a qualitative study”

Jessica LiDepartment of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Jean MadsenDepartment of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese employees’ perceptions on their ethical decision making in relation to the workplace guanxi context in state-owned enterprises (SOE).

Design/methodology/approach – Using a qualitative method, two rounds of interviews were conducted with 18 participants in two SOEs “to explore Chinese employees” ethical perceptions and experiences in the workplace. A qualitative thematic strategy was adopted to analyze and interpret the data.

Findings – The authors identified three major themes on SOE employees ethical decision making in relation to workplace guanxi: the ethical self; malleable ethical standards; and submission to authority. The authors derived a conceptual framework to outline the relationship between the invisible hand of guanxi and the SOE employees’ ethical decision making.

Originality/value – The paper contributes to the business ethics literature by presenting a three-dimensional profile and a conceptual framework for Chinese business ethics research. It provides an in-depth understanding of a complex dynamics of guanxi and its impact on employees’ ethical decision-making behavior.

Keywords: Business ethics, China, Decision making, Employee attitudes, Employee behaviour, guanxi, SOE employees, SOE organizations, State-owned enterprises

www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/20408001111179140

This article originally appeared in Volume 2 Number 2, 2011, pp. 83-99 Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management

The following article was selected for this year's Highly Commended Award

“Effects of empowering leadership on performance in management team: mediating effects of knowledge sharing and team cohesion”

Hui-Ling Tung and Yu-Hsuan Chang

This article originally appeared in Volume 2 Number 1, 2011 Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management

Outstanding Reviewer

Dr Judy Y. SunThe University of Texas at Tyler, USA