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1 – 5 of 5Han Ren, Charles Weizheng Chen, Jiuhua Cherrie Zhu and Yuling Chen
This paper aims to explore the extent to which unionized employees are dissatisfied in Chinese Enterprise Trade Unions (CETUs) when they perceive high levels of the triple-role…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the extent to which unionized employees are dissatisfied in Chinese Enterprise Trade Unions (CETUs) when they perceive high levels of the triple-role conflicts, as well as whether rights expectations will moderate these relationships. The authors define CETUs' triple-role conflicts as the extent to which CETUs and their cadres prioritize fulfilling the roles of preserving social stability (“peace”) and/or maintaining the production order (“production”) over protecting worker's rights and interests (“workers” rights).
Design/methodology/approach
Pilot study developed the scales via both qualitative and quantitative studies, which include item generation using the transcript of individual interviews with 36 informants, and exploratory factor analyses with 106 respondents. The study used a sample of 327 employees from more than 20 firms in North and Southwest China.
Findings
Results indicate high reliability and validity of the scales and provide largely consistent supports for our hypotheses: three dimensions of triple-role conflicts are negatively related to employees' satisfaction in CETUs, and rights expectations moderate these relationships.
Originality/value
This study developed three scales to respectively measure CETUs' triple-role conflicts, rights expectation and satisfaction in CETUs. More importantly, the findings shed light on the moderating mechanism of rights expectation in the relationships between triple-role conflicts and satisfaction in CETUs.
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Han Ren and Charles Weizheng Chen
This paper aims to explore why some Chinese subordinates will engage in building guanxi with their supervisor while others will not. The authors conceptualize subordinates’…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore why some Chinese subordinates will engage in building guanxi with their supervisor while others will not. The authors conceptualize subordinates’ initiative behaviors which aim at building up or improving guanxi with their supervisors through social interactions as supervisor–subordinate guanxi (SSG)-building behaviors. Guided by the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study examines how three psychological antecedents (guanxi orientation as attitude, individual perception of group-level guanxi practice as subjective norm and person–supervisor [P-S] fit perception as perceived control) independently and interactively predict subordinates’ SSG-building behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a sample of 162 supervisor–subordinate dyads from four enterprises located in Southwest China.
Findings
Results indicated that P-S fit perception is most strongly related to subordinates’ SSG-building behaviors, followed by guanxi orientation and individual perception of group-level guanxi practice perception. Guanxi orientation is also found to strengthen the positive effect of P-S fit perception on subordinates’ SSG-building behaviors.
Originality/value
The authors’ findings shed light on the psychological mechanisms of Chinese subordinates’ behaviors to build up or improve guanxi with their supervisors, and advance the current understanding of SSG development from a planned behavioral perspective.
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Dongmei Hu, Yang Peng, Tony Fang and Charles Weizheng Chen
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of executives’ overseas education and work experience on enterprise digital as executives’ overseas background is critical to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of executives’ overseas education and work experience on enterprise digital as executives’ overseas background is critical to the development of enterprises. It also explored the mediating role of enterprise digital transformation on the relationship between executives’ overseas background and enterprise growth.
Design/methodology/approach
Chinese A-share companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges for the period 2018–2020 were analyzed using regression analysis and bootstrapping to verify hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Executives’ overseas study and work experience both enhanced enterprise digital transformation significantly, thus improving enterprise growth. The level of employee education moderated the mediating role proposed in the theoretical model. Moreover, the promoting effect of executives’ overseas background on enterprise digital transformation was more significant for non-state-owned enterprises and those in eastern China.
Practical implications
The findings provide reference for the formulation and optimization of companies’ human resource structure and have implications on the improvement of enterprise digital transformation and enterprise growth.
Originality/value
This study explored the factors influencing enterprise digital transformation at the microlevel of corporate human capital, thereby providing microlevel empirical evidence for research on the factors influencing enterprise digital transformation. Its findings shed light on the mechanism and context under which executives with overseas backgrounds may enhance enterprise digital transformation and growth.
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Yuling Chen, Jingzhi Shao, Charles Weizheng Chen and Fang Wan
Small talk, often regarded as a superficial interaction unrelated to work, is a pervasive and inescapable aspect of daily life and professional settings. In China, where the…
Abstract
Purpose
Small talk, often regarded as a superficial interaction unrelated to work, is a pervasive and inescapable aspect of daily life and professional settings. In China, where the notion of guanxi – the cultivation of strategic relationships – is deeply valued, workplace small talk (WST) is a strategic tool used by employees to strengthen their interpersonal networks. This study aims to investigate the positive impact of WST on task performance within the Chinese workplace and explores the mechanisms underpinning this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a time-lagged research design to test its hypotheses using data from 516 employees across various Chinese firms.
Findings
This study revealed that WST exerts both direct and indirect positive effects on task performance. It boosts task performance indirectly via two mediators: relational energy and positive affect. This study also delineated a chain mediation model wherein WST sequentially elevates task performance by first enhancing relational energy and then fostering positive affect.
Originality/value
Counter to the prevailing focus on the negative repercussions of WST, this study sheds light on its beneficial outcomes, proposing novel pathways connecting WST to task performance. These insights contribute to both academic discourse and the development of practical management strategies.
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Yuling Chen, Zihan Yuan and Charles Weizheng Chen
The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of work-to-family conflict (WFC) on unethical pro-family behavior (UPFB) and work engagement (WE) among Chinese female leaders…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of work-to-family conflict (WFC) on unethical pro-family behavior (UPFB) and work engagement (WE) among Chinese female leaders. In addition, this study investigates the mediating role of work-to-family guilt (WFG) and the moderating role of family centrality (FC) in these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach was adopted, involving the collection of data through online questionnaires administered at three time points. These data were analyzed using hierarchical regression and the bootstrapping method to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
WFC exhibited a significant positive correlation with UPFB and a negative correlation with WE; WFG played a mediating role in the relationships between WFC and both UPFB and WE; and FC had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between WFC and WE.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on a model of WFC and its related effects, reveals how WFC affects UPFB and WE and uncovers the mediating role of WFG and the moderating role of FC; pays attention to a unique organizational behavior, UPFB, which enriches research on the antecedents influencing such behaviors; and examines Chinese female leaders in organizations, their current experience of WFC and the resulting psychological and behavioral outcomes.
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