An Empirical Investigation of Culture and Guanxi Actions between China and Japan

Abstract

With the economic development of China, the Chinese culture have been interested by scholars and managers, especially the Guanxi culture which as a governance mechanism in doing business in China. This study intends to explore the influences of national culture on Guanxi actions between China and Japan. In order to investigate it, two surveys have been conducted to collect the data, one is for culture and the other one is for Guanxi actions. The result of national culture comparison shows both of two Chinese groups have a significant difference from Japanese but do not have significant difference between them. While, the comparison result of Guanxi actions reveals there is significant difference among three groups on Guanxi actions, but Chinese in China and Chinese in Japan do not share more similarities than Japanese. From the results may conclude that compared Guanxi actions, culture is more ingrain and robust, which is difficult to be changed by a different culture and business environment. Finally, the correlation analysis has been conducted between Hofstede cultural dimensions and Guanxi actions, which indicate that collectivism has significant influence on Guanxi actions.