BRAZILIAN JEITINHO VERSUS CHINESE GUANXI: INVESTIGATING THEIR INFORMAL INFLUENCE ON INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Brazilian jeitinho and the Chinese guanxi are considered indigenous forms of informal influence. The first can be described as behavior tactics aimed at resolving social problems. The latter is broadly described as achieving goals through the use of social networks. These influence processes were chosen because they are commonly used in business negotiations in Brazil and China. Thus, understanding their peculiarity is fundamental for the management of organizations involved in business in those two cultures. Therefore, we seek to determine whether such influence processes differ, as it is possible that a process said to be indigenous to a particular cultural context might be, in fact, also found elsewhere. To investigate their uniqueness and the relationship between them, two studies were carried out. In both studies, participants rated representativeness, typicality and positivity of social scenarios, besides completing a 21-item version of the Schwartz’s Portrait Value Survey and a scale regarding attitudes towards corruption. Data were analyzed by a series of mean difference tests and stepwise regressions, separately for each nation, and the results are presented by sample. There were two samples: university students’ sample (with 266 Brazilian and 220 Chinese) and managers’ sample (with 101 Singapore Chinese and 246 Brazilian). Brazil scored significantly higher on conservation and selfenhancement values when compared to China. Chinese respondents perceived the guanxi scenarios as more typical of what happens in China than the jeitinho scenarios, with a reverse pattern being observed for Brazilians. Although Brazilian respondents evaluated jeitinho less positively than Chinese respondents evaluated guanxi scenarios, but they also did perceive jeitinho as more positive than. For the managers’ samples, it was observed that Brazilians had a significantly lower score on attitudes toward business corruptibility when compared to Chinese managers. Stepwise regressions suggest that positivity is linked with business corruptibility for each respective scenario type by nation.