Understand Guanxi practice in Chinese organizations through Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory

This paper attempts to explicate the concept of Guanxi, or personal connections in the Chinese culture, in the organizational context by relating it to Maslow's theory of needs hierarchy. The authors argue that Guanxi has been consistently utilized as a means to attain key physical and non-physical resources in order to satisfy different levels of human needs in the Chinese society and the application of the theory by managers and leaders in the Chinese cultural settings contributes to our improved understanding of motivation theory and organizational management in an oriental culture and transitioning economic system.