The Influence of Work-Family Conflict on Taiwanese Expatriates' Burnout and Turnover Intention in China: Guanxi as a Moderator

Abstract

Guanxi has been shown to play an important role in the management of Taiwanese expatriates assigned to China. In this study, we examined the relationships between expatriates' work-family confl ict, burnout, and intent to return early and the moderate role of supervisor-subordinate Guanxi in these relationships from the perspective of job demands-resources model. We used a two-waved data from a sample of 257 Taiwanese expatriates in China, and the results supported the moderating hypotheses of supervisor-subordinate Guanxi. Besides, burnout mediated the eff ect of work-family confl ict on intent to return early, only when Taiwanese expatriates perceived low levels of supervisor-subordinate Guanxi. Finally, Guanxi would be a buff er for expatriate assignment management in the Chinese context.

IsGuanxicritical to the job burnout of ITP and IS/IT users in Chinese society?

“…Finally, the guanxi does not has significantly effect on perceived workload (H4a) and work-home conflict (H4f) of Chinese ITP and IS/IT users. The finding is inconsistent with the studies of Wu (2019), Yuan et al (2019), in that guanxi could not be an antecedent variable to increase the perceived workload and work-home conflict of Chinese ITP and IS/IT users. However, the result shows that guanxi have an orientation to decrease the perceived workload and work-home conflict of Chinese ITP and IS/IT users; thus, guanxi still has potential ability to decrease their perceived workload and work-home conflict.…”

“…Guanxi acknowledge the multidimensionality of employee well-being in the Chinese workplace through basic psychological needs (Liu and Jia, 2021;Wu, 2019), and guanxi exchanges are positively correlated with police officer burnout (Hu et al, 2016). If subordinates have a high-level of guanxi with supervisors, they will gain many more job resources, feel job security and improve their job satisfaction and performance (Guan and Frenkel, 2019); however, employees will sacrifice their personal benefits and well-beings for group harmony, thus, guanxi will increase these employees' work pressure (Chen et al, 2019;Ren and Doren, 2017;You et al, 2015;Yuan et al, 2019); some organizational factors (e.g. workload, role ambiguity, job autonomy and work-home conflict) of them will be increased too (Charoensukmongkol, 2022;Salm, 2015;Wu, 2019;Yuan et al, 2019).…”

“…If subordinates have a high-level of guanxi with supervisors, they will gain many more job resources, feel job security and improve their job satisfaction and performance (Guan and Frenkel, 2019); however, employees will sacrifice their personal benefits and well-beings for group harmony, thus, guanxi will increase these employees' work pressure (Chen et al, 2019;Ren and Doren, 2017;You et al, 2015;Yuan et al, 2019); some organizational factors (e.g. workload, role ambiguity, job autonomy and work-home conflict) of them will be increased too (Charoensukmongkol, 2022;Salm, 2015;Wu, 2019;Yuan et al, 2019). For this reason, based on the key objective, it is believed that if Chinese ITP and IS/IT users have good guanxi with others, it will increase their perceived workload, role ambiguity, job autonomy, work-home conflict and work exhaustion in the work environment.…”

How Does IT Influence Chinese IS/IT Users' Job Burnout?

“…If the subordinates have a high-level guanxi with supervisors, they will gain many more job resources, feel job security, and improve their job satisfaction and performance (Yu & Frenkel, 2013;Zheng et al, 2014). Thus, guanxi will increase the employees work pressure (Ren & Doren, 2017), and work-family conflict (Wu et al, 2019;Yuan et al, 2019).…”

A sense of belonging helps! The alleviating effect of national identification on burnout among diplomats

“…Interestingly, although burnout is frequently reported by expatriates, not all individuals experience the same negative consequences for work performance and career satisfaction. Influencing factors are, for example, the perceived importance of work (Silbiger and Pines, 2014), the supervisor–subordinate relationship (Yuan et al , 2019), as well as role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload (Bhanugopan and Fish, 2006).…”