How do Expatriate Managers Draw the Boundaries of Moral Free Space in the Case of Guanxi?

Ethical imperialism is sometimes called ethical universalism, because the universal standards imposed on host countries typically originate from home country standards (Horak 2018).

The insights gained from the wider field research that this study was a part of, as well as from the interviews that were conducted for this study, suggest that expatriates from Japan and Singapore face cross-cultural ethical dilemmas similar to those of Western expatriates. Although it can be argued that Japan and Singapore have more in common with China culturally and hence have practices similar to guanxi, the two countries are known to be closer to the West than China in terms of the strength of their formal governance practices. In the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index (2019), Singapore and Japan ranked 13th and 14th, respectively, while the US ranked 19th. Moreover, Singapore was ranked as the third cleanest country in the world in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (2019), while Japan ranked 18th. Both countries were above the US in the index, which was in 22nd.

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