Retain or return: A job embeddedness perspective analysis of Chinese rural migrant workers’ turnover

Abstract

The research on Chinese rural migrant workers is extensive because the magnitude of the influence of the workers’ population is far from negligible. Recently, this topic has attracted more and more attention due to the implementation of a series of new policies that encourage workers to return to their home towns in rural areas. While studies on Chinese rural migrant workers’ turnover decisions abound in focusing on demographic characteristics and economic impacts of rural to urban migration, few papers pay attention to worker’s psychological states. Drawing on conservation of resources theory and job embeddedness theory, this study analyses the impacts of both community-related stressors and jobrelated stressors on Chinese rural migrant workers’ turnover decisions. It also investigates the boundary conditions under which the stressors-turnover relationships can be buffered. In so doing, this paper provides suggestions for promoting policy implementation so as to efficiently and effectively encourage Chinese rural migrant workers to return to their home towns in rural areas.