Guanxi vs talent acquisition: evaluating the effects of Guanxi referrals in Sino-foreign colleges

Purpose – The objective of the research is to investigate how teaching quality, courses delivered and their learning outcomes, student and staff satisfaction are affected when guanxi and non-guanxi based staffs share the same class cohort and subject levels in the selected colleges for this study. The aim of the research is to show the implications, using a primary data inspected, thematically analysed findings of how these differences in quality control, lack of transparency in hiring and pay packages of guanxi and non-guanxi based recruited staff members affect Chinese and non-Chinese staff expectations and also overall image of foreign Universities who partner with colleges in mainland China.

Methodology – The primary data is collected from interviews with a) candidates who have been hired through guanxi referrals, b) candidates who have been recruited in conventional ways with no social-ties benefitting their hiring or position, c) learners from three foreign University partnered colleges in China. Considering the aim, the research strategy was adopted within a qualitative study research design that has applied a thematic analysis.

Findings – The investigation compares faculties who were hired on Guanxi-basis and those who were not, and elucidates on a) a mismatch of staff expertise, courses delivered and learning outcomes, b) absence of platform to share ‘best practices’, c) lack of multi-cultural learning ecosystems in staff rooms, d) missed learning objectives and teacher-student office hours, and e) varying financial and moral incentives.

Conclusion – There are clear challenges coming from guanxi-led hired staff not working closely with non-guanxi counterparts (even when they are teaching on the same course), the lack of access of staff profiles and inability of non-guanxi staff to communicate with guanxi-based staffs. The effects on the wider scale falls on student learning, image of foreign Universities, very high staff attrition rate, quality control measures and falling reputation of these colleges nationally within mainland China.

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