The interviews show a number of Guanxi characteristics in the public sector. First of all, Guanxi is a kind of long-term investment in the public sector, which means it may not generate significant interests immediately but could be of benefit in the future. Also, building and keeping Guanxi in the long term can avoid Guanxi partners feeling the owner is purposeful while asking for favours. In addition, Guanxi between civil servants is unlikely to be friendship as it is usually based on benefits, work or competition but emotions, which means the Guanxi cannot be close, stable and durable like friendship. Therefore, Guanxi in the public sector is ‘impure’, personal purposes such as the expectation of receiving potential benefits may inevitably be included.
The majority of participants consider Guanxi as a kind of long-term investment in the public sector. As illustrated by participants 10 and 23, investing in Guanxi is investing in the future, which could be a significant skill of civil servants. Probably the Guanxi is not that useful at present, such as bringing the owner improvement by leaps and bounds, but it has potential:
“Just like the investment in stock. When you identify a potential share, you are willing to pay for it because of its potential. This investment is as same as building and keeping Guanxi, which aims to the future.” (Participant 10).
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“Guanxi likes an important investment, you have to see the benefits. Maybe the current benefits are not great, but in the future, it must have the potential.” (Participant 23).
In this Guanxi investment, civil servants are investors. They pay for prospective interests but not immediate or direct benefits. Although such investment may certainly include risks, but in the long term, it is probably worthwhile.
For instance, the reason why a young and powerless civil servant can get excessive respect and favours is that the civil servant probably has certain valuable features such as a decent family background that can make the civil servant become powerful and potentially useful in the future:
“People in the public sector are shrewd, they are unlikely to do something meaningless. Like Guanxi, if they want to have Guanxi with someone, even this person is young and powerless at present, they must be motivated by this person’s potential future.” (Participant 12).
“You are young and have no power, but why do people respect you and send you gifts? Maybe it is because of your future career, you may have a powerful family background, they know you could be useful to them later.” (Participant 19).
Thus, the potential of Guanxi is the potential of the Guanxi partners invested. Through offering favours to the partners when they are not in high positions in order to build and keep Guanxi, the Guanxi owners may claim the favours back if the partners become powerful one day, which can certainly compensate the previous cost of Guanxi.
Participant 29 held a similar perspective: Guanxi is a long-term investment that can be an efficient way to prepare advance support for the future. In the public sector, it seems that civil servants dislike being used as tools to serve others’ purposes. Instead, they prefer and believe in real emotions. If a Guanxi is established temporarily and only aims to exchange favours but not
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emotions, such Guanxi is too purposeful, civil servants are most likely to refuse offering any response to the Guanxi:
“I may not have any requests at the moment, but I may have later. In order to get support when I need it, I have to build and keep Guanxi from now on. If I just try to build Guanxi when I need it, then people would think I am too purposeful instead of paying real emotions.” (Participant 29).
Therefore, an actually useful Guanxi is reliable and stable based on long-term inputs. Depending on the Guanxi, Guanxi partners may offer favours to the Guanxi owner willingly rather than consider their Guanxi be stained by strong personal purposes.
Nevertheless, although Guanxi in the public sector is a kind of long-term investment, which could be similar to a long-term friendship, they are different. According to participants 04 and 17, Guanxi is not friendship in the public sector, there is probably no causality between them:
“Two persons have Guanxi at work is far from being friends. That is to say, they may have Guanxi, but not necessarily to have friendship.” (Participant 04). “Guanxi at work is most likely to be transactional, this is because the aims of building and keeping Guanxi are purposeful in most cases. People want to get something according to the Guanxi, otherwise they are unable to pay so much. This is different to friendship that emphasises emotions.” (Participant 17).
Civil servants may keep good Guanxi in the public sector, but normally this Guanxi seems based on interests, rather than emotions like friendship. In other words, friendship is not necessarily resulted by having Guanxi.
In addition, participants 03 and 09 specified that Guanxi in life could be friendship, but Guanxi at work, namely in the public sector is not friendship. At first, Guanxi as an interpersonal relationship in life is generated by keeping in touch, which normally depends on emotions. Likewise, such
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features enable the parties involved to maintain their Guanxi enduringly as long as the emotional base exists. Thus, Guanxi in life can be a close and stable friendship:
“The difference between Guanxi in life and at work is the stability and durability. Guanxi in the public sector depends on the work and purposes, which is easy to be changed. However, Guanxi in life can be much more stable and durable because it relies on emotions, such as friendship.” (Participant 03).
“Guanxi in life is different from Guanxi at work. The latter is based on the work, but the former is mainly based on certain special emotions, such as friendship, which is closer, more stable, and more lasting.” (Participant 09).
Conversely, Guanxi at work is that colleagues work together for a long while then become familiar and have Guanxi, this Guanxi probably is mainly based on the work or benefits but not emotions. Once the work changes or new benefits emerge, the Guanxi basis may also change. Hence, Guanxi in the public sector is unlikely to be friendship.
Moreover, participants 04 and 09 explained the reason why civil servants may have no Guanxi of friendship, which is because the Guanxi between them are usually competitive:
“There are no friends in the working place. All colleagues are competitive, they can have certain personal Guanxi, but there is no real friendship.” (Participant 04).
“The valuable resources are usually limited, hence people have to compete for them. In other words, the Guanxi between them is essentially competitive, which means it cannot be friendship, it is a relationship of collaboration at best.” (Participant 09).
There are many opportunities in the public sector, such as promotion and power. These opportunities are limited, people must compete, and not every competitor can obtain even one of them. Therefore, Guanxi between civil servants are naturally competitive, one gets promoted
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means that all the others have failed. Accordingly, civil servants may have Guanxi, but may not have friendship.
Furthermore, the illustrations showed above that Guanxi in the public sector is probably ‘impure’, personal goals are included to some extent. As participants 05 and 16 said, it is challenging for Guanxi between civil servants to be ‘pure’ like Guanxi between ordinary people:
“Of course, there is Guanxi that merely exchanges emotions. However, in the system, interpersonal Guanxi is very difficult to be ‘pure’. There are more or less personal purposes involved. The difference is some purposes are obvious, but some are hidden.” (Participant 05).
“Specific purposes aiming to gain personal benefits are probably unavoidable in the Guanxi between civil servants. The point is, some people want to take the benefits as soon as possible, but some others are not that impatient. From this dimension, Guanxi in the public sector is hard to say ‘pure’.” (Participant 16).
The ‘pure’ means the Guanxi is only emotion-based without other purposes, such as gaining benefits or interests. The Guanxi between ordinary people could be ‘pure’ because those people have no power thus cannot obtain benefits by exchanging power. However, civil servants have public power, they can exchange power for benefits conveniently. Therefore, the Guanxi between civil servants is unlikely to be simply emotions-based, intentions for certain benefits could not be avoided, which makes their Guanxi ‘impure’.
Additionally, the basis of establishing Guanxi in the public sector is that the engaged parties can create value mutually, hence such Guanxi will inevitably be influenced by personal purposes:
“I know you are a ‘potential stock’, so I may consciously make a Guanxi with you, because this Guanxi can bring me huge benefits in the future, just like investing in stocks. In the system, Guanxi is mainly mutual use between ‘potential stocks’ like this.” (Participant 20).
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Participant 20 described civil servants owning Guanxi as ‘potential stocks’ which refers to the persons who can generate benefits to relatives at some point in the future. Without such potential, it may be difficult for civil servants to be involved in any Guanxi. Accordingly, Guanxi in the public sector generally implies the expectation of receiving benefits. In other words, such Guanxi is ‘impure’.
In summary, this has shown three characteristics of Guanxi in the public sector, which consists of Guanxi as a long-term investment for future benefits; Guanxi between civil servants is unlikely to be friendship; thus Guanxi in the public sector is ‘impure’.