Topic: Manufacturing Consent: How Rhetorical Nationalism Increases Excess Overtime in China

Date: January 5, 2026 (Monday)

Time: 14:00-15:00

Venue: T1-302-R1

Language: English

Abstract:

Drawing on labor process theory, this study argues that firms strategically manufacture employee consent to intensive work by embedding nationalist ideology into organizational discourse as a form of internal labor governance. We develop a novel firm-level measure of rhetorical nationalism using generative large-language-model analysis of firms’ public communications, and we capture excess overtime using daily satellite-based nighttime light data for Chinese-listed firms. We find that firms employing stronger nationalist rhetoric exhibit significantly higher levels of excess overtime (defined as overtime required per unit of employee compensation), indicating that ideological framing reshapes organizational effort norms beyond contractual exchange. Mechanically, nationalist framing reduces labor–management conflict and intensifies horizontal peer competition, increasing employees’ acquiescence to extended working hours. These effects are concentrated among firms with employees who occupy structurally weaker organizational positions, exhibit lower labor rights awareness, or face greater financial pressure. Importantly, nationalist rhetoric substitutes for material benefits: firms that rely on it do not provide greater welfare protections or training. Additional analyses show that the effect is absent in settings where nationalist narratives are structurally institutionalized, suggesting that rhetorical nationalism functions less as ideological inspiration and more as a managerial control mechanism embedded in organizational meaning-making that legitimizes intensive labor practices.

About the Speaker:

Dr.Feng Chen is an Associate Professor of Accounting in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto Mississauga, with a cross appointment to the Accounting area at the Rotman School of Management. He obtained his Ph.D. in Accounting from Columbia Business School in 2008. His research interests involve corporate disclosure and financial reporting, auditing, corporate governance, and international accounting. He has published in premier journals including Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, and The Accounting Review. His research has been cited by the International Accounting Standards Board.

Dr.Feng Chen is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CGA). His teaching interests are in financial accounting, managerial accounting, and financial statement analysis. He has extensive teaching experience from Columbia, Rutgers, University of Missouri, and University of Toronto.