An empirical investigation of emic differences between American networking and Chinese guanxi and a process model of building relationships for cross-cultural business interactions

Creating relationships for more successful business is an etic (universal) practice. However, the nature of relationships may differ cross-culturally because of emic (culture-specific) dimensions that create differences in conception and expectations. I use the process of creating relationships to distinguish emic constructs in relationship building. From this comparison emerges a process that characterizes the general pattern of relationship building.; The author's personal experiences being born Chinese-American, living in both Mainland China and Taiwan, and conducting qualitative interviews of both Chinese nationals and Americans yielded 58 items for a questionnaire that measures individual level guanxi vs. networking tendencies. Using two independent samples of business school students from the United States (n=225) and China (n=231), I used Exploratory Factor Analysis and the Mann Whitney test to validate empirical differences between guanxi and networking behaviors and tendencies of Americans and Chinese to engage in each relationship, respectively. These differences included tendencies towards achieved vs. ascribed relations, directness vs. indirectness, differences in business etiquette, and differences in time orientations. Chinese preferred ascribed relations when seeking jobs. Their business etiquette included giving gifts, hosting banquets, rendering small favors, and visiting people at their homes. In contrast, Americans were more direct when looking for jobs and working with the government. Their business etiquette included handshakes as well as exchanging phone calls, emails, and business cards.; Finally, I integrate the process model of relationship building with Chung-ying Cheng's C Theory, a theory of management that combines western management philosophy with indigenous Chinese philosophies. C Theory seeks a more unified approach to management by blending both eastern and western management and modern indigenous Chinese philosophy. The integration of this research with C Theory allows for the further extraction of Chinese emics and an increased foundation for understanding relationship building in the Chinese context.; This dissertation makes the contributions of the first empirical work on networking vs. guanxi behaviors, the process model of relationship development, the 58 item questionnaire, and the application of indigenous Chinese philosophy to management theory. These contributions and the practical implications of understanding them for more effective cross-cultural business interactions will be discussed.