How managers use culture and controls to impose a ‘996’ work regime in China that constitutes modern slavery

Abstract

The paper investigates how unrestricted global capitalism and a Confucian culture of hierarchy and obedience combine to create a form of modern slavery in China. The cases cited involve semi‐structured interviews with 11 managers and 19 workers working in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors. The interviews are analysed to determine how managers use controls to exploit power/distance, high levels of insecurity, and unenforced labour rights to impose harsh working conditions. Prior research has examined what mechanisms are imposed in a society that retains a Confucian legacy of obedience but not ‘how’ they are imposed in a way that constitutes a form of modern slavery.

Social and environmental accounting in developing countries: contextual challenges and insights

“…However, despite the positive cultural value seen, certain aspects of cultural traditions could be amplified in modern society and used as weapons to create unethical and/or irresponsible behaviour. As mentioned earlier, the Confucian legacy of obedience to authority has been observed as rationalising a high level of power distance that enables a form of modern slavery in workplace practices (Wang, 2020). Therefore, the influences of religious and cultural contexts on SEA development are multifaceted.…”

“…There seems to be some evidence showing a slow but positive shift from anthropocentric to ecocentric policy development in developing countries more recently, where sustainability and social responsibility related legislation and reporting practice keep growing (KPMG 2017;2020). However, the tightening of regulations to balance economic growth and sustainability, if not carefully designed, could raise even more dangerous prospects of vulnerable people losing business prosperity to other either more powerful and resourceful elites; or to less regulated economies, which is a common dilemma among developing countries (Belal, 2015;.…”

“…Similarly, the predominance of the Buddhist religion and country specific culture and education in Sri Lanka have proven to be important factors influencing business managers' attitudes and belief in sustainability reporting and their intention to engage with it (Thoradeniya et al, 2015). In a recent study of China's prevailing "996" (working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) work condition, Wang (2020) problematises the Confucian culture of hierarchy that has reinforced power distance in organisational management. This specific culture element was criticised as enabling managers to design control mechanisms that "use subordinates' labour or services in a substantially unrestricted manner" (Wang 2020, p. 4333).…”

“…The increased interest in SEA research in developing countries may be largely attributed to the rapidly increasing voluntary disclosure in business practice in those countries (Das et al, 2015;Loh et al, 2016). International surveys conducted by KPMG (2015;2017;2020) highlight significant growth of corporate responsibility disclosure in emerging economic regions such as Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. A study of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries (see Loh et al, 2016) reveals that 100% of the sample companies examined in Indonesia, for example, provide some CSR or sustainability-related information.…”

Human resource management in China: what are the key issues confronting organizations and how can research help?

“…Increasingly, the phenomenon of ‘996’ (working from 9 am to 9 pm and 6 days a week) has become the norm in some companies and jobs (e.g. R&D, e‐commerce, courier delivery), with increasingly negative impacts on both firms and employees (Liu et al 2019; Peng 2020; Wang 2020).…”