Human resource practices and migrant workers' turnover intentions: The roles of post‐migration place identity and justice perceptions

• Author: Xiaobei Li,Hongyu Zhang,Stephen J. Frenkel,Jianjun Zhang
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12223
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Published date: 01 April 2019

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Human resource practices and migrant workers'

turnover intentions: The roles of post‐migration

place identity and justice perceptions

Hongyu Zhang

1

|Xiaobei Li

2

|Stephen J. Frenkel

3

|Jianjun Zhang

4

1

CUFE Business School, Central University of

Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

2

Graduate School of China, Sungkyunkwan

University, Seoul, South Korea

3

School of Management, UNSW Business

School, University of New South Wales,

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

4

Guanghua School of Management, Peking

University, Beijing, China

Correspondence

Xiaobei Li, GSC office, International Building,

25‐2, Sungkyunkwan‐Ro, Jongno‐gu, Seoul

03063, South Korea.

Email: xiaobeili99@163.com

Funding information

National Natural Science Foundation of China,

Grant/Award Numbers: 71502061, 71502186

and 71572003; the Fundamental Research

Funds for the Central Universities of China,

Grant/Award Number: QL18011; Program for

Innovation Research in Central University of

Finance and Economics

Abstract

This study adopts an identity perspective to explore the

relationship between human resource (HR) practices and

turnover intentions among migrant workers. Informed by

HR attribution theory, we propose that the effects of HR

practices will be more effective in reducing turnover among

migrant workers when these workers have stronger

post‐migration place identities and when they experience

a sense of justice regarding their work and nonwork envi-

ronments. Using a three‐way interaction model, we tested

these ideas on a sample composed of 1,985 migrant

workers in 141 firms in China. The results support the

theoretical model.

KEYWORDS

HR practices, justiceperceptions, migrant workers, post‐migration

place identity, turnover intention

1|INTRODUCTION

Migrant workers are those who move away from their place of residence in order to find work. They comprise an

important part of the global workforce (Choi, Kim, & McGinley, 2017), accounting for approximately 190.9 million

people in 2017 (United Nations, 2017). A major challenge for organisations employing migrant workers is their high

turnover rate (Morris, Wilkinson, & Gamble, 2009), which exceeds that of local workers by 30% or more in some

areas (Halvorsen, Treuren, & Kulik, 2015).

Favourable sets of human resource (HR) practices—commonly referred to as a high‐performance work system—

designed to improve workers' ability, motivation, and opportunities for participation, have been shown to improve

employee retention (e.g., Jiang, Lepak, Hu, & Baer, 2012; Sun, Aryee, & Law, 2007). However, these HR systems

may have a limited impact on migrant workers because they do not necessarily share the same values and interests

as local workers (Eggerth & Flynn, 2012). This view is consistent with the increasing emphasis in the Strategic Human

Received: 24 October 2017 Revised: 30 October 2018 Accepted: 6 November 2018

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12223

254 © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Hum Resour Manag J. 2019;29:254–269.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj

Resource Management (SHRM) literature on individual characteristics as antecedents to employee perceptions and

attributions of HR practices (Li & Frenkel, 2016).

Building on this stream of literature and drawing upon attribution theory, we demonstrate how an identity perspec-

tive can be used to identify the conditions that enable a favourable set of HR practices to reduce migrant workers' turn-

over intentions. We focus on one identity unique to migrant workers—that of post‐migration place identity (hereafter

“place identity”), which is defined as the extent to which migrant workers endorse the identity connected to the place

to which they have migrated and currently live. Migrant workers' attributions of HR practices are largely determined by

their identification with locality because general experiences in this new place shape their self‐concepts and motives,

and as a result, their interpretations of organisational practices. In addition, migrant workers need identity‐supporting

resources to maintain a stable and coherent identity because migration includes a temporal and unstable liminal period

of adaptation (Ashforth, 2001). Given the importance of justice perceptions in migrant workers' self‐verification pro-

cess, relying on “belief in a just world”(BJW) theory (Lerner, 1980), we further explore how justice perceptions, as

second‐level moderators, serve as key sources of such identity‐supporting resources, thereby influencing the salience

of place identity in moderating the relationship between HR practices and migrant workers' turnover intentions.

The empirical results supported our three‐way interaction model which proposed that HR practices are effective

in decreasing migrant workers' turnover intentions only when these workers have strong place identities and per-

ceive themselves to be fairly treated. Our research contributes to the current literature in two ways. First, we con-

tribute to the HR attribution literature by linking it to the perspective of identity. We show how identity related

to place of migration is a key factor influencing migrant workers' interpretations of HR practices, thereby impacting

turnover intentions. We thus extend SHRM research concerning employees' individual variations that shape their

interpretations of management, resulting in different employee outcomes (Sanders, Shipton, & Gomes, 2014). Sec-

ond, we contribute to the identity literature by showing that justice perceptions are key preconditions for migrant

workers in using place identities to interpret HR practices. Justice perceptions consolidate the influence of a partic-

ular identity (place identity) as an alignment between their self‐concept and perceptions of the environment, increas-

ing the probability of generating a strong, consistent impact on attitudes and behaviour (Stets & Biga, 2003).

2|THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES

2.1 |Migrant workers' place identity

Place identity is a substructure of self‐identity that links “who we are”to “where we are.”However, living in a partic-

ular geographic space may not be sufficient for place identity. It is a purposely subjective self‐construction and

internalisation process for developing one's place identity (Vignoles, Regalia, Manzi, Golledge, & Scabini, 2006). Peo-

ple embed meaning and values into a geographic place (Lawrence & Dover, 2015); thus, place identity concerns not

only membership awareness but also rational evaluation of and emotionalattachment to a place (Ellemers, Kortekaas,

& Ouwerkerk, 1999). Migrant workers are motivated to affirm their place identity based on their desire for personal

or career development, financial gains, and/or escape from unfavourable living conditions in their place of origin

(Meijering & Van Hoven, 2003). They may want to become modern, find better prospects for themselves and their

children (meaning motive), gain positive feelings about themselves by psychologically linking to a more developed area

(self‐esteem motive), expand their social network through contacts with local people (belonging motive), and acquire

new knowledge and skills unfamiliar to their counterparts in their hometown (differentiation motive; Wong, 2011).

2.2 |Migrant workers' turnover intentions

Turnover intention, known as one's intention to leave the current work organisation, is a common theme in

organisational research (Allen, Hancock, Vardaman, & McKee, 2014). Extant research frames employees' turnover

ZHANG ET AL.255