The Impact of Social Media on Digital Guanxi Development in the Chinese Workplace

Abstract

Organisational employees increasingly rely on various social media to develop guanxi online, resulting in the potentially huge value of identifying how social media can contribute to guanxi development in the workplace. In this study of digital guanxi development within Chinese organisations, we examine the role of different types of social media on the development of guanxi and its various dimensions. Based on an exploratory case study, we propose a theoretical framework that illustrates two mechanisms by which social media influence the development of digital guanxi at work. Our preliminary findings suggest that enterprise social media and public social media provide and reinforce instrumental and affective values, respectively, thereby facilitating guanxi development in the workplace.