IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v139y2022icp614-628.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adopting big data to create an “outside-in” global perspective of guanxi

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Liane W.Y.
  • Sharma, Piyush
  • Barnes, Bradley R.

Abstract

Previous research on the Chinese notion of guanxi has tended to use descriptive approaches to study its prevalence and influence on business and Chinese consumers. Relatively less research has focused on perceptions of guanxi in other parts of the world. This paper addresses this important research gap through adopting an “outside-in” global perspective using big data. In particular, the study draws on 162 million guanxi-related news articles during 2017–2020 extracted from the Global Database of Events, Language and Tone (GDELT), an open-source, real-time current affairs repository of online news and event metadata. The findings reveal that guanxi is heavily influenced by geopolitical and public health issues. The study also discovered a major contrast in the overall tone between China, being slightly positive, and the US and Germany, being largely negative, with the association varying according to changes in the marketing ecosystem.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Liane W.Y. & Sharma, Piyush & Barnes, Bradley R., 2022. "Adopting big data to create an “outside-in” global perspective of guanxi," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 614-628.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:139:y:2022:i:c:p:614-628
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.074
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296321007268
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.074?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dario Caldara & Matteo Iacoviello, 2022. "Measuring Geopolitical Risk," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1194-1225, April.
    2. Fronzetti Colladon, Andrea, 2018. "The Semantic Brand Score," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 150-160.
    3. Donthu, Naveen & Kumar, Satish & Mukherjee, Debmalya & Pandey, Nitesh & Lim, Weng Marc, 2021. "How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-296.
    4. Bruce Kogut & Harbir Singh, 1988. "The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(3), pages 411-432, September.
    5. Cheng, Louis T.W. & Chan, Ricky Y.K. & Leung, T.Y., 2018. "Impact of perk expenditures and marketing expenditures on corporate performance in China: The moderating role of political connections," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 83-95.
    6. Lu, Tingyu & Zhuang, Mengzhou & Zhuang, Guijun, 2021. "When does guanxi hurt interfirm cooperation? The moderating effects of institutional development and IT infrastructure capability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 177-186.
    7. Kate Odziemkowska & Witold J. Henisz, 2021. "Webs of Influence: Secondary Stakeholder Actions and Cross-National Corporate Social Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(1), pages 233-255, January.
    8. Koffi Dumor & Li Yao, 2019. "Estimating China’s Trade with Its Partner Countries within the Belt and Road Initiative Using Neural Network Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-22, March.
    9. Ashlee Humphreys & Rebecca Jen-Hui Wang & Eileen FischerEditor & Linda PriceAssociate Editor, 2018. "Automated Text Analysis for Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(6), pages 1274-1306.
    10. Brinch, Morten & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Fosso Wamba, Samuel, 2021. "Firm-level capabilities towards big data value creation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 539-548.
    11. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    12. Burt, Ronald S. & Burzynska, Katarzyna, 2017. "Chinese Entrepreneurs, Social Networks, and Guanxi," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 221-260, June.
    13. Seung Ho Park & Yadong Luo, 2001. "Guanxi and organizational dynamics: organizational networking in Chinese firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 455-477, May.
    14. Russel Kingshott & Piyush Sharma & Peter Hosie & Nebojsa Davcik, 2019. "Interactive impact of ethnic distance and cultural familiarity on the perceived effects of free trade agreements," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 135-160, March.
    15. Steve Lovett & Lee C Simmons & Raja Kali, 1999. "Guanxi Versus the Market: Ethics and Efficiency," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 231-247, June.
    16. Chao C. Chen & Xiao-Ping Chen & Shengsheng Huang, 2013. "Chinese Guanxi: An Integrative Review and New Directions for Future Research. 中国人的关系: 综合文献回顾及未来研究方向," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 9(1), pages 167-207, March.
    17. Sivarajah, Uthayasankar & Kamal, Muhammad Mustafa & Irani, Zahir & Weerakkody, Vishanth, 2017. "Critical analysis of Big Data challenges and analytical methods," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 263-286.
    18. Klostermann, Jan & Plumeyer, Anja & Böger, Daniel & Decker, Reinhold, 2018. "Extracting brand information from social networks: Integrating image, text, and social tagging data," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 538-556.
    19. Amado, Alexandra & Cortez, Paulo & Rita, Paulo & Moro, Sérgio, 2018. "Research Trends On Big Data In Marketing: A Text Mining And Topic Modeling Based Literature Analysis," European Research on Management and Business Economics (ERMBE), Academia Europea de Dirección y Economía de la Empresa (AEDEM), vol. 24(1), pages 1-7.
    20. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2007. "Investor Sentiment in the Stock Market," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 129-152, Spring.
    21. Lee, Liane W.Y. & Tang, Yiming & Yip, Leslie S.C. & Sharma, Piyush, 2018. "Managing customer relationships in the emerging markets – guanxi as a driver of Chinese customer loyalty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 356-365.
    22. Merendino, Alessandro & Dibb, Sally & Meadows, Maureen & Quinn, Lee & Wilson, David & Simkin, Lyndon & Canhoto, Ana, 2018. "Big data, big decisions: The impact of big data on board level decision-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 67-78.
    23. Douglas Dow & Amal Karunaratna, 2006. "Developing a multidimensional instrument to measure psychic distance stimuli," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(5), pages 578-602, September.
    24. Abosag, Ibrahim & Yen, Dorothy Ai-wan & Barnes, Bradley R. & Gadalla, Eman, 2021. "Rethinking guanxi and performance: Understanding the dark side of Sino–U.S. business relationships," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    25. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 1977. "The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 23-32, March.
    26. Chen, Chao C. & Chen, Xiao-Ping & Huang, Shengsheng, 2013. "Chinese Guanxi: An Integrative Review and New Directions for Future Research," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 167-207, March.
    27. Fei Xu, 2018. "The Belt and Road," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-981-13-1105-5, June.
    28. Berger, Ron & Herstein, Ram & Silbiger, Avi & Barnes, Bradley R., 2018. "Is guanxi universal in China? Some evidence of a paradoxical shift," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 344-355.
    29. Côrte-Real, Nadine & Oliveira, Tiago & Ruivo, Pedro, 2017. "Assessing business value of Big Data Analytics in European firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 379-390.
    30. Di Wang & Robert J. Weiner & Quan Li & Srividya Jandhyala, 2021. "Leviathan as foreign investor: Geopolitics and sovereign wealth funds," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(7), pages 1238-1255, September.
    31. T. K. P. Leung & Bradley R. Barnes, 2020. "Ethical cronyism: an insider approach for building guanxi and leveraging business performance in China," Asia Pacific Business Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 124-148, March.
    32. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Tatiana Kostova & Vincent E. Kunst & Ettore Spadafora & Marc van Essen, 2018. "Cultural Distance and Firm Internationalization," Post-Print hal-02312065, HAL.
    33. Buckley, Peter J. & Clegg, Jeremy & Tan, Hui, 2006. "Cultural awareness in knowledge transfer to China--The role of guanxi and mianzi," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 275-288, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mithani, Murad A., 2024. "Nationalistic political rhetoric: measurement and preliminary insights," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2).
    2. Guo, Yaoqi & Li, Yingli & Liu, Yongheng & Zhang, Hongwei, 2023. "The impact of geopolitical relations on the evolution of cobalt trade network from the perspective of industrial chain," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sven Horak & Markus Taube & Inju Yang & Katja Restel, 2019. "Two not of a kind: Social network theory and informal social networks in East Asia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 349-372, June.
    2. Abosag, Ibrahim & Yen, Dorothy Ai-wan & Barnes, Bradley R. & Gadalla, Eman, 2021. "Rethinking guanxi and performance: Understanding the dark side of Sino–U.S. business relationships," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4).
    3. Chu, Zhaofang & Feng, Bo & Lai, Fujun, 2018. "Logistics service innovation by third party logistics providers in China: Aligning guanxi and organizational structure," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 291-307.
    4. Hongjuan Zhang & Rong Han & Liang Wang & Runhui Lin, 2021. "Social capital in China: a systematic literature review," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 32-77, February.
    5. Hongjuan Zhang & Rong Han & Liang Wang & Runhui Lin, 0. "Social capital in China: a systematic literature review," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-46.
    6. García-Muiña, Fernando E. & Romero-Martínez, Ana M. & Kabbara, Diala, 2020. "Does religion influence location choice in the hotel industry?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    7. Isidoro Romero & Zhikun Yu, 2015. "Analyzing the influence of social capital on self-employment: a study of Chinese immigrants," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(3), pages 877-899, May.
    8. Moalla, Emna & Mayrhofer, Ulrike, 2020. "How does distance affect market entry mode choice? Evidence from French companies," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 135-145.
    9. Huihua Chen & Cong Chen & Hujun Li & Jianshe Zhang & Zengke Yang, 2022. "A Simulation Study on the Processes of Intra-Group Informal Interaction Affecting Workers’ Safety Behaviors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-17, August.
    10. Jian Du & Chao Zhou, 2019. "Does guanxi matter in the foreign expansion of Chinese manufacturing firms? The mediator role of linking and leveraging," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 473-497, June.
    11. Dejin Su & Qixia Du & Dongwon Sohn & Libo Xu, 2017. "Can High-Tech Ventures Benefit from Government Guanxi and Business Guanxi ? The Moderating Effects of Environmental Turbulence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, January.
    12. Chu, Zhaofang & Wang, Qiang & Lai, Fujun & Collins, Brian J., 2019. "Managing interdependence: Using Guanxi to cope with supply chain dependency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 620-631.
    13. Mukhtar, Arshia & Zhu, Ying & Lee, You-il & Bambacas, Mary & Cavusgil, S. Tamer, 2022. "Challenges confronting the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative: Social networks and cross-cultural adjustment in CPEC projects," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1).
    14. Han, Shaojie & Su, Jingqin & Lyu, Yibo & Liu, Qing, 2022. "How do business incubators govern incubation relationships with different new ventures?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    15. Conti, Claudio Ramos & Parente, Ronaldo & de Vasconcelos, Flávio C., 2016. "When distance does not matter: Implications for Latin American multinationals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 1980-1992.
    16. Zhou, Xi & Xiao, Min & Wu, Huiying & You, Jiaxing, 2024. "Does policy uncertainty travel across borders? Evidence from MNC subsidiary investment decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    17. Baur, Dirk G. & Smales, Lee A., 2020. "Hedging geopolitical risk with precious metals," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    18. Lee, Liane W.Y. & Tang, Yiming & Yip, Leslie S.C. & Sharma, Piyush, 2018. "Managing customer relationships in the emerging markets – guanxi as a driver of Chinese customer loyalty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 356-365.
    19. Yang, Jie & Ma, Jieqiong & Zhang, Yong & Hong, JungHwa, 2018. "With whom should you have dinner? A multidimensional framework for understanding political ties in China," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(6), pages 891-898.
    20. Kotler, Philip & Manrai, Lalita A. & Lascu, Dana-Nicoleta & Manrai, Ajay K., 2019. "Influence of country and company characteristics on international business decisions: A review, conceptual model, and propositions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 482-498.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:139:y:2022:i:c:p:614-628. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.