Nancy Yifeng Chen

The role of co-operation and competition on leader-member exchange and extra-role performance in China

This study examines antecedents and outcomes of leader—member exchange (LMX) in China by relating the theory of co-operation and competition and the research on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to LMX. One hundred and seventy supervisor—subordinate dyads in a watch-case manufacturing factory in southern China were studied. Co-operation and competition and LMX were assessed by subordinates, and OCB by their immediate supervisors. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that co-operation and competition predicted LMX, which in turn predicted OCB. These results were interpreted as further suggesting that a quality relationship between leader and follower is important and that the theory of co-operation and competition can guide building this relationship.

Managing outsourcing to develop business: Goal interdependence for sharing effective business practices in China

Outsourcing partners have the potential to learn from each other by discussing effective practices and to use these discussions to improve their business performance. However, there are significant barriers to trusting, open, and integrative communication. Results from 95 largely domestic outsourcing partnerships in China support the hypotheses that cooperative, but not competitive or independent, goals are a foundation upon which partners share their effective practices openly and directly with each other and that this kind of discussion promotes improved business results. Specifically, the structural equation analysis supported the reasoning that cooperative goals foster open discussion of effective practices that, in turn, results in business development. Findings were interpreted as providing support that cooperative interdependence is a foundation for effective interaction and learning between outsourcing partners in China and perhaps in other countries as well.

Newcomer socialization in China: effects of team values and goal interdependence

How newcomers interact with their experienced colleagues has been thought to affect their socialization and performance. In a field study of 169 new employees, team leaders provided measures of values and newcomers rated their relationships and attitudes. Structural equation analysis results suggest that relationships and open discussion values promote socialization by developing cooperative goals and integrative interaction. Results were tentatively interpreted as suggesting that values affect socialization by altering newcomer goal interdependence and interaction with experienced team members. By embracing the values of relationships and open discussion, supplemented with cooperative goals and integrative interaction, teams can more effectively socialize newcomers.

Developing the strategic resources of Chinese entrepreneurial firms

Purpose – Applying the theory of cooperation and competition, this paper proposes that entrepreneurial firms can obtain social capital in terms of trust and reciprocity by developing cooperative goals with other firms, rather than competitive and independent goals. Such cooperative relationships may then enhance the firms strategic resources, including corporate reputation and market access.Design/methodology/approach – Results were obtained from structural equation modeling of data from 120 entrepreneurial firms in Shanghai, China.Findings – The hypotheses were supported, except that reciprocity was found to affect corporate reputation negatively. The results suggest that cooperative interdependence and trust in the network of entrepreneurial firms, not self‐sacrificing reciprocity, can foster a firms business development.Originality/value – Although there is evidence in the literature suggesting that social capital influences the performance of entrepreneurial firms both directly and indirectly, there...

Transforming cross-cultural conflict into collaboration: The integration of western and eastern values

Purpose Scholarly research provides few insights into how integrating the western values of individualism and low power distance with the eastern values of collectivism and high power distance may influence cross-cultural conflict management. Following the framework of the theory of cooperation and competition, the purpose of this paper is to directly examine the impacts of organization-level collectivism and individualism, as well as high and low power distance, to determine the interactive effects of these four factors on cross-cultural conflict management. Design/methodology/approach This is a 2×2 experiment study. Data were collected from a US laboratory experiment with 80 participants. Findings American managers working in a company embracing western low power distance and eastern collectivism values were able to manage conflict cooperatively with their Chinese workers. Moreover, American managers working in a company valuing collectivism developed more trust with Chinese workers, and those in a company culture with high power distance were more interested in their workers’ viewpoints and more able to reach integrated solutions. Originality/value This study is an interdisciplinary research applying the social psychology field’s theory of cooperation and competition to the research on employee-manager, cross-cultural conflict management (which are industrial relations and organizational behavior topics, respectively), with an eye to the role of cultural adaptation. Furthermore, this study included an experiment to directly investigate the interactions between American managers and Chinese workers discussing work distribution conflict in four different organizational cultures.