Questioning the Appropriateness of Examining Guanxi in a Wasta Environment: Why Context Should be Front and Center in Informal Network Research
Horak, S.; Abosag, I.; Hutchings, K.; Alsarhan, F.;
Ali, S.; Al-Twal, A.; Weir, D.; ALHussan, F.B., & AL-Husan, F.B. (2023).
Questioning the Appropriateness of Examining Guanxi in a Wasta Environment: Why
Context Should be Front and Center in Informal Network Research. Management and
Organization Review, 19(5), 1040–1045.
Link:
https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2023.26
Abstract
In this commentary we reflect on Shaalan, Eid, and Tourky's (2022) article in
which they investigated the Chinese concept and practice of guanxi in the Middle
East, a region in which wasta represents the common way of informal networking.
While we encourage and welcome research into informal networks, we have serious
concerns about the conceptual and methodological approaches taken by Shaalan et
al. (2022) in investigating informal networks in the Middle East and explain
herein why we do not believe guanxi should have been used in place of wasta.
Keywords
Guanxi; Informal Networks; Methodology; Context; Culture; Wasta.