Innovation beyond technology: Emerging forms of worker participation in China’s high-tech sector

This thesis examines how the idea of economic democracy is reinterpreted within China’s modern political-economic system, focusing on the high-tech sector. Instead of viewing economic democracy as a fixed normative model based on liberal-democratic traditions, the study sees it as a flexible arrangement of relationships among power, ownership, and participation within companies. The first chapter revisits the theoretical foundations of economic democracy in Western thought, emphasizing key aspects such as participation in decision-making, access to ownership and surplus, and supporting institutional frameworks. It explores models like German codetermination and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), highlighting their diversity and structural limitations. The second chapter examines the transformation of China’s enterprise system, illustrating how market reforms, diverse ownership structures, and Party leadership have created a hybrid governance framework. In this context, “democratic management” and ESOPs primarily serve as established mechanisms for consultation and alignment of incentives rather than as tools for worker autonomy. The third chapter examines China’s high-tech industry and uses Huawei as a case study. It shows how widespread employee shareholding exists alongside centralized strategic control. The thesis contends that, in China, economic democracy manifests as functionally integrated participation within a hierarchical system, offering a unique model outside Western paradigms.