Creative entrepreneurs' artistic creativity and entrepreneurial alertness: the guanxi network perspective

PurposeThe dichotomy of views on “arts for arts sake” and “art must meet commerce” elicits the clash about how creative entrepreneurs encounter the dilemma of fulfilling personal satisfaction and chasing entrepreneurial aspiration along the entrepreneurial process. It is argued whether or not creative entrepreneurs can integrate artistic creativity and entrepreneurial alertness to disentangle the conflict and tension between art and commerce in the guanxi embedded culture context. The complex guanxi ties of creative entrepreneurs identified as bonding ties with families, bridging ties with friends and social ties with colleagues are presumed to activate personal and social values.Design/methodology/approachThe research design consists of two stages: face-to-face interviews and empirical survey. A total of four successful local creative entrepreneurs in craft arts were interviewed and asked questions related to their source of creative inspiration, market alertness and value creation. Findings derived from interviews enrich the questionnaire development of the empirical survey. The survey was conducted to realize the social phenomenon of creative entrepreneurs' guanxi, cognitive process and satisfaction with Taiwan's creative industry context. In total, 318 creative entrepreneurs’ responses were collected and analyzed by using structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsResults suggest that guanxi networks lead to the acquisition of various social resources that are conducive to alertness in entrepreneurial opportunities and stimulate artistic creativity, which in turn gratify creative entrepreneurs' senses of entrepreneurial satisfaction with life, work and social contribution, as well as achieve higher entrepreneurial aspiration, perceived as social recognition and meaning of work.Practical implicationsResults of this study enrich the understanding of creative entrepreneurs and their awareness of balancing opportunity alerting and artistic creativity while starting creative businesses. Diverseness and closeness of guanxi networks can fill the gap between art and market and further pave the way to winning aspiration.Originality/valueThis paper advances the existing literature on creative entrepreneurship by adopting guanxi network theory to explore entrepreneurs' cognitive process in the linkage of artistic creativity and entrepreneurial alertness and their mediating effects on perceived entrepreneurial satisfaction and aspiration.

The moral economy of guanxi and the market of corruption: Networks, brokers and corruption in China’s courts

In this article, I offer an economic analysis of the characteristics that are associated with corruption when it is facilitated through social exchange or guanxi as it is called in China. To that end, I challenge the framework applied in classic social exchange theories and contend that social exchange can be better distinguished from market exchange based on whether the intention to exchange is concealed and not based on the exchanging parties’ subjective reflections on the nature and outlook of their exchange relationship. I also identify that corruption participants rely on a self-executable operating mechanism to facilitate negotiation and enforcement of exchange terms instead of the informal reputational system that is used in ordinary social exchange. In addition, I explain how the involvement of professional brokers democratizes guanxi-based corruption and extends the otherwise privileged exchange opportunities to those beyond the guanxi networks with lowered cost.

The guanxi ties of managers in mainland China – a critical analysis based on gender

Purpose Inadequate social networks are often seen as an explanation of the under-representation of women in management. Networks contain culture-specific features, as in China where the term guanxi is used, defined as a shared common identification held by two or more individuals (Jacobs, 1979). In several studies, guanxi has been found to relate positively to success at work both for the individual and the organization, but little is known about it from gender and career perspectives. Referring especially to the earlier studies by Chow and Ng (2004), the purpose of this paper is to address the meaning of guanxi networks for top women IT managers in mainland China. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected data from 21 women managers in mainland China, using a questionnaire about the composition and structure of their core guanxi networks and face-to-face interviews which allowed ample opportunity to elaborate the participants’ responses to items included in the questionnaire and their perspectives to using guanxi in general. The authors used both data in an interpretive analysis. Findings It was found that: there is a significant effect of female-to-male dyads concerning power and work-related guanxi bases, such as influence; there is a significant effect of female-to-female dyads concerning questions of private life and crisis, and women IT managers have a relatively limited guanxi base. The findings of this paper support Ibarra’s (1993) suggestion that a common strategy for women is to use and develop a functionally differentiated network. Based on findings, the authors further suggest that in building a successful managerial career, women managers in China need to reflect their gender, be gender-sensitive in building up their networks and stay incorporated at the core networks in the organization whatever gender they represent. They also suggest that because networks are dependent on culturally bound definitions (like guanxi), even the guanxi practices may vary locally in different parts of China. Research limitations/implications Women managers are important role models for younger female candidates and the possibility to close connections with them is relevant. Because networks are dependent on culturally bound definitions (like guanxi), even the guanxi practices may vary locally in different parts of China. For further studies, the authors suggest to focus on the consequences of guanxi practice limitations to women managers’ careers, especially from the perspective of private life responsibilities and the possible problematic nature of power ties between the gender(s). Originality/value Even if working life is becoming more and more global, the local and culture-based nature of networking remains. This paper contributes on the extensive research on social networking practices in China, often described in terms of guanxi, which has seldom been investigated using critical gender perspective.

Exploring sustainable supply chain management: a social network perspective

PurposeThe implementation of sustainable supply chain management (SCM) calls for an acknowledgement of uncertainty inherent in complex environment. Confucianist society forms social networks in Confucianist society, called guanxi networks, influence economic behaviours and business practices in the workplace. The purpose of this study is to explore how these social networks influence the implementation of sustainable SCM. In doing so, this study aims to critically investigate the constructs of guanxi networks, their impact on flow of supply chain capital and how this leverages the implementation of sustainable SCM.Design/methodology/approachTwo systematic literature reviews are conducted to understand the constructs of social networks in Confucianist culture and their impacts on the flow of supply chain capitals. The reviews also analyse evidence related to the economic, social and environmental practices to reveal the current state of the literature and research gaps. Propositions and a framework are developed to support future research in this area.FindingsThe constructs of ganqing, renqing, xinren and mianzi in guanxi networks have expanded the contexts of social networks in Western literature. Guanxi networks increase the flow of supply chain capital and generate trust between players, thus enhancing capabilities to implement sustainable SCM. Guanxi networks also create the mechanism of network governance with which to increase sustainable SCM implementation under the institutional logics of sustainability.Research limitations/implicationsThe conceptual framework and justification are based on the reviews of current studies in the field. Future empirical study is encouraged to test the propositions, both in Confucianist culture and other countries with culture of social networks.Originality/valueSocial networks are socially constructed concepts. The constructs of guanxi networks revealed in this study have developed the knowledge of Western-based social network theory. Besides, arguments from a social network perspective provide an alternative answer to explain increased behavioural commitment and companies’ investment in sustainable SCM. This study helps practitioners understand the logic of this social norm and to use it to maximise their operation outputs, including sustainable SCM implementation.

Relational resources for emerging markets’ non-technological innovation: insights from China and Taiwan

Purpose This paper aims to highlight the importance of relational resources (trust and relationship effectiveness). The authors investigate how the Chinese guanxi is utilized to create and develop service exploitation and exploration activities for adopting non-technological innovations. Design/methodology/approach This study surveyed 252 Chinese and Taiwanese firms. The results were analyzed through structural equation model. Findings Relational antecedents of collaborative communication and constructive conflict positively relate to trust, as well as to relationship effectiveness. Constructive conflict positively relates to exploration and exploitation. Relationship effectiveness and trust mediate two relational antecedents to exploitation. Relationship effectiveness crucially mediates two relational antecedents to exploration. Research limitations/implications Dyadic data would be more desirable to study firm interactions. Practical implications Chinese society perceives conflict as being detrimental to relationships. Constructive conflict enhances inter-firm trust and relationship effectiveness. Relationship effectiveness, which motivates suppliers to mobilize their guanxi network, mediates the supplier–customer interaction in broadening relationships to produce new services, as well as reinforcing networks to strengthen existing ventures. Originality/value This study contributes to a relatively under-explored relationship effectiveness area. Chinese suppliers capitalize their guanxi networks to achieve competitive advantages in non-technological innovation.

Social Movements in China: Augmenting Mainstream Theory with Guanxi

An extensive literature on social movements points to the role of social networks in movement recruitment and development. It is anomalous, therefore, that treatments of Chinese social movements seldom acknowledge the importance of guanxi networks. Theories of social movements are typically constructed on the basis of US and European cases and draw upon the intellectual formations of these regions. Through an examination of social movements in contemporary China it is shown that guanxi is not only relevant to the operation of social movements but to our understanding of how social movements are formed and also how they are suppressed and undermined by the state. It will be shown that by theorising social movements in China in terms of guanxi there is scope to augment social network approaches to social movements.