Enriching Social Network Theory with Theoretical Model of Confucian Five Virtues

Kwang Kuo Hwang

doi:10.22158/ac.v1n1p68

Abstract

Comparing findings of empirical research on social networks of 700 Chinese entrepreneurs from three areas of Yangtze River Delta (Bart &amp; Burzynska, 2017) with that of 2000 senior employees from six large American and European companies (Burt, 2005; Burt &amp; Kilduff, 2013), their results elicited a core question awaiting for answer from international academic community: Is guanxi a phenomenon particular to Chinese or universal to every culture of the world? Luo (2017) tried to answer this question from the perspectives of mixed tie (Hwang, 1987), differentiated modes of association (Fei, 1992), particularism (Eisenstadt, 2000), family ethics orientation (Liang, 1963), and dynamic equilibrium between yin and yang (Li, 1998), but his answer is unsatisfactory yet. Based on my epistemological strategy for constructing culture-inclusive theories, this article will reinterpret findings of empirical research by Bart and Burzynska (2017) and criticize the insufficiency of previous models in terms of a series of my theoretical models constructed for understanding Confucian Five Virtues.

Highlights

Taking a stratified random sample around 700 Chinese entrepreneurs of private enterprises from Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou surrounding the Yangtze River Delta, Bart and Burzynska (2017) asked the participants to accomplish two types of task: “name generator items” requested every participant to identity up to five significant events for the business, the year in which the even happened, and a person who was most valued during the event
Comparing findings of empirical research on social networks of 700 Chinese entrepreneurs from three areas of Yangtze River Delta (Bart & Burzynska, 2017) with that of 2000 senior employees from six large American and European companies (Burt, 2005; Burt & Kilduff, 2013), their results elicited a core question awaiting for answer from international academic community: Is guanxi a phenomenon particular to Chinese or universal to every culture of the world? Luo (2017) tried to answer this question from the perspectives of mixed tie (Hwang, 1987), differentiated modes of association (Fei, 1992), particularism (Eisenstadt, 2000), family ethics orientation (Liang, 1963), and dynamic equilibrium between yin and yang (Li, 1998), but his answer is unsatisfactory yet
The results indicate that the success associated with large, open networks in theory and prior empirical research done in American and European business (Bart, Kilduff, & Tasslli, 2013) is associated with large, open networks around the Chinese entrepreneus

Summary

Introduction

Taking a stratified random sample around 700 Chinese entrepreneurs of private enterprises from Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou surrounding the Yangtze River Delta, Bart and Burzynska (2017) asked the participants to accomplish two types of task: “name generator items” requested every participant to identity up to five significant events for the business, the year in which the even happened, and a person who was most valued during the event. “Name interpreter items” asked everyone to evaluate the contacts most valued in founding the business and that in dealing with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/ac

Archaeology and Culture

Conclusion

Management and Organizational