Human Relations
Volume 72, Issue 4, 2019, Pages 801-833

Am I a peasant or a worker? An identity strain perspective on turnover among developing-world migrants (Article)

Qin X. , Hom P.W. , Xu M.*
  • a Sun Yat-sen University, China
  • b Arizona State University, United States
  • c Peking University, China

Abstract

Developing-world rural migrants provide crucial labor for global supply chains and economic growth in their native countries. Yet their high turnover engenders considerable organizational costs and disruptions threatening those contributions. Organizational scholars thus strive to understand why these workers quit, often applying turnover models and findings predominantly derived from the United States, Canada, England or Australia (UCEA). Predominant applications of dominant turnover theories however provide limited insight into why developing-world migrants quit given that they significantly differ from UCEA workforces in culture, precarious employment and rural-to-urban migration. Based on multi-phase, multi-source and multi-level survey data of 173 Chinese migrants working in a construction group, this study adopts an identity strain perspective to clarify why they quit. This investigation established that migrants retaining their rural identity experience more identity strain when working and living in distant urban centers. Moreover, identity strain prompts them to quit when their work groups lack supervisory supportive climates. Furthermore, migrants’ adjustment to urban workplaces and communities mediates the interactive effect of identity strain and supervisory supportive climate on turnover. Overall, this study highlighted how identity strain arising from role transitions and urban adjustment can explain why rural migrants in developing societies quit jobs. © The Author(s) 2018.

Author Keywords

Adjustment Migrant workers identity strain supervisory supportive climate turnover rural identity

Index Keywords

England Canada organization Australia identity migrant worker turnover time climate Article employment human workplace

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85050309215&doi=10.1177%2f0018726718778097&partnerID=40&md5=42dcb82e6131a48fafa6fffeeb2fe6c7

DOI: 10.1177/0018726718778097
ISSN: 00187267
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English