Dyadic characteristics of guanxi and their consequences

Abstract

Research on guanxi is conducted principally within the disciplines of anthropology, business studies and sociology. It typically takes the form of empirical case studies, applications of extrinsic theory and literature reviews cum trend reports. The present paper, on the other hand, provides an analysis of guanxi in consideration of its elemental relations, components and properties. Discussion indicates the limitations of treatments of guanxi in terms of trust, guanxi bases, tie-strength and the conveyance of influence and information. Having established the characteristic features of guanxi discussion then turns to how it may be an option or choice of commitment for persons and groups in contemporary China, its form and role in marketized exchanges, and how the efficiency of guanxi may be characterized.

Guanxi in an age of digitalization: toward assortation and value homophily in new tie-formation

“…Much of the social network literature preoccupied with homophily has limned statuses as the basis of tie-formation, which finds commonality with the significance of roles in ordering social interactions in traditional guanxi (Barbalet 2017). It is shown in the present article that among guanxi networks formed on SNSs, the basis of homophily in tie-formation shifts from statuses to values as the technical features and capabilities of SNSs refract configurations to the architecture of guanxi networks themselves.…”

“…Among in-person networks, information and emotional exchange are largely sequestered among one's strong and weak ties (Aral and Alstyne 2011). Barbalet (2017) writes that guanxi networks are traditionally non-transitive because the opacity of information exchanged is valorized (see also King 1991). Exchanging information in strict confidence with select others creates a sense of exclusivity, which, in turn, acts as the basis for mutuality.…”

The Analysis of Chinese Rural Society: Fei Xiaotong Revisited

“…It is widely understood that the purpose of guanxi is to achieve an outcome for individual participants that provides benefit or advantage for them. At the same time, the costs of guanxi, in the form of gifts, time spent in cultivating guanxi partners, and the opportunity costs of being locked into long-term obligatory relationships, are balanced against the benefits of collective effort that affords higher yields than any individual effort might achieve if one were to act alone on one’s own behalf (Barbalet, 2017: 341). The interest that motivates the cooperative effort that is guanxi, as opposed to the individual or personal benefit or advantage, is the social esteem or face that comes from the appreciative recognition of others.…”

Trust: Condition of action or condition of appraisal

“…In order to advance the argument concerning the nature of social trust in late modernity it is necessary to consider a case of the absence of inter-personal trust through brief examination of the Chinese mode of relationship in guanxi. Guanxi is a form of asymmetrical exchange of favours between persons on the basis of enduring sentimental ties in which enhancement of public reputation or ‘face’ is the aspirational outcome (Barbalet, 2017; Hwang, 1987; Lin, 2001). In Chinese culture malfeasance tends to be dealt with by attempting to return disrupted relations between persons to harmony not by correcting wrongs with rights but through compromise and preservation of face, including for the wrongdoer.…”