Chinese perceptions of guanxi in Mainland and overseas Chinese business communities

Scholars generally agree that in the context of Chinese business culture, the socio-economic and socio-political institution of guanxi (personal connections/relationships), is an important factor. However to date, few have analysed guanxi within a theoretical context and there is a paucity of empirical academic research into the nature and practice of guanxi; why guanxi perceptions vary across nations, cultures and sub-cultures; and whether the use and potency of guanxi are waning, as Mainland overseas Chinese polities are modernising. Institutional economics is a discipline that facilitates the examination of socio-economic and socio-political social institutions and how an institution such as guanxi might change over time. However, whilst it contains an immense body of literature, it lacks a comprehensive analytical framework for analysing the evolution of institutions over time and more specifically; a framework that can be applied within and across cultures. This research has a dual focus. First, it develops a more comprehensive theoretical framework, grounded in genetic, ecological and psychological variables for analysing economic and institutional change within and across cultures. Secondly, it applies the framework to an analysis of guanxi in a number of Mainland Chinese regions and overseas Chinese communities. The purpose is twofold. First, to evaluate the suitability of the framework for exploring how a culturally specific, informal institution such as guanxi, may change as Chinese business people are exposed to more formal Western institutions. Secondly, to explore if and how the practice of guanxi is perceived to be changing by Chinese business people in both Mainland and overseas Chinese communities and subsequently inform academics, policy makers and business people of the findings. The researcher adopted an interpretive social science methodology and conducted nine in-depth focus group interviews in eight Chinese Mainland and overseas cities with a cross-section of English speaking Chinese business people, from a variety of industry and occupational groups. The researcher complemented the focus group interviews with an online survey, modelled on the focus group interview protocol, in order to increase the depth, breadth and rigour of the data. The transcripts from the focus groups and online survey were analysed using NVivo8 and Microsoft Excel to identify patterns and themes in the responses. Through adopting a mixed-methods approach to the analysis of the data, this research makes the following contributions to the literature on guanxi, institutional economics and the literature on research methods: an empirically derived definition as to exactly what constitutes guanxi; clarification as to the roots of guanxi, based on historical and empirical research; empirical evidence that explains varying guanxi perceptions across and between cultures, regions and nations; an empirical evaluation as to whether or not the use and potency of guanxi are waning, as both China and overseas Chinese communities are modernising; empirical evidence as to the suitability of the theoretical framework developed for this study for analysing institutions and institutional change.