Organizations In China Research Articles

How to evaluate surgical tourism service organizations in China: indicators system development and a pilot application

BackgroundSurgical tourism is an emerging economic sector, with the most growth potential demonstrated in China's health industry before the COVID-19 pandemic. Surgical tourism accounts for a large part of medical tourism services in China, with high requirements in terms of quality and safety. By contrast, China suffers from insufficient measurement tools and theoretical research. The aim of this study was to develop a set of reliable and feasible indicators by augmenting the Donabedian model to evaluate the quality of surgical tourism services.MethodsA literature review and focus group interview were used to generate indicators for the quality of surgical tourism services. The basic framework of the evaluation system was based on the structure–process–outcome Donabedian model. The screening and weight setting were conducted through an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and a two-round Delphi consultation with 13 panelists. The validity and reliability of experts were tested by the experts' positive coefficient, authority coefficient, and coordination coefficient. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by a pre-test distributed within an International Medical Department of a public hospital in China.ResultsBased on the Donabedian quality theory, a novel evaluation system of surgical tourism service institutions was constructed with three dimensions, nine first-level items and 39 second-level items. The three dimensions consisted of the structure (0.315), process (0.287), and outcome (0.398), with several indicators for each dimension and each indicator was given a weight. Of the two rounds of Delphi consultation, the response rates were 86.67% and 100%. The coordination coefficient of expert opinions in the two rounds of consultation were 0.49 and 0.65 (p < 0.05). For the empirical study, the self-evaluation score of a public hospital was 86, which could rate as a two-star institution.ConclusionsOur evaluation system identified three suitable quality dimensions of surgical tourism services to improve the safety and quality of practical healthcare. It reflects the access criterion of surgical tourism institutions, provides references for the best choice of surgical services for tourists, and can be applied by healthcare managers and policy makers to allocate resources more efficiently and promote more surgical tourism services with international standards.

Perceived insider status and employees' innovative behavior: the role of knowledge sharing and organizational innovation climate

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the effect of perceived insider status to employees' innovative behavior, the mediating role of knowledge sharing and the moderating role of organizational innovation climate in the relationship between knowledge sharing and employees' innovative behavior.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted questionnaires to gather data. The sample of 341 employees working in diverse organizations in China was applied to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that perceived insider status is positively related to employees' innovative behavior and knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between perceived insider status and employees' innovative behavior. In addition, organizational innovation climate enhances the relationship of knowledge sharing and employees' innovative behavior.Originality/valueThis study builds a system from psychological aspect to behavior, which includes the mechanism of the influence of perceived insider status on employees' innovative behavior and a cross-level analysis of the influence of organizational innovation climate on employees' innovative behavior, breaking through the previous research paradigm of a single level of climate and employee behavior.

Zoning design of pressure comfort for women's shaping pants based on a new material made by the LRJ40/1F warp-knitting machine

PurposeZoning design of pressure comfort of women's shaping pants is studied in this paper based on the new material made by the LRJ40/1F warp-knitting machine.Design/methodology/approachAccording to the distribution of body fat and the pressure comfort range of the shaping pants, zoning design is carried out. The pressure comfort of the women's shaping pants is tested by the objective pressure test and the subjective evaluation method.FindingsThe result is that using the method of zoning design can satisfy the comfort of the lower limbs while improving the mobility and plasticity.Originality/valuePressure comfort has become an important index to evaluate the comfort of elastic shaping pants. However, there were very few studies on the relationship between the pressure comfort of warp-knitted elastic pants and the design of jacquard organization in China and abroad.

Corporate social responsibility and Chinese employees' creative behavior: Supervisor–subordinate guanxi as a mediator

Although researchers have reported a positive link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee creative behavior, how this connection develops remains an underexplored topic, particularly in the Chinese context. From the Chinese guanxi perspective, we investigated if supervisor–subordinate guanxi plays a crucial role in mediating the relationship between these two variables. We conducted a survey to collect data from 239 subordinate–supervisor dyads employed in a variety of organizations in China. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. We observed a positive association between CSR and employee creative behavior, and supervisor–subordinate guanxi partially mediated this link. Our findings will assist in improvement of understanding of CSR and supervisor–subordinate guanxi for enhancing employees' creative behavior in organizations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Leader–member exchange and employee voice: Zhongyong thinking as a mediator

Existing research has established a link between leader–member exchange (LMX) and employee voice. However, there is still a wide scope for exploring the mechanisms of this relationship. From the perspective of traditional Chinese values, we investigated the mediating role of Zhongyong thinking in the relationship between LMX and employee voice. We conducted a field survey with 252 employees of a state-owned organization in China. Results of structural equation modeling show there was a significant and positive relationship between LMX and employee voice. Additionally, Zhongyong thinking was an important mediating mechanism. This study indicates voice behavior can be fostered by establishing a high-quality LMX relationship and cultivating Zhongyong thinking among employees. Suggestions for future research are offered.

A Case Study of Digital Innovation Organization Readiness:Hidden Cost for Ambidexterity Performance

Cross-department communication barriers will lead to low efficiency and poor-quality work, which is common in most organizations in China. This will bring hidden costs to the organization and even impact long-term performance. In the digital transformation age, organization ambidexterity is more important than ever to obtain short-term and long-term benefits. This case study suggests to combine the ambidextrous and hidden costs theory for outlining a collaborative network communication model (CNCM), in order to investigate the effect between the cross-department communication operation structure and organizational performance. This case study provided data collection by three data sources: 40 interviews of managers and employees, company records, observations over three months. The findings of the field study of this case are that cross-department communication operation structure has an effect on organizational performance and digital innovation. It also suggests that CNCM positively influences organizational exploration and exploitation ability. It can also alleviate cross-department communication obstacles, low efficiency, and poor-quality work.

Understanding the Negotiation and Performance Effects of Idiosyncratic Deals

A growing body of research has sought to illuminate our understanding of the negotiation and implementation of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) as an adaptive HR response to the changing needs and expectations of employees. Contributing to this research stream, this study uses multi-source and multi-wave data obtained from customer contact employees and their supervisors from manufacturing and service organizations in China to examine a cross-level model of the antecedents and outcomes of i-deals. Results of multilevel path analysis reveal that both employee approach motive and supervisor interpersonal competence relate to i-deals. However, high-commitment HR system moderates the relationship between supervisor interpersonal competence (but not employee approach motive) and i-deals such that this relationship is stronger when high-commitment HR system is high but not low. Additionally, i-deals relate to service creativity but indirectly through personal learning suggesting a potential human capital (relative to the predominantly motivational) explanation of the performance implications of i-deals.

Employee assistance programmes in China: a state‐of‐the‐art review and future research agenda

Employee assistance programmes (EAPs) are designed to provide organisational support to employees, which is increasingly critical to improving employees' well‐being in the current macro and micro environment of pandemic and work pressure. Despite their potential significant role as part of human resource management (HRM), EAPs in China are under‐researched. Drawing on academic and practical sources of literature in both English and Chinese, this review study sheds light on the current state of research and practice of EAPs in China. We examine why, what and how EAPs are adopted in organisations in China and highlight differences between the public and private sectors in their EAPs, as well as the role of Chinese culture and guanxi with leaders in the delivery of EAPs. We also point out research avenues to extend the research field both theoretically and thematically, including the role of artificial intelligence and digital technology as part of effective EAPs.

Does high-performance work system bring job satisfaction? Exploring the non-linear effect of high-performance work system using the ‘too much of a good thing’ theory

AbstractWe examine the relationship between high-performance work system (HPWS) and job satisfaction, drawing on the ‘too much of a good thing’ theory, to establish whether a non-linear relationship can explain conflicts in previous findings. Moreover, we extend the study by exploring the mediating role of work overload and the moderating role of person–organization fit (P–O fit). Based on a cross-sectional data set of 220 employees and a longitudinal data set of 373 employees from organizations in China, the empirical findings show an invertedU-shaped relationship between HPWS and job satisfaction. Results also indicate that the relationship between HPWS and job satisfaction is fully mediated by work overload, and that P–O fit negatively moderates HPWS-work overload and HPWS-job satisfaction relationships. These results shed new light on how HPWS impacts employee outcomes and practical implications for managers are discussed.

Effects of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Factors on Employee Participation in Internal Crowdsourcing Initiatives in China

The concept of crowdsourcing, categorized into internal and external crowdsourcing, emerged relatively recently. Internal crowdsourcing gained increasing popularity in Chinese organizations. Based on the self-determination theory (SDT), this study advances the theoretical understanding of the effects of employee motivation antecedents (the three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness) on participation effort in internal crowdsourcing activities. Through an online survey, 435 employees in information technology organizations in southern China completed the questionnaires which used for statistical analysis and hypotheses testing. It was found that the three basic psychological needs significantly positively impacted employees’ intrinsic motivation, with autonomy having the most significant effect. Furthermore, only the needs for autonomy and competence were significantly positively associated with extrinsic motivation. A positive relation was observed between intrinsic motivation and employee participation effort in internal crowdsourcing. Although no direct relationship was revealed between extrinsic motivation and employee participation effort, an indirect effect of extrinsic motivation on employee participation via intrinsic motivation was observed, which aligned with one of the main concepts of SDT, the internalization process of extrinsic to intrinsic motivation. Accordingly, the SDT model is applicable to information technology organizations in China based on the findings of this study.

An Agricultural Supply Chain Coordination Model: The Case of Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Organization in China

Farmer cooperatives play a significant role in increasing farmers’ income, ensuring food security, and maintaining supply chain stability. While the number of cooperatives in China has increased rapidly in recent years, it is challenge for many small-scale cooperatives in China to achieve high performance due to resource and scale constraints. Taking Rui’an Meiyu’s Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Organization as an example, this paper makes improvement to the original Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Model and innovatively proposes a new practicable model called “three areas of cooperation with multiple bodies” for small-scale cooperatives to adopt. According to our research, the following features have been identified: first, the formation motivations of the new model include four different aspects, and the formation process of it includes three specific steps. Second, the resource integration mechanism of the new model is composed of production coordination optimization, supply and marketing platform restructuring, and credit capital guarantees. Third, the new cooperative model can increase economic benefits and simultaneously promote sustainable agricultural development. This study further complements the literature on the Trinity Comprehensive Cooperation Model and offers many managerial and academic implications for cooperative members and policy-makers.

The Relationship Between the CPC and Think-tanks in Xi Jinping’s New Era

This article reviews the ideology, guidelines, and policies of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on think-tanks and especially focuses on analysing Xi Jinping’s policies towards them since the 18th Party Congress in 2012. Observing both the CPC’s directives and the activities of some important think-tanks, this article finds that the relationship between the CPC and think-tanks in China has gotten increasingly closer. The closeness is reflected in indicators such as the CPC’s promulgation of the policy to build ‘a new type’ of think-tank, increasing reliance on and appreciation for the advice of think-tanks, funding for official think-tanks, and frequent emphasis on the absolute leadership of the CPC over them. This is a typical model of the corporatism between the CPC and the state, market and social organisation in China.

Exploring the Integrated Conflict Management System in China

The perfection of labor law and enhanced legal awareness among employees have caused an increase in labor disputes in China. However, there are only a few studies that systematically analyzed conflict resolutions within organizations in China. In attempt to address this research gap, this study used the conflict management theory and classified the various mechanisms of the conflict management system using a quantitative research design approach, focusing on positing tools specific to the situation in China, as well as analyzed the effect of different conflict management mechanisms on employee outcomes, in hope that the findings would provide constructive suggestions for improving the management of Chinese organizations.

Impact of the Gap Between Social Workers' Work Interaction Frequency With Governments and Clients on Their Burnout in China: Mediating Effects of Role Conflict and Moderating Effects of Non-front-line Work.

BackgroundSince the 2000s, local governments have contracted out more and more social services to social work organizations in China. Social workers are thus experiencing the inconsistency between local governments' and clients' demands and the deviation from the professional duty of helping clients, which may result in conflicting and unclear roles in their jobs and further lead to burnout. Based on the Role Stress-burnout Model and the previous theoretical and field-work investigations, this study examined the effects of the government-client work interaction frequency gap on social workers' burnout as well as the mediating effects of role ambiguity and conflict and the moderating effects of the non-front-line work.MethodsA cross-sectional study of 2,643 front-line social workers and 2,599 supervisors or managers from 56 major cities all over China was conducted. Work burnout was measured by the 22-item three-dimension Maslach's Burnout Inventory Scale. Rizzo et al.'s 14-item scale measured role conflict and ambiguity. The government-client working interaction frequency gap was measured by the difference between the five-point level of work interaction frequency with governments minus the one with clients. Structural equation modeling was adopted to test the mediation and moderation models.ResultsResults showed that for the front-line social workers, besides directly reducing personal accomplishment, the government-client work interaction frequency gap could indirectly neutralize its alleviating effects on emotional exhaustion (Mediating effect ratio = −63.64 %), make its total effects on depersonalization significant (37.03%), and reduce personal accomplishment further (23.08%) through increasing social workers' feeling of role conflict. However, the above mediating effects of role conflict were not significant for social workers with extra management or supervision workload, revealing the moderating effects of non-front-line work.ConclusionsThis study revealed that front-line social workers in China who had more work interaction with governments and less with clients could have higher role conflict, increasing their burnout further. Therefore, social work educational programs should include adequate mental adjustment courses and practical emplacement to prepare students for the potential role conflict. Furthermore, higher-level governments should issue relevant regulations to form a collaborative rather than an employment relationship between local governments and social worker organizations.

Identifying critical success factors for the agri‐food cold chain's sustainable development: When the strategy system comes into play

AbstractWith serious environmental, cost, and social concerns arising from emerging countries' rapid growth in agricultural food cold chain (AFCC), AFCC firms urgently require a set of comprehensive sustainable strategic solutions. Therefore, this research identified and modeled the critical success factors (CSFs) that support the sustainable development of AFCCs. The study integrated institutional theory, stakeholder theory, and the triple bottom line model; it also surveyed cold chain experts from 16 different organizations in China and applied the adversarial interpretation structure model (AISM). This comprehensive analysis indicates that managing stakeholder pressure is the most motivating CSF of all strategies. This strategy eventually contributes to the sustainability of AFCC in China by driving other CSFs. Additionally, the study determined the degree of interdependence and dominance of different strategies. Thus, this study establishes a theoretical foundation for the sustainable improvement of AFCC organizations' business strategies and environmental policies.

Organizational Geosocial Network: A Graph Machine Learning Approach Integrating Geographic and Public Policy Information for Studying the Development of Social Organizations in China

This study aims to give an insight into the development trends and patterns of social organizations (SOs) in China from the perspective of network science integrating geography and public policy information embedded in the network structure. Firstly, we constructed a first-of-its-kind database which encompasses almost all social organizations established in China throughout the past decade. Secondly, we proposed four basic structures to represent the homogeneous and heterogeneous networks between social organizations and related social entities, such as government administrations and community members. Then, we pioneered the application of graph models to the field of organizations and embedded the Organizational Geosocial Network (OGN) into a low-dimensional representation of the social entities and relations while preserving their semantic meaning. Finally, we applied advanced graph deep learning methods, such as graph attention networks (GAT) and graph convolutional networks (GCN), to perform exploratory classification tasks by training models with county-level OGNs dataset and make predictions of which geographic region the county-level OGN belongs to. The experiment proves that different regions possess a variety of development patterns and economic structures where local social organizations are embedded, thus forming differential OGN structures, which can be sensed by graph machine learning algorithms and make relatively accurate predictions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first application of graph deep learning to the construction and representation learning of geosocial network models of social organizations, which has certain reference significance for research in related fields.

A self-enhancement perspective on organizational socialization: Newcomer core self-evaluations, job crafting, and the role of leaders’ developmental coaching

ABSTRACT Building on a self-enhancement perspective, we connect job crafting and organizational socialization research and propose that, based on their core self-evaluations (CSEs), newcomers use job crafting to create a resource-rich and stimulating work environment and construct a sense of organizational insider status during socialization. We hypothesize a positive reciprocal relationship between job crafting and insider status, and we also propose that leaders’ developmental coaching strengthens the positive effects of CSEs on job crafting and insider status. Survey data were collected from a four-wave sample of 125 newcomers at various organizations in China. The results showed that 1) positive CSEs were associated with more job crafting behaviours as well as higher perceptions of insider status, 2) job crafting and insider status were positively and reciprocally related to one another over time, and 3) leaders’ developmental coaching moderated the positive effect of CSEs on insider status, but not on job crafting, such that the association between CSEs and insider status was positive for higher levels of developmental coaching and non-significant for lower levels of leaders’ developmental coaching. These findings reveal a self-enhancement process during organizational socialization and the important role of leaders’ developmental coaching in such a process.

Mechanisms of knowledge workers’ adaptive perfectionism on taking charge

Purpose This study aims to explore the mechanisms of adaptive perfectionism on employees’ taking charge (TC), the mediating role of work family enrichment and the moderating role of perceived organizational support (OS) in the relationship between adaptive perfectionism and employees’ TC. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on 305 knowledge workers working in diverse organizations in China to examine the hypotheses. Findings The results showed that adaptive perfectionism had a significant positive effect on employees’ TC. Both directions of work-family enrichment (WFE) and family-work enrichment (FWE) play a mediating role between adaptive perfectionism and employees’ TC. Perceived OS moderates the relationship between WFE/FWE and employees’ TC. Perceived OS moderates the indirect effects of adaptive perfectionism on employees’ TC through WFE and FWE. Originality/value This study explores the impact of adaptive perfectionism on employees’ TC, expands the scope of existing perfectionism research, enriches the research on adaptive perfectionism outcome variables and provides evidence and reference for follow-up research.

A contemporary view of interpersonal aggression and cyberbullying through ICT: multilevel insights from LMX differentiation

PurposeWhile the rapid adoption of information communication technologies (ICT) in organizations has been linked with a higher risk of cyberbullying, research on the influence of cyberbullying on interpersonal behaviors in the workplace remains limited. By drawing on the ego-depletion theory and the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, this research investigates how, why and when workplace cyberbullying may trigger interpersonal aggression through ICT.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data from 259 employees and 62 supervisors working in large ICT organizations in China through a multi-wave survey. The authors performed multilevel analysis and used hierarchical linear modeling to test the proposed moderated mediation model.FindingsThe results revealed that workplace cyberbullying has a significant and positive influence on interpersonal aggression in the workplace via ego depletion. The authors found that differentiation in LMX processes at group level moderates the indirect relationship between workplace cyberbullying and interpersonal aggression (via ego depletion). Furthermore, the positive indirect effect of workplace cyberbullying was found to be stronger in the presence of a high LMX differentiation condition in comparison to a low LMX differentiation condition.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected from Chinese ICT organizations, which may limit the generalization of this study’s findings to other cultural and sectoral contexts.Originality/valueThis paper provides the first step in understanding how, why and when workplace cyberbullying triggers interpersonal aggression by investigating the role of ego depletion as a mediator and LMX differentiation as a boundary condition. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationships between workplace cyberbullying, ego depletion, LMX differentiation and interpersonal aggression in ICT organizations using multi-level modeling.

The Relationship Between Feedback Quality, Perceived Organizational Support, and Sense of Belongingness Among Conscientious Teleworkers.

The belongingness literature has largely examined the antecedents of non-teleworkers’ sense of belongingness, but little attention has been paid to what job-related factors could affect teleworkers’ sense of belongingness. Grounded in organizational support theory, our research focuses on why feedback quality from the direct leader brings sense of belongingness and considers how conscientiousness of teleworkers shapes this effect. Based on data from 329 participants obtained at three different time points from one technology service organization in China, our results indicated that teleworkers’ perceived organizational support serves as an essential mediator of the positive relationship between feedback quality from the direct leader and sense of belongingness. Additionally, the teleworkers’ conscientiousness strengthened the positive direct effect of feedback quality on perceived organizational support and the indirect effect on sense of belongingness. The moderating role of conscientiousness in strengthening the link between feedback quality and perceived organizational support was significant for high levels of conscientiousness and not significant for low levels. Finally, we discussed theoretical and practical implications.