A Relational View of Organizational Restructuring: The Case of Transitional China
基于一手调查数据，研究转型中国国企中上下级权威关系对组织存续和职业晋升的影响，发现紧密的权威关系降低了企业被出售或停业以及职业受阻的可能性，且党员身份与权威关系的交互效应揭示了“原则性特殊主义”的延续。
This article addresses three questions concerning authority relations (personal relations with superiors) in transitional China. First, can superiors retain an organizational unit in order to save a protege's job? Second, has instrumental usage of particularistic relations, or guanxi, lost its importance? Third, has ‘principled particularism’, an integration of political loyalty and authority relations, continued to impact careers? Based on first-hand survey data, I find that state-owned enterprises in which managers had closer authority relations were less likely to be sold or discontinued, and close authority relations also reduced the likelihood of career blockage (demotion/lay off). The significant interactive effect of party membership and authority relations revealed the continuation of ‘principled particularism’. The study underlines institutional continuity during rapid social change, renders insights into the processes of organizational restructuring, and depicts the relational base of formal organizations.