Guanxi, Social Capital and Knowledge Exchange : A Cross-Dimensional View

Drawing upon the dynamics of guanxi, the Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) social capital theory, and the Adler and Kwon’s (2002) Opportunity-Motivation-Ability (OMA) framework, this paper develops a conceptual model to elaborate the dynamic interactions between the multi-dimensions of guanxi, social capital and knowledge exchange, and how they are influenced by the collaborative online environment in the Chinese context. We propose that the structural, relational and cognitive dimensions of guanxi are activated through the three conditions of knowledge exchange, i.e., the opportunity, the motivation and the ability, forming guanxi capital. In turn guanxi capital can lead to several types of knowledge exchange outcomes - information volume, information richness and information diversity. The dynamic process of leveraging guanxi capital to facilitate knowledge exchange is moderated by the collaborative environment, strengthened by the balance of benefits and risks evaluation of the process.