Confucianism and its implications for industrial relations in China

This study aims to examine the impact of Confucian values on industrial relations in China. The existing literature suggests that these values have a significant influence on industrial relations in China. Authors commonly report that Chinese industrial relations are peculiar and different from those found in some Western counties. Particularly, in China, trade unions and directors of SOEs are not really independent from the State or local governments. In parallel, in private Chinese firms, trade unions are traditionally weakly represented. In this respect, this paper argues that the management-workers relations are still based on Confucian social rules and values rather than on a contract-based system.