Embedding social networks: How guanxi ties reinforce Chinese employees’ retention

Going beyond traditional inquiry into social support from local organizational constituents, this project examined how diverse resources from mutually affiliated contacts within and beyond local work environs boost propensity to stay in firms. We deployed Burt’s (1992) name generator and network closure index to more fully assess guanxi networks in China, which comprise strong, dense, and multiplex ties. Specifically, we tested how closed guanxi networks promote job loyalty among Chinese nationals, while investigating how high-commitment human resource management (HRM) systems moderate network effects. We collected egonet data from 417 employees in four high tech firms in China. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that guanxi network closure increases propensity to stay, whose effects high-commitment HRM reinforce.

► We examined how guanxi networks promote employee retention in China.
► Employees enmeshed in closed networks formed higher intentions to stay and stayed.
► Densely-knit networks most boosted staying intentions in high-commitment workplaces.