Salespersons' Guanxi Orientation, Communication, and Manifest Conflict: An Empirical Study in China

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate how guanxi orientation, which is one of the personality attributes of Chinese people, influences the behavior of salespersons and the occurrence of manifest conflict. This study also investigates how guanxi‐oriented attitude, which is one dimension of guanxi orientation, influences guanxi‐oriented behavior, the other dimension of guanxi orientation. Data were collected via questionnaire from those selling equipment in the oil industry. The partial least squares method is applied to analyze the collected data. The study finds a positive correlation between salespersons’ guanxi‐oriented attitudes and guanxi‐oriented behavior. Both dimensions of the guanxi orientations of salespersons influence their selection of communication modality under friction events. The use of informal communication is inversely related to the occurrence of manifest conflict, while the use of formal communication is positively related. The guanxi‐oriented attitude of salespersons is negatively related to the occurrence of manifest conflict; however, the collected data did not reveal the expected negative relationship between guanxi‐oriented behavior and the occurrence of manifest conflict. The implications and research limitations are also discussed.