Seminars

State, Family and Profession: The Adoption of Old-age Insurance Practice in Chinese Private-owned Enterprises

This study examines the adoption of employee old-age insurance among private-owned enterprises (POEs) in China during 2000 to 2008. From an institutional logics perspective, we compare the evolution of  two once-dominant logics—the state-as-welfare-provider logic based on state-owned enterprise (SOE) and government lifetime employment, and the family support logic rooted in Confucian filial piety—across regions varying in their exposure to the new professional logic that facilitates institutionalization of market-based practices. We find that POE owners with SOE and government work experience and living in core families are more likely to adopt the old-age insurance practice than those who started career from firms in the market and live in extended families. Moreover, the state logic largely persists yet the family logic declines with regional development of professional services. This study contributes to institutional logics research by comparing co-evolution of multiple logics and to adoption studies by providing a cross-level institutional perspective. It is also one of the first to examine the role of rising professionalism in emerging markets.