TY - JOUR
T1 - Guanxi in an age of digitalization
T2 - toward assortation and value homophily in new tie-formation
AU - Au, Anson
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The funding body was not involved in the design of the study and collection, analysis, or interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - How do people form personal ties? A consensus holds in sociological and social network scholarship that in-person networks are dominated by status homophily and that guanxi networks rely extensively on balance. This article argues that social networking sites (SNSs) reconceptualize the character of homophily and tie-formation altogether in guanxi networks. Drawing on 50 semi-structured interviews with Hong Kong youth from 2017 to 2020, this article examines how the technical capabilities of SNSs and principles of guanxi culture come together to erode status boundaries, create access to larger networks, and cause spillovers of information and tie strength. As a result, the basis of tie-formation in guanxi networks on SNSs shifts from balance to assortation and status homophily to value homophily. In this transformed calculus of tie-formation, two typologies of values rise to the fore: substantive values that reflect opinions and interests, as well as structural values that reflect networkability.
AB - How do people form personal ties? A consensus holds in sociological and social network scholarship that in-person networks are dominated by status homophily and that guanxi networks rely extensively on balance. This article argues that social networking sites (SNSs) reconceptualize the character of homophily and tie-formation altogether in guanxi networks. Drawing on 50 semi-structured interviews with Hong Kong youth from 2017 to 2020, this article examines how the technical capabilities of SNSs and principles of guanxi culture come together to erode status boundaries, create access to larger networks, and cause spillovers of information and tie strength. As a result, the basis of tie-formation in guanxi networks on SNSs shifts from balance to assortation and status homophily to value homophily. In this transformed calculus of tie-formation, two typologies of values rise to the fore: substantive values that reflect opinions and interests, as well as structural values that reflect networkability.
KW - Digitalization
KW - Guanxi
KW - Social networks
KW - Tie-formation
KW - Value homophily
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133342951&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s40711-022-00165-2
DO - 10.1186/s40711-022-00165-2
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85133342951
SN - 2198-2635
VL - 9
JO - Journal of Chinese Sociology
JF - Journal of Chinese Sociology
IS - 1
M1 - 7
ER -