ارزش کار و اعتماد مدیریتی در بستر قرارداد جوینت ونچر بین المللی در چین

The paper reports on a study of International Joint Ventures (IJVs) in China and provides empirical evidence on how Chinese managers in IJVs, compared with their State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) counterparts, are responding to their new work environments. Changing work practices, in particular human resource management (HRM), are altering the trust dynamics between managers and their subordinates. Changed trust relations pose problems for many Chinese managers originally from SOEs but now working in IJVs. The study examines how Chinese mangers' perceptions of trust in subordinates are being influenced by the work values in IJVs. Key findings of our study suggest that for these managers, trust in subordinates is related to certain beliefs surrounding work values of centralization, formalization and group orientation.

It has been reported that China's joining of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has encouraged Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs) to increasingly opt for wholly owned subsidiaries in response to growing frustrations with joint ventures. Nonetheless, IJVs are still a major form of MNE operation in China (Teng, 2004), and improvements to their overall performance remains a challenge for international partners. Research on IJVs in other transitional economies, such as Russia and Poland, has also noted similar performance related issues (Ayios, 2003). One suggested avenue for performance improvement has focused on how trust can be developed between parties of the host and foreign countries within IJV relationships (Boersma et al., 2003 and Mohr and Puck, 2005). In this paper we shift the focus to a relatively new area of study in IJVs that examines how managers of the host side develop trust in their subordinates in the context of changing work values that are integral to managing performance in IJVs in China. There have been limited studies on both manager and subordinate trust in China and especially in the context of IJVs. Furthermore, previous research on trust has predominantly focused on subordinate trust in managers or leaders (Costigan et al., 2004 and Mayer and Gavin, 2005) but not on managers' trust in subordinates. IJVs provide a unique empirical field in which to study how management attitudes to trust are either reinforced or weakened by certain work values that might be different to those found in SOEs. The nature of managerial problems in many IJVs is shifting from a focus on compliance with external institutional rules to one of managing interpersonal relations to achieve high levels of company performance. HRM practices are coming to the fore, and in response to their new work environments, Chinese managers in IJVs are having to move away from deeply entrenched SOE practices and work values. In IJVs in China there are usually a limited number of expatriates who take on senior managerial positions, thereby constraining the implementation of the foreign-owned company's managerial policies and practices. Most often it is Chinese managers who handle routine work and have to manage subordinates on a daily basis. These managers are in a unique position because they have to deal with managerial issues reflecting the foreign partner's requirements as well as accommodating concerns of subordinates. In IJVs expatriates work alongside their Chinese counterparts, many of whom are ex-employees of SOEs, which are owned and run by the Chinese Government. Working conditions for SOE managers are largely determined by government and even by the Chinese Communist Party's demands though even these are undergoing change. Over the past 50 years, SOEs have developed their own traditional ways of managing subordinates and welfare benefits and unionism are still prevalent (Chiu, 2006). Compared to their SEO counterparts, IJV managers find themselves in organizations in which work values are driven by performance demands that put strains on them in terms of manager–subordinate relations. It is not surprising that Chinese managers in IJVs are experiencing difficulties adapting to such hybrid work value systems (Hoon-Halbauer, 1999) in which such things as merit-based rewards systems and employee mobility are altering perceptions of trust on all sides. What is of interest to us is to examine how Chinese managers, who are predominantly ex-SOE employees and now working in IJVs, perceive trust in subordinates and, which specific work values are most likely to play a part in influencing beliefs about trust. Therefore, the present study investigates how Chinese managers at different levels within IJVs perceive trust in their subordinates in terms of dependability, predictability and good faith, and the extent to which these beliefs might differ from managers in SOEs. It also focuses on how beliefs about trust are influenced by work values of centralization, formalization and group orientation. By focusing on managerial trust in subordinates, we contribute to theory building in a growing area of international studies. Although previous studies suggest that particular work values facilitate or inhibit the development of trust (Williams et al., 1966, Whitener et al., 1998, McKnight et al., 1998 and Sallee and Flaherty, 2003), many alternative frameworks remain untested empirically (e.g. Doney et al., 1998). This study begins to fill this gap with an empirical examination of how trust is influenced by work values in IJVs.

Our findings suggest that Chinese managers in IJVs are developing higher degrees of trust in subordinate dependability but lower levels of trust in subordinate predictability compared with managers in SOEs. These results support the observations noted by a previous study (Hoon-Halbauer, 1999) that Chinese staff of the IJVs were rather uncertain about the attitudes of other people including subordinates, with empirical evidences identifying specific dimensions of trust accounting for this ambivalence. The subordinates in IJVs, for example, have more chance to learn new and different forms of ‘know-how’ through training programs and other HRM practices than do their SOE counterparts. Chinese managers in IJVs, therefore, might perceive the increased job and psychological maturity of subordinates more positively and accordingly, develop more trust in their dependability. However, these same managers are more reticent about trust in their subordinates' predictability when subordinates no longer solely rely on connections with their managers, but increasingly depend on merit and other HRM practices for recruitment and promotion in the IJV. In particular, subordinates no longer stick to one company for life, but shift between companies whenever they can because of a possible better offer. In contrast, traditional HRM practices in SOE facilitate managers' trust in employee predictability. Subordinates in SOEs are recruited based on good personal relationships with management and also have lifetime employment unless their enterprises go bankrupt or are merged. Consequently, managers in SOEs may have stronger reasons for trusting in employee predictability. Additionally, they learn from their HRM practices that recruitment and promotion are mainly based on good guanxi, instead of merit and performance, and hence are more likely to develop low trust in employee dependability compared with Chinese managers in IJVs. There may be few reasons for the SOE managers to develop high levels of trust in their subordinates' performance in general. Although there is a difference between IJV and SOE managers on work values of formalization and group orientation, there is no difference between the two of them on the work value of centralization. Chinese managers in IJVs probably still believe that centralization is the most effective way to manage within the context of new managerial practices. This may indicate that there is a strong influence from the macro-environment on organizational operations in China, where there is still a persistent emphasis on authority and a limited one on democracy, as evidenced throughout the governmental system and enacted in SOEs. It may also indicate how difficult it is for Chinese managers to give up SOE-based values. Working in the performance-based environments of in IJVs pose significant challenges for these managers and three-year experience in IJVs is unlikely to be long enough for them to make the necessary transition and fully adjust to new work values. In terms of theoretical implications, firstly our comparison of Chinese managers in IJVs and SOEs suggests that the development of trust in subordinates is subject to managers' perceptions of a subordinate's behaviour pattern and management practices within a changing context for Chinese managers in IJVs. Our findings also confirm that work values at the individual level respond to cross-cultural influences and are adjusted accordingly, though individual values are relatively stable and, according to social value theory (Meglino and Ravlin, 1998), deeply embedded and resistant to change. It extends the theory of propensity to trust (Mayer et al., 1995) with the findings that a trustor's work values are a component of the general willingness to trust others in the workplace. The study supports previous propositions that work values influence trust (Hofstede, 1980 and Doney et al., 1998) with empirical evidence derived from IJVs that are experiencing change and flux. However, prior research on trust within organizations has been lacking in terms of offering specific dimensions of trust that are linked to changing work values. Our findings indicate that centralization is negatively related to managerial trust in subordinate dependability and predictability in IJVs in China, at least where Chinese managers from SOE backgrounds are concerned. Thus, the more centralization is invoked as the basis of a manager's control and power, the lower will be the trust in subordinate dependability and predictability. In terms of the manager–subordinate relationship, managers with high levels of centralization will perceive that the development of trust in subordinates as less necessary compared to conformity and obedience to authority. These managers will thus prefer an emphasis on control. The findings also suggest that the work value of formalization has a positive effect on managerial trust in subordinate predictability, though the effect is modest. This supports previous arguments that high uncertainty-avoidance facilitates the development of affective-based trust (Doney et al., 1998 and Chen et al., 1998) at the individual level. Past research suggests that formalization tendencies influence affective reactions in social contexts (Gudykunst and Ting-Toomey, 1988). Formalization might produce managers who anxiously shun ambiguous situations. Anxiety caused by uncertainty is likely to predispose managers to feel that they must develop trust in someone who is predictable in order to ameliorate such ambiguity. The present findings suggest that Chinese managers in IJVs, who are high in formalization, tend to pursue the development of trust in subordinate predictability. They perceive that these forms of trust might provide an effective way to release anxiety in work relationships. Finally, our findings also indicate that group orientation is strongly and positively related to managerial trust in subordinate good faith, which again provides empirical evidence to support Doney and colleagues' proposition (1998) that trustors with values of collectivity tend to form trust via good faith processes. Group orientation values lead to a preference for establishing norms to curb deviant behaviour within groups where each member is expected to demonstrate rigorous allegiance to the whole group with the obligations of members to the group being emphasized. Consequently, managers with a high level of group orientation make efforts to develop trust in subordinates and believe that the behaviour and working goals of subordinates are benevolent and ultimately, faithful.