Brazilian Jeitinho Research Articles

Validity of the Expanded Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (E-LSRP) in a Brazilian Sample: Factor Structure, Construct Validity, and Associations with the Brazilian Jeitinho

ABSTRACT We aimed to adapt the Expanded Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (E-LSRP) to the Brazilian context, evaluate its internal structure and construct validity. We also aimed to expand the psychopathy nomological network by providing information about E-LSRP factors’ associations with a Brazilian cultural phenomenon known as Brazilian Jeitinho. Our sample comprised 1,445 Brazilian adults, with ages varying from 18 to 81 years (M = 31.13; SD = 13.22). The participants completed the E-LSRP, as well as the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, Crime and Analogous Behavior Scale, Affective and Cognitive Measure of Empathy, and Brazilian Jeitinho Questionnaire. Results showed general support for a three-factor structure, and that E-LSRP scores exhibited the expected associations with external criterion measures. Our results demonstrated that E-LSRP Egocentricity was the factor most related to Brazilian Jeitinho. Although we have initial validity evidence supporting the Brazilian version of E-LSRP, future studies need to replicate these findings in other samples.

An Exploration of Within-Cultural Differences of a Culture-specific Syndrome: The Case of Brazilian jeitinho

To what extent are cultural syndromes invariant within nations or can we identify within-cultural variability in structure and endorsement of cultural syndromes? These questions are central to a) recent discussions around the relevance of nation-states in cultural vs. geographical psychology and b) explorations of how cultural syndromes described in anthropological research are endorsed by individuals within and across regions within the country. We report data on Brazilian jeitinho, an informal problem-solving strategy that is central to Brazilian culture but may show within-cultural variability as suggested in previous anthropological and sociological research. Using a large online sample ( N = 1259) we found evidence of full score equivalence for two multi-dimensional jeitinho measures across the most populous Brazilian regions, suggesting that respondents interpret the instruments similarly. Second, we found no practically meaningful mean differences: jeitinho was endorsed equally across all regions of the country. Finally, we found some small but consistent associations with demographic variables, notably gender, age, and education differences. We need to pay greater attention to behavioral functionality at individual level—the social position of individuals within the system rather than geographical boundaries.

Do Advertising Pieces that Portray Brazilian Jeitinho Influence Dishonest Behavior?

Abstract This research aimed at investigating whether watching Brazilian advertising pieces that portray a sociocultural behavioral pattern called Brazilian jeitinho would influence participant’s subsequent behavior. One carried out an experiment in which 200 subjects watched and assessed three advertisement pieces. Upon recruitment, participants were informed that they would be taking part in a raffle for a gift card. The number of tickets received per participant was defined by a die-under-cup task. The more tickets they obtained, the higher the chance to receive the prize, providing an incentive to cheat. Afterwards, respondents took part in a task that defined the number of tickets that each would receive to participate in the raffle. Independent variables consisted in the manipulation of priming of jeitinho (video content: jeitinho or neutral) and privacy of the task (with or without privacy). On the other hand, the dependent variable consisted in the result obtained when participants rolled the dices that defined the number of tickets. One found a significant difference between the groups in which privacy was manipulated, indicating that the groups that performed the task aimed at measuring dishonesty with privacy actually tended to report lower values than the ones actually obtained, entailing an effect of contrast. This finding suggests that the implementation of public policies that utilize propaganda that portrays Brazilian jeitinho could reduce engagement in dishonest behavior among Brazilians.

IInternational Business Relationship Management and Negotiations: Comprehensive Literature Review on Chineese Guanxi, Brazilian Jeitinho and Arabic Wasta

IInternational Business Relationship Management and Negotiations: Comprehensive Literature Review on Chineese Guanxi, Brazilian Jeitinho and Arabic Wasta

The Role of Culture-Specific Relationships in International Businesses: A Systematic Review and Future Directions

This paper presents a systematic review of 44 prevailing articles about cultural-specific relationships in the international business (IB) context, manifested in five emerging markets: Chinese Guanxi, Arabic Wasta, Latin America Compadrazgo, Brazilian Jeitinho, and the Russian Sviazi. For each of the cultural-specific relationships, this review highlights the state of construct development, theory application, and partnership types in the context of international business relationships in empirical IB studies. Based on these findings, future directions are proposed for advancing the conceptualization and operationalization of culture-specific relationships followed by the study limitations.

O ‘jeitinho brasileiro’ a partir de uma perspectiva cognitivo-interacional (The ‘Brazilian jeitinho’ from a cognitive-interactional perspective)

Segundo a Linguística Cultural, as experiências e interpretações de mundo de diferentes comunidades de fala são concebidas de forma dinâmica quanto às conceptualizações culturais. O ‘jeitinho brasileiro’ revela-se uma estratégia criativa para uma emergência, oscilando entre o favor e a corrupção. Neste artigo realizamos uma microanálise de uma conversa eliciada entre quatro professores da UFMG (dois brasileiros e dois de origem alemã), com o objetivo de analisar de forma multimodal como a expressão ‘jeitinho brasileiro’ é coconstruída por meio de metáforas conceptuais no nível linguístico e como gestos metafóricos, bem como pistas prosódicas, estão intrinsicamente presentes neste processo interacional. Encontramos sete metáforas culturais que revelaram que os participantes da interação coconstroem o conceito em questão (a) de forma multimodal, (b) preferencialmente a partir de esquemas imagéticos básicos e por meio das metáforas conceptuais. Além disso, elucidamos que a incorporação, especialmente de metáforas prosódicas e gestuais, destacou-se sobretudo nos participantes brasileiros.

Brazilian Jeitinho and Moral Identity: Impact on Ethical Behaviour at Work

Brazilian Jeitinho is a social mechanism used by Brazilians to deal with bureaucracy and is closely related to corruption. Jeitinho is also present in the workplace and could affect ethical behaviour. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of jeitinho and its interaction with moral identity on ethical behaviour in organizations. We hypothesized that Brazilian jeitinho would be negatively associated with ethical behaviour and, in a context where jeitinho is endorsed, people high in moral identity would act more ethically than those with low. The sample comprised 293 employees from various Brazilian organizations. Participants completed two measures of ethical behaviour, a moral identity scale and a Brazilian jeitinho scale. The results supported the hypothesis that moral identity is positively related to ethical behaviour and that jeitinho has negative influence on ethical behaviour. If an individual perceives jeitinho as a good mechanism, but has a high internalization of moral identity, it could reduce the negative effect of jeitinho on ethical behaviour at work.

Disposições Valorativas entre Empreendedores Informais Brasileiros

Studies on entrepreneurial behaviour are neglecting various psychosocial specificities related to the informal entrepreneurship. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the behaviour of informal entrepreneurs through its values provisions that are underlying. For this, we counted with the participation of 173 informal entrepreneurs from three cities at the state of Alagoas, in which they are 84 (48.6%) men and 89 (51.4%) women, aged 14-70 years (M = 39.83, SD = 0.90). Participants were asked to answer to (1) the Basic Values Questionnaire and (2) the Socio-demographic Questionnaire. Informal entrepreneurs surveyed had value patterns with materialistic motivating and central guiding principle, being the Existence values (m = 6.277) more driven – Survival and Maturity values as priorities –, associated to a strong correlation with the Promotion values (r = 0.446; p = 0.000), which shows up congruent with what the literature attributes to the entrepreneur prototype. The study provided explanations on possible sociological and anthropological explainers for the informal entrepreneurship, about the structural nature of self-employment in Brazil, such as the difficulty in entering the formal labour market, the need for survival and the culture of informality linked to the construct of the Brazilian Jeitinho.

The duality of the Brazilian jeitinho

PurposeThis paper aims to deepen the understanding of the impact of cultural and national idiosyncrasies on businesses. The authors concentrate on the cultural particularity of the Brazilian jeitinho to assess the ethicality of the concept in buyer–supplier relationships.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 Brazilian professionals working for both national and international companies, allowing for the analysis of the context in which the Brazilian jeitinho is perceived either as positive or negative in terms of ethics.FindingsThe authors propose five distinct dimensions (harm to third parties, seriousness of the issue, formality of relationships, personal benefit and assessed pertinence of rules and laws) to the assessment of Brazilian jeitinho as creativity, corruption or more nuanced classifications between them and offer a reviewed definition of the practice.Practical implicationsThe results of the study may offer new insights into the Brazilian business environment. Deeper comprehension of the contexts in which jeitinho is used and its different connotations may optimise the relations between foreign and Brazilian companies and between foreign and Brazilian professionals and employees.Originality/valueWithin the context of intensified international trade, global supply chains and geographically spread operations, an understanding of cultural and national idiosyncrasies may provide managers with a powerful tool to conduct their business more effectively. With the economic emergence of countries such as China, Russia and Brazil, local practices are also gaining increased importance as they seem to have a direct influence on management in these places and beyond.

Cultural Corruption: Lessons from the Petrobras Scandal Case

The confounding aspects of corrupt behavior and cultural idiosyncrasies have long been portraited in fiction and on anecdotal evidences of unethical business transactions. Indigenous practices in emerging countries have been particularly targeted for the ambiguity around their ethicality. This article aims to understand the impact of national cultures’ characteristics on corruption cases, and more specifically the role of indigenous practices on such matters. The analysis of two regression models of Hofstede’s national cultures dimensions on the Corruption Perception Index are presented, followed by a single-case study of the biggest corruption scandal ever seen, involving Brazilian company Petrobras. National and international media perceptions around the link between the case and the country’s indigenous practice, i.e. the Brazilian jeitinho, are rhetorically assessed through the attributional coding technique. The unfolding of the case is expected to generate insights as to the significance of indigenous practices to ethical management.

The duality of Brazilian jeitinho: Balancing between creativity and corruption

Within the context of intensified international trade, global supply chains and geographically spread operations, an understanding of cultural and national idiosyncrasies may provide managers with a powerful tool to conduct their business more effectively. With the economic emergence of countries like China, Russia and Brazil, local practices are also gaining increased importance as they seem to have a direct influence on management in these places and beyond. This study therefore concentrates on one such cultural particularity: the Brazilian jeitinho. Through 28 semi-structured interviews with Brazilian managers, we analyze the contexts in which this practice is perceived either as positive or negative in terms of its ethics. More specifically, we propose five distinct dimensions (harm to third parties, seriousness of the issue, formality of relationships, personal benefit and assessed pertinence of rules and laws) to the assessment of Brazilian jeitinho as creativity, corruption, or more nuanced classifications between them.

Escala de Identidade Moral: Evidências de Validade para o Contexto Brasileiro

Resumo A identidade moral (IM) pode ser definida como o grau em que a moralidade é importante como parte da identidade de uma pessoa. Esse construto tem apresentado fortes relações com intenções e comportamentos morais, mas sua medida ainda não foi adaptada ao Brasil. Assim, o objetivo deste artigo foi encontrar evidências de validade de construto da escala de IM para o contexto brasileiro. Para tanto, foi realizada a tradução da escala de IM e posterior aplicação online junto com escalas de construtos correlatos em uma amostra de 218 pessoas. Os resultados da análise fatorial e de confiabilidade apontaram uma estrutura bifatorial (internalização e simbolização) com índices satisfatórios para a escala de IM. Foram encontradas relações com amparo, desengajamento moral e jeitinho brasileiro, de acordo com as hipóteses previstas. Conclui-se que o instrumento se constitui como uma medida relevante para identificação de características pessoais relacionadas à moralidade e à ética.

BRAZILIAN JEITINHO AND CULTURE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE FILMS ELITE SQUAD 1 AND 2

ABSTRACT Purpose: The present study tried to observe the representations of Brazilian jeitinho, typical of Brazilian culture, through the analyses of the movies Elite squad (Tropa de elite) and Elite squad: the enemy within (Tropa de elite: o inimigo agora é outro). Originality/gap/relevance/implications: The article corroborates the ongoing debate on the field and offers alternatives for the study of Business Administration, by using the film analysis as a technique. It is of utmost importance to evidence that analyses such as this one, contribute to Business Administration by, when well situated, aiding in the comprehension of themes and concepts, leading students and readers to obtain new reflections and new perspectives about the subjects in question. Key methodological aspects: The qualitative character is a methodological landmark of this work, which uses the technique of indirect observation to analyze the films. From the utilization of a reflexive methodology, we were supported by the categorization of the data analyzed, based on the "implications" of jeitinho, present in Massukado-Nakatani, Mussi and Pedroso (2009). For a better perspective of these implications, tables were constructed linking them to specific scenes in the films. Summary of key results: Jeitinho appears in the movies as a notable presence in the Brazilian culture, entering the realm of the organizations, which is the case of the Military Police, the organization presented in the analyses of the films. Key considerations/conclusions: Thus, it was possible to notice peculiarities of the Brazilian culture through the analysis of national productions, contributing, then, to the ongoing debate in the field, trying to offer alternatives to the study of Administration, especially in what concerns the absorption of the national culture in the organizations.

BRAZILIAN JEITINHO VERSUS CHINESE GUANXI: INVESTIGATING THEIR INFORMAL INFLUENCE ON INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

ABSTRACTThe Brazilian jeitinho and the Chinese guanxi are considered indigenous forms of informal influence. The first can be described as behavior tactics aimed at resolving social problems. The latter is broadly described as achieving goals through the use of social networks. These influence processes were chosen because they are commonly used in business negotiations in Brazil and China. Thus, understanding their peculiarity is fundamental for the management of organizations involved in business in those two cultures. Therefore, we seek to determine whether such influence processes differ, as it is possible that a process said to be indigenous to a particular cultural context might be, in fact, also found elsewhere. To investigate their uniqueness and the relationship between them, two studies were carried out. In both studies, participants rated representativeness, typicality and positivity of social scenarios, besides completing a 21-item version of the Schwartz’s Portrait Value Survey and a scale regarding attitudes towards corruption. Data were analyzed by a series of mean difference tests and stepwise regressions, separately for each nation, and the results are presented by sample. There were two samples: university students’ sample (with 266 Brazilian and 220 Chinese) and managers’ sample (with 101 Singapore Chinese and 246 Brazilian). Brazil scored significantly higher on conservation and selfenhancement values when compared to China. Chinese respondents perceived the guanxi scenarios as more typical of what happens in China than the jeitinho scenarios, with a reverse pattern being observed for Brazilians. Although Brazilian respondents evaluated jeitinho less positively than Chinese respondents evaluated guanxi scenarios, but they also did perceive jeitinho as more positive than. For the managers’ samples, it was observed that Brazilians had a significantly lower score on attitudes toward business corruptibility when compared to Chinese managers. Stepwise regressions suggest that positivity is linked with business corruptibility for each respective scenario type by nation.

Marketing Informal: Um Modelo de Comercialização pautado em Jeitinho Brasileiro, Informalidade e Empreendedorismo

No Brasil, vendedores de rua e comerciantes ambulantes, atualmente reconhecidos como microempreendedores, comumente, vm desenvolvendo em mercados informais estratgias de marketing no convencionais, isto , com caractersticas de intuio, improviso e ilegalidade. Admiravelmente, essas estratgias de comercializao tm demonstrado bons resultados de vendas, pondo em evidncia a seguinte questo: Que tipo de marketing esse, que no est nos handbooks de marketing e negligenciado pelos principais autores da rea? Partindo desse problema, esse estudo tem o objetivo de propor um modelo explicativo para esse fenmeno de marketing, fundamentado teoricamente e dentro de bases empricas, luz de teorias que abordam a composio psicolgica do Jeitinho Brasileiro, a cultura da Informalidade e o Empreendedorismo. Assim, prope-se um conceito que preenche uma lacuna por sobre as teorias tradicionais de marketing existentes.DOI: 10.5585/remark.v13i3.2703

Unraveling the Mystery of Brazilian Jeitinho

Two studies explore the structure and psychological makeup of jeitinho, a Brazilian indigenous construct associated with problem-solving strategies in strong hierarchies. Study 1 used a scenario approach with nonstudent participants and demonstrated that jeitinho can be described by a three-dimensional structure: corruption, creativity, and social norm breaking. Study 2 used individual and social norm scenarios in nonstudent samples and demonstrated that moral leniency is associated with more corruption and social norm breaking. Furthermore, only in the personal but not the social norm condition was greater social dominance orientation associated with more corruption and social norm breaking. Jeitinho is not a monolitical construct, but it is a complex sociocultural strategy that has distinct functional components at the personal and normative levels. Theoretical advances in the understanding of social norms and indigenous psychology by examining both culture-specific and general social-psychological processes are outlined.

Improvisation in the Jeitinho Brasileiro

The Brazilian jeitinho is a practice of improvisation that occurs within modern Brazilian institutions. Jeitinho is when someone is impaired by an unforeseen situation and seeks a solution outside of standard norms. Jeitinho is to find a way out. Nonverbal communication characterizes the possibility of jeitinho, which leads us to believe that Western theory has not fully captured Brazilian “thinking.” This article considers ritualistic and attentive ways of the body, expressed through postures and flexible attitudes, that deserve ethical respect. While resisting modern ideals, the jeitinho points to a Brazilian Utopia.

Brazilian jeitinho: Understanding and explaining an indigenous psychological construct

Brazilian jeitinho is a social influence strategy that is widely regarded as a component of Brazilian culture. This study aims to systematize the way Brazilians conceptualize jeitinho, seeking to identify behaviors that are seen as exemplars. In study one, 17 participants were interviewed and content analyses pointed to seven themes: sympathy, harm to others, malandragem, disregard for social rules, innovative processes, power relation, and compensation. In study two, 28 participants were interviewed and the results corroborated study one themes. About 35 typical situations of jeitinho were described. In conclusion, Jeitinho is an innovative problem-solving strategy in which the individual uses social influence combined with cunning tricks to achieve goals, despite the fact that it breaks formal rules. Implications are discussed.

Exploring the Interpersonal Transaction of the Brazilian Jeitinho in Bureaucratic Contexts

This paper is a contribution to the existing body of literature on the Brazilian jeitinho (pronounced jaytcheenyoo) as an informal problem-solving strategy in organizations. The jeitinho is a social mechanism that entails bending or breaking the rules in order to deal with difficult or forbidding situations. It is a particularly useful informal strategy to ‘get things done’ in work organizations. The paper focuses on what is involved in the interpersonal transaction of the jeitinho in work settings, acknowledging in particular the role of informal social capital and a highly valued interpersonal attribute in Brazilian society known as simpatia. The first part of the paper explores the defining features and historical roots of the Brazilian jeitinho; the second part provides a theoretical contextualization of the discussion through a brief review of academic works on bureaucratic dysfunctions and informal strategies to deal with these problems; and the third part illustrates the operation of the jeitinho with data from a qualitative study of a partnership sustainability program based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Beyond regulation: the informal economy in Latin America

The Informal Sector in Latin America - From Underground to Legality, V.E. Tokman. Part 1 Informality and Illegality: Informality and Ilegality, A False Identity - The Case of Bolivia, R. Casanovas Illegality in the Urban Informal Sector of Mexico City, N. Elizondo. Part 2 The Cost of Legality: Barriers to Legality and Their Costs for the informal Sector, R.A. Lagos Real vs. Ideal and the Brazilian Jeitinho - Microenterprise Registry Under the New Microenterprise Statue, J.W. Looye The Costs of Becoming Legal for Informal Firms - the Case of Venezuela, V. Cartaya. Part 3 Regulation and Informality: Protection for the Informal Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean by Social Security or Alternative Means, C. Mesa-Lago The Taxi Market in Chile - Regulation and Liberalization, 178-1987, M. Schkolnik Consequences of the Legal and Regulatory Framework in Peru's Taxi Market, E. Chavez.