The Dynamics of Guanxi in Internationalised Higher Education

The internationalised higher education has developed in various forms, with changes varying from students travelling overseas and taking full-time education in a foreign country, universities exporting education services and programmes through an alliance or coalition, to universities opening their own branch campuses in a foreign countries or even online courses (Mazzarol et al, 2003). Among these changes, it does not only involve the expanding making of the education programmes and degrees, but also increasing demand of academic staff in
terms of their mobility to work in different institutions. This paper is to look at the internationalised higher education involved with both Western and Chinese academics.

It is to explore the influence of both Chinese and Western cultures within such internationalised academic working environment, and examine how Chinese and Western academic members adapt values and perceptions in order to fit into the multicultural working environment. The focus of the research is on the cultural differences between Western and Chinese academics, particularly one of the main Chinese culture concepts, Guanxi. This research looks into how Guanxi is understood and adapted by both Chinese and Western academics, and how it influences their attitudes at work. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions will be applied as the main Western culture theory to examine the interaction between Western culture and Chinese Confucianism concepts.

Taking an interpretivist approach, this research was conducted in four different organisational contexts of internationalised higher education institutions in China and the UK. Qualitative interview data were collected and analysed, and the research results were presented. The conclusion and limitations of the research will then be discussed.