Good Guanxi versus Bad Guanxi: A Cross-Level Two-Dimensional Sino-German View

Abstract

I investigate the impact of two core facets of guanxi at the team level (i.e., personal life inclusion and affective attachment among team members) on role stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Drawing on role theory, this two-dimensional guanxi conceptualization provides a resolution to the previous paradox of insignificant or contradictory findings on guanxi-work outcome relations. The results indicate that personal life inclusion and affective attachment have opposing consequences, thus, shedding light onto the conflicting nature of guanxi behaviors. In fact, personal life inclusion worsens and affective attachment enhances employee well-being. More precisely, I find that these relationships are mediated by role stress, in terms of role conflict and role ambiguity. Further, the two-country research design offers noteworthy insights into emic and ethic components of guanxi. I find that personal life inclusion increases role conflict and turnover intentions in both settings, but its effect o...