- Title
- Impact of workplace guanxi on knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour : a study of academic staff of Chinese local universities in Guangdong Province
- Creator
- Liu, Li
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Text; Thesis; PhD
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/176140
- Identifier
- vital:15075
- Abstract
- This thesis aims to investigate the impact of workplace guanxi upon knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour. Knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour are two behavioural variables which have been linked to various positive individual and organisational outcomes. Against the changing landscape of Chinese higher education, the two behaviours are particularly important for the success of Chinese academic staff and the local universities where they work. Extant literature has demonstrated that workplace interpersonal relationships such as leader-member exchange and team-member exchange are positively associated with individual’s work behaviours, such as knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour. However, there is a scant literature on the impact of workplace guanxi upon the two workplace behaviours. Using conservation of resource theory and social exchange theory, this research conceptualised a structural model to study the impact of workplace guanxi upon knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour. A positivist approach with cross-sectional design and structural equation modelling was adopted to test the conceptualised model. Data were extracted from 479 academic staff of seven local universities in Guangdong Province of China, through selfreport questionnaire. A positive relationship was found between coworker guanxi and knowledge sharing. In contrast, no relationship was found between supervisor-subordinate guanxi and knowledge sharing. The relationship between coworker guanxi and knowledge sharing was fully mediated by teammember exchange and job satisfaction. In terms of innovative work behaviour, both supervisorsubordinate guanxi and coworker guanxi displayed a positive relationship with innovative work behaviour. Coworker guanxi showed a stronger relationship with innovative work behaviour than supervisor-subordinate guanxi did. The relationship between supervisorsubordinate guanxi and innovative work behaviour was direct. The relationship between coworker guanxi and innovative work behaviour was indirect, with full mediation of teammember exchange, job satisfaction and knowledge sharing. This thesis contributes to the literature on explaining the role of workplace guanxi, including supervisor-subordinate guanxi and coworker guanxi on knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour. The study also demonstrates to higher education institute managers that the cultivation of academic staff’s workplace guanxi, and particularly their guanxi with peer academics, promotes academic staff’s displays of knowledge sharing and innovative work behaviour which are beneficial at both individual and organisational levels within the higher education context.; Doctor of Philosophy
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright Li Liu
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- Innovative work behaviour,; Knowledge sharing,; Academic staff; Workplace guanxi
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Zhai, Qingguo
- Hits: 955
- Visitors: 862
- Downloads: 74
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE2 | Australian Digital Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |