The Dimensions of Organizational Character and Its Impacts on Organizational Performance in Chinese Context

Dengke Yu, Huan Xiao, Qiushi Bo

As an organic entity, organizations are similar to humans, having unique organizational character which constitutes a source of competitive differentiation. This study aimed to explore the dimensions of organizational character and measure its impacts on organizational performance in a Chinese context. Since several previous studies have developed the definition and constitutions of organizational character in the context of developed countries such as America and England, this indigenous study provides new evidence from the perspective of an emerging economy. A research model using a qualitative analysis method was proposed to define the dimensions of organizational character. The connection between organizational character and organizational performance was empirically tested by a multi-ordered logit regression analysis with a survey of 205 observations in Chinese enterprises. The dimension of organizational character was finally extracted and summarized as six aspects including enterprise, conscientiousness, innovation, agreeableness, democracy, and Boy Scout. The results of the empirical analysis showed that the formation and cultivation of organizational character would directly improve an organizations' business performance as well as their growth potential. It is worth noting that a special part of organizational character, which may depend more on national culture or institutional background than organizational individuals, also has an impact on organizational performance. The findings can provide practical implications for Chinese companies and multinational companies that do or plan to do business in China. Entrepreneurs are suggested to make effective decisions on the cultivation of organizational character, since different types and specific levels of organizational character may have significantly different effects on organizational performance. This paper explored a novel theory to explain the antecedents of organizational performance, and could inspire scholars to expand the sources of organizational competitive advantage in the future.