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Abosag, Ibrahim, Yen, Dorothy Ai-wan, Barnes, Bradley and Gadalla, Eman (2021) 'Rethinking Guanxi and Performance: Managing the Dark Side of Sino–U.S. Business Relationships.' International Business Review, 30 (4). p. 101775.

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Abstract

Previous studies on guanxi (關係) have focused on how guanxi contributes positively to business relationships, without addressing the pivotal role that guanxi plays in managing the dark-side of business relationships. To address this knowledge gap, this study specifically investigates guanxi’s influence on conflict, opportunism, and switching intention in Sino–U.S. business relationships and examines how guanxi mediate the positive effect of performance as well as the negative effect of uncertainty on such dark-side constructs. Drawing on data from over 270 Chinese firms, the findings reveal that guanxi is undermined by relationship uncertainty but enhanced by performance, guanxi also reduces the dark-side of Sino-US business relationships. Chinese buyers’ guanxi with U.S. suppliers significantly lessens their switching intention, opportunistic behavior, and the perceived levels of conflict in Sino-US relationships. The findings explain how guanxi is employed as a tool to reduce the burden associated with the dark-side of business relationships and give relevant implications.

Item Type: Journal Article
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of Finance & Management
ISSN: 09695931
Copyright Statement: © 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
DOI (Digital Object Identifier): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101775
Date Deposited: 11 Dec 2020 08:49
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/34411

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