The influence of relation-based and rule-based regulations on hiring decisions in the Australian and Hong Kong Chinese cultural contexts

Investigation of the cultural factors that may influence the employment decisions of managers is of increasing importance in the global business environment. The purpose of this research is to examine whether particularistic ties based on friendship influence hiring practices in relation-based (Hong Kong Chinese) and rule-based (Australian) cultural contexts. Three studies were conducted to examine this research question. Results indicate that friendship-based particularistic ties, specifically guanxi and mateship, can influence hiring decisions in both relation- and rule-based cultural contexts. The results of the studies have implications for human resource managers with regards to staffing organizations operating in different cultural contexts.

[1]  J. Sarros.  What Leaders Say They Do: An Australian Example , 1992 .

[2]  Naresh K. Malhotra,et al.  Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation , 1993 .

[3]  Soon Ang,et al.  Guanxi Networks and Job Mobility in China and Singapore , 1997 .

[4]  Anne S. Tsui,et al.  Guanxi and Business , 2001 .

[5]  Catherine Balagtas,et al.  Getting that job. , 2012, Nursing standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987).

[6]  M. Aiken,et al.  Relationship of centralization to other structural properties. , 1967 .

[7]  J. Alston,et al.  The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism , 1992 .

[8]  Linda S. Lotto.  Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods , 1986 .

[9]  Shaomin Li,et al.  The Great Leap Forward: The Transition from Relation-Based Governance to Rule-Based Governance , 2004 .

[10]  Elizabeth. Sinn,et al.  Modern History of Hong Kong, 1841-1997 , 2004 .

[11]  R. Bhagat.  Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations , 2002 .

[12]  XinKatherine,et al.  Guanxi Practices and Trust in Management , 2004 .

[13]  David De Cremer,et al.  How Self-Conception May Lead to Inequality Effect of Hierarchical Roles on the Equality Rule in Organizational Resource-Sharing Tasks , 2003 .

[14]  The Relationship Closeness Inventory , 2011 .

[15]  J. Alston,et al.  Wa, Guanxi, and Inhwa: Managerial principles in Japan, China, and Korea , 1989 .

[16]  T. Gold,et al.  After Comradeship: Personal Relations in China Since the Cultural Revolution , 1985, The China Quarterly.

[17]  Chao C. Chen,et al.  Special Issue on Corporate Transformation in the People's Republic of China: Guanxi Practices and Trust in Management: A Procedural Justice Perspective , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[18]  Yanjie Bian,et al.  Guanxi and the Allocation of Urban Jobs in China , 1994, The China Quarterly.

[19]  Neal M. Ashkanasy,et al.  Value Congruence in Leader-Member Exchange , 1997 .

[20]  N. Feather.  Value Systems Across Cultures: Australia and China , 1986 .

[21]  Morton Fried,et al.  Fabric of Chinese society : a study of the social life of a Chinese county seat , 1953, The Far Eastern Quarterly.

[22]  Yongqing Fang,et al.  Turnover propensity and its causes among Singapore nurses: An empirical study. , 2001 .

[23]  Jeffrey C. Kennedy,et al.  Examining the Preferences of Influence Tactics in Chinese Societies: A Comparison of Chinese Managers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China , 2004 .

[24]  Michael Harris Bond,et al.  The social psychology of Chinese people. , 1986 .

[25]  C. R. Greer,et al.  Human resource management outsourcing: The make or buy decision , 1999 .

[26]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[27]  D. Crawford.  Introduction , 2008, CACM.

[28]  A. Aron,et al.  Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness , 1992 .

[29]  Lucian W. Pye.  Chinese Negotiating Style: Commercial Approaches and Cultural Principles , 1992 .

[30]  D. J. Dwyer,et al.  Explaining employees' health care costs: a prospective examination of stressful job demands, personal control, and physiological reactivity. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[31]  Victor H. Vroom,et al.  Predicting Leader behavior from a Measure of behavioral Intent , 1978 .

[32]  George B. Graen,et al.  Guanxi and professional leadership in contemporary Sino-American joint ventures in mainland China , 1997 .

[33]  Yi-min Lin.  Social Connections in China: Beyond Dyadic Social Exchange: Guanxi and Third-Party Effects , 2002 .

[34]  Richard D. Harvey,et al.  Friendship pair similarity as a measure of group value. , 1997 .

[35]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[36]  Mayfair M Yang.  Gifts, Favors, and Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China , 1996, Journal of Asian Studies.

[37]  E. Berscheid,et al.  The Relationship Closeness Inventory : Assessing the Closeness of Interpersonal Relationships , 2004 .

[38]  D. Guthrie,et al.  The Declining Significance of Guanxi in China's Economic Transition , 1998, The China Quarterly.

[39]  James Page.  Is Mateship a Virtue , 2002 .

[40]  J. A. Wall,et al.  Managers in the People's Republic of China , 1990 .

[41]  David A. Morand,et al.  The Role of Behavioral Formality and Informality in the Enactment of Bureaucratic Versus Organic Organizations , 1995 .

[42]  S. Tsang.  A Modern History of Hong Kong , 2003 .

[43]  Larry E. Toothaker,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions , 1991 .

[44]  Jonathan P. West,et al.  Workplace Relations: Friendship Patterns and Consequences (According to Managers) , 2002 .

[45]  K. Hwang.  Face and Favor: The Chinese Power Game , 1987, American Journal of Sociology.

[46]  T. Judge,et al.  Interviewers' perceptions of persons-organization fit and organizational selection decisions. , 1997, The Journal of applied psychology.

[47]  N. Ashkanasy,et al.  The Egalitarian Leader: A Comparison of Leadership in Australia and New Zealand , 2003 .

[48]  Jiing-Lih FarhAnne,et al.  The Influence of Relational Demography and Guanxi: The Chinese Case , 1998 .

[49]  D. Coutu.  How resilience works. , 2002, Harvard business review.

[50]  I. Chow,et al.  Organizational attractiveness of firms in the People's Republic of China: a person-organization fit perspective. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[51]  E. Scott.  A short history of Australia , 1917 .

[52]  William H. Davidson,et al.  Creating and Managing Joint Ventures in China , 1987 .

[53]  Doug Guthrie,et al.  Social Connections in China: An Introduction to the Study of Guanxi , 2002 .

[54]  Abraham K. Korman,et al.  Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (Abridged edn). Gert Hofstede, Sage Publications Inc., London, 1984. No. of Pages: 327. Price: £11.95 , 1985 .

[55]  J. Fairbank.  China - A New History , 1992 .

[56]  Yanjie Bian.  Social Connections in China: Institutional Holes and Job Mobility Processes: Guanxi Mechanisms in China's Emergent Labor Markets , 2002 .

[57]  Michael A. Olson,et al.  Implicit measures in social cognition. research: their meaning and use. , 2003, Annual review of psychology.

[58]  Hong-zen Wang,et al.  Social capital or human capital? Professionals in overseas Taiwanese firms , 2002 .

[59]  William B. Gudykunst,et al.  Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations [2nd edition]: Geert Hofstede , 2005 .

[60]  Hui Wang,et al.  "Let a thousand flowers bloom": Variation of leadership styles among Chinese CEOs , 2004 .

[61]  Doug Guthrie.  Social Connections in China: Information Asymmetries and the Problem of Perception: The Significance of Structural Position in Assessing the Importance of Guanxi in China , 2002 .

[62]  J. Jacobs,et al.  A Preliminary Model of Particularistic Ties in Chinese political Alliances: Kan-ch'ing and Kuan-hsi in a Rural Taiwanese Township , 1979, The China Quarterly.

[63]  Juan Antonio Fernandez.  The Gentleman’s Code of Confucius: Leadership by Values , 2004 .

[64]  J. Daniels,et al.  U.S. Joint Ventures in China: Motivation and Management of Political Risk , 1985 .

[65]  V. Vroom,et al.  Research Notes. PREDICTING LEADER BEHAVIOR FROM A MEASURE OF BEHAVIORAL INTENT. , 1978 .

[66]  Eric W. K. Tsang.  Can guanxi be a source of sustained competitive advantage for doing business in China , 1998 .

[67]  Yadong Luo,et al.  Guanxi and organizational dynamics: organizational networking in Chinese firms , 2001 .

[68]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  An examination of the psychometric properties and nomological validity of some revised and reduced substitutes for leadership scales. , 1994 .

[69]  Human Resources Management Practices in China , 2000 .

[70]  Y. Bian.  Bringing strong ties back in: Indirect ties, network bridges, and job searches in China , 1997 .

[71]  J. Hirst,et al.  The Oxford Companion to Australian History , 2001 .

[72]  B. Gammage.  The broken years : Australian soldiers in the Great War , 1974 .

[73]  Kuo-shu Yang,et al.  Will societal modernization eventually eliminate cross-cultural psychological differences? , 1988 .

[74]  D. K. Jordan,et al.  Local Politics in a Rural Chinese Cultural Setting. , 1981 .