Theorizing Chinese Employment Relations Comparatively: Exchange, Reciprocity and the Moral Economy
This paper contrasts the socio-cultural systems underpinning employment relations in the West and in the Overseas Chinese case. The analysis centres on the norm of reciprocity which, whilst taken as a universal phenomena, exhibits significant cross-cultural variation. Western employment relations are characterised by a model of impersonal rational economic exchange in which individuals engage in a utility calculus. Chinese employment relations remain more fully embedded in the wider socio-cultural system of which reciprocity is a vital and integral part. Employment relations are sustained by a personalistic tacit moral order. The implications for managing employment relations in changing and multi-cultural situations are discussed. The sustainabilty of the different employment relations systems are also discussed.
Year of publication: |
2004
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Authors: | Westwood, Robert ; Chan, Andrew ; Linstead, Stephen |
Published in: |
Asia Pacific Journal of Management. - Springer, ISSN 0217-4561. - Vol. 21.2004, 3, p. 365-389
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Publisher: |
Springer |
Saved in:
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