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Guanxi networks and job searches in China's emerging labour market: a qualitative investigation

University of Queensland, Australia, xianbi.huang{at}uq.edu.au

This article examines whether guanxi networks are still influential in China's emerging labour market in light of economic liberalization. In-depth interviews with 65 Chinese job searchers show that guanxi networks influence job search and acquisition in a considerably transformed state sector, when jobs are highly desirable or when jobs are `soft-skill' and thus job performance is hard to measure, quantify or monitor. The influence of guanxi networks is, however, limited, resisted or eliminated when large corporations, mostly in the non-state sector, adopt transparent and standardized procedures to screen and recruit the most qualified candidates. Guanxi ties and professional ties are also interconnected in employment processes and professional ties are potentially transformable into guanxi ties.These results are discussed from institutional and cultural perspectives to contribute to a social network approach to labour market research in Chinese and non-Chinese societies.

Key Words: guanxi networks • job searches • labour market • urban China

Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 22, No. 3, 467-484 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0950017008093481


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