›› 2020, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (2): 423-429.

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When is the Concealment between Close Colleagues Terminated? The Boundary Condition of the Effect of Guanxi on Whistle-blowing Intention

  

  • Received:2018-08-04 Revised:2019-07-03 Online:2020-03-15 Published:2020-03-20

亲亲相隐何时休?关系对揭发意向影响的边界

卫旭华1,邹意2   

  1. 1. 兰州大学
    2. 中南大学
  • 通讯作者: 卫旭华

Abstract: Under the influence of Confucian relativism, Chinese decisions are often influenced by guanxi. Thus, Chinese employees may be partial to colleagues who have close guanxi with them. This will have a potential negative effect on the organization. Given that few studies have focused on how to reduce the negative effect of guanxi on whistle-blowing behavior in unethical situations, this study examined the effect of guanxi on employees' whistle-blowing intention, and explored the potential moderating variables (i.e., organizational guanxi orientation and employee integrity) in the above relationship. In order to test the above hypotheses, this study used two experimental designs and a field survey study to examine the moderating factors between guanxi and employees' whistle-blowing intention. Study 1 (N=208) was a 2 (guanxi: strong vs. weak) × 2 (organizational guanxi orientation: high vs. low) between-subjects factorial design. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of organizational guanxi orientation. Study 2 (N=118) was a 2 (guanxi: strong vs. weak) × 2 (integrity: priming vs. non-priming) between-subjects factorial design. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of integrity. Study 3 (N=205) was a field survey study. The purpose of this study was to provide external validity support to our hypotheses. Results showed that guanxi was negatively related to employees' whistle-blowing intention (Studies 1~3). Further moderating analyses found that the negative effect of guanxi on employees' whistle-blowing intention was moderated by organizational guanxi orientation (Studies 1 and 3) and employee integrity (Studies 2 and 3). For those high guanxi orientation organizations or low integrity employees, guanxi had a significant suppressed effect on the employee's whistle-blowing intention. However, for those low guanxi orientation organizations or high integrity employees, the relationship between guanxi and the employee's whistle-blowing intention was not significant. The above conclusions have some important theoretical and management implications for employee guanxi management and the design of whistle-blowing system. First, the present study revealed that the relationship between guanxi and employees' whistle-blowing intention in China was different from that of Western culture. Thus, managers should use different methods to manage guanxi in different countries. In China, for those departments that are prone to corruption, managers should focus on supervising those employees with good guanxi and take rotation plans when necessary to prevent a conspiracy to commit corruption and malpractice. Second, for the organizational managers, diluting the guanxi orientation within the organizations, advocating contract-based management practices and recruiting employees with high integrity will reduce mutual concealment behavior of employees with good guanxi, which in turn promote organizational employees' whistle-blowing intention to unethical behavior.

Key words: guanxi, whistle-blowing, organizational guanxi orientation, integrity, unethical

摘要: 当组织中做出不道德行为的人跟自己关系非常亲近时,员工可能不会揭发他们的不道德行为,进而给组织带来潜在的隐患。鉴于先前研究较少关注如何降低不道德情境中关系的包庇作用,本研究考察了组织和个体特征在削弱关系与揭发负向关系方面扮演的调节角色。结果表明,关系会抑制员工对不道德行为的揭发意向(研究1-3),且关系对员工揭发意向的负向影响受到了组织关系取向(研究1和3)与员工正直(研究2和3)的调节。随着组织关系取向的下降或员工正直程度的提升,关系对员工揭发意向的抑制作用逐步降低。这些结果对于组织内部揭发机制设计具有借鉴意义。

关键词: 关系, 揭发, 组织关系取向, 正直, 不道德

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