Affect, Trust and Friendship: A Case Study of Chinese and Zambian Relationships at the Workplace

Abstract

China’s expanding presence in African countries renders opportunities for future business collaborations and friendships formed between Chinese and Zambians a highly likely and mutually beneficial option. This article explores these friendships and other types of relationships formed at the workplace. Using theoretical arguments and studies of relationships from business and management studies as well as anthropology and organizational psychology, this article examines the importance of affective relationships, their numerous benefits and the role of various forms of affect, such as trust, empathy and consideration. Theoretical considerations of affective relationships frames empirical evidence gathered from an examination of Chinese and Zambians working together in two companies, one Chinese-owned and another Zambian-owned. Arguing that business friendships combine both instrumentality and affect, this article looks at how Chinese and Zambian informants at the companies integrate this into their professional lives with ease by expressing and using the explicit benefits of business friendships to their advantage. They also create unlikely spaces of intimacies and affective relationships, which provide us with new ways of thinking about the way social bonds are forged at the workplace in cross-cultural settings. As the article emphasizes, this helps illuminate opportunities and challenges facing Chinese and Zambians as they continue to interact frequently and form more business friendships in the near future.