How managers use culture and controls to impose a ‘996’ work regime in China that constitutes modern slavery

Abstract The paper investigates how unrestricted global capitalism and a Confucian culture of hierarchy and obedience combine to create a form of modern slavery in China. The cases cited involve semi‐structured interviews with 11 managers and 19 workers working in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors. The interviews are analysed to determine how managers use controls to exploit power/distance, high levels of insecurity, and unenforced labour rights to impose harsh working conditions. Prior research has examined what mechanisms are imposed in a society that retains a Confucian legacy of obedience but not ‘how’ they are imposed in a way that constitutes a form of modern slavery.