Liquor and loyalty: ownership structure, market institutionalization, authoritative hierarchy, and Chinese occupational drinking

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In Chinese workplaces, a distinctive culture of occupational drinking prevails, shaped by a combination of post-socialist structural dynamics. Using data from China Labor-force Dynamic Survey (2012–2018) (N = 47,968), this paper employed fixed-effects models and examined how structural forces, including work unit ownership structures, institutional development of the market economy, and administrative hierarchies influence work-related drinking frequencies. Female professionals in individual businesses exhibit a higher drinking frequency compared to their counterparts in state-owned sectors (β = .056, p = .023). The institutional improvement of the market economy reduced drinking frequencies for professional populations of both sexes (for men, β = −.035, p = .000; for women, β = −.011, p = .027). In less institutionalized regions, male employees working in state-controlled sectors tended to drink more frequently. As institutionalization levels developed, the effects of ownership types on occupational drinking became insignificant. The analysis also reveals a higher drinking frequency among lower-level male managers inside organizations (β = .22, p = .017). This study contributes to the literature by examining the evolving cultural aspects of occupational drinking in China’s post-socialist labor market segments amidst advancing market institutionalization, providing insights for public health interventions aimed at reducing alcohol use.