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What drives product adoption among bottom of the pyramid (BoP) consumers? The purpose of this paper is to identify several factors affecting Chinese migrant workers’ adoption of online banking. Chinese migrant workers are BoP consumers that have migrated from rural China to work in China’s expanding urban regions such as Shanghai.

In collaboration with the Shanghai Survey Corps of the National Bureau of Statistics, the present research conducts structured interviews with more than 1,200 Chinese migrant workers.

The results of a logit regression analysis suggest that Chinese migrant workers are more likely to adopt online banking when they have higher levels of economic, biological, and social resources.

The results support habit adoption theory and provide managers with insight on how to increase BoP consumers’ adoption of financial services.

Greater adoption of financial services among BoP consumers, including Chinese migrant workers, can improve the well-being of these historically marginalized consumers.

The present research provides initial evidence that habit adoption theory and resource availability helps to explain Chinese migrant workers’ adoption of online banking.

Moral consideration is significantly important as social responsibility of economic actions. This article aims to analyze the moral embeddedness of labor market using the typology of moral behavior in market exchange by Beckert (2005).

This study contributes to methodological novelty through a digital research design using Gephi and NVIVO software. Textual Network Analysis (TNA) is used to analyze the moral embeddedness of labor market transaction of Chinese migrant workers.

Overall, the results show that the presence of Chinese migrant workers in Indonesia is a form of Trojan altruism and harmful to local labor market. This study also provides a theoretical debate that morals are always embedded in markets.

The data and focus of this study are the Indonesian side, particularly the local labor market. In addition, access to interviews with the Chinese government and companies is very challenging and cannot be done because they cannot carelessly provide information to journalists and researchers.

In contrast to previous studies on Chinese migrant workers that tend to use the economic perspective, this study applies the moral perspective that is more sociological and discusses social responsibility of market actions.

The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0737

The purpose of this paper is to examine spending pattern of Chinese migrant workers from rural regions to urban cities from a social identity perspective, which stems from Chinese Hukou system (household registry system). This study proposes a theoretical model for consumer utility function (a combination of economic utility and social utility) which takes into account the choice of social identification.

This study focusses on the influence of rural and urban identification on consumption patterns of Chinese migrant workers. These assumptions were verified based on a survey with 650 samples in Shanghai, one of the most developed cities in China.

Results indicate that affirmative social identification has a significantly positive effect on the level of consumption for migrant workers. High level of rural identification has a more significant impact than urban identification on survival consumption including food, medicine and family support. On the other hand, high level of urban identification has a more significant impact than rural identification on development consumption including education for children, training and recreation. Besides, there are significant interaction effects between income and identity on consumption, which confirms the identity effect on classical economic model and is in line with identity economics’ arguments.

This study outlines the importance of social identity in both economics and marketing domains and proposes a theoretical model which advances understanding of a model on similar lines proposed by Akerlof and Kranton’s (2000) and Benjamin et al. (2010). Empirical tests with Chinese migrant workers’ data present that their consumption patterns are influenced by their level of social identifications.

The overall goal of this chapter is twofold. First, the authors aim to identify indigenous phenomena that influence employee turnover and retention in the Chinese context. Second, the authors link these phenomena to the contextualization of job embeddedness theory. To achieve the goal, the authors begin by introducing three macro-level forces (i.e., political, economic, and cultural forces) in China that help scholars analyze contextual issues in turnover studies. The authors then provide findings in the literature research on employee retention studies published in Chinese academic journals. Next, the authors discuss six indigenous phenomena (i.e., hukou, community in China, migrant workers, state-owned companies, family benefit prioritization, and guanxi) under the three macro-level forces and offer exploratory propositions illustrating how these phenomena contribute to understanding employee retention in China. Finally, the authors offer suggestions on how contextualized turnover studies shall be conducted in China.

Migrant construction workers, significant in many developed economies, face several challenges, which place them at a higher risk of job dissatisfaction compared to locals. Therefore, this study investigates the determinants of job satisfaction amongst a specific group of migrant construction workers, who hold temporary work visas (TWVs) in New Zealand (NZ).

An explanatory research approach was used to investigate the determinants of job satisfaction identified through the literature review. Data were collected through a structured survey administered to 200 Chinese migrants on TWVs (short stays) working on selected major projects in the Auckland region. Data analysis involved T-test and structural equation modelling (SEM) of 102 valid questionnaire responses.

The study highlights the importance of providing opportunities for knowledge advancement and career progression for migrant construction workers to improve their job satisfaction. The results found that Chinese migrant construction workers are generally satisfied with their jobs and would extend their stay if job opportunities are provided. The results confirm that remuneration and opportunities for knowledge advancement and career progression lead to increased job satisfaction, while loneliness decreases job satisfaction. The opportunities for knowledge advancement and career progression triggered more satisfaction than remuneration.

The research result provides a useful knowledge base for understanding the determinants of job satisfaction amongst Chinese migrant construction workers with TWVs. These findings have implications for employment management practices within the construction industry and could enhance immigration information policies and other recruitment agencies' approaches to sourcing overseas workers for the NZ construction industry.

The demand for construction-related occupations has increased consistently over many years in New Zealand (NZ). This has necessitated recourse to migrant workers to address capacity and capability requirements. Migrant construction workers hail from various backgrounds with a complex set of their needs being met through employment in NZ. Research on understanding the satisfaction levels of this category of construction workers is scarce. With recent insinuations about migrant exploitations, research investigations into this knowledge area are significant. In this study, the authors sought to establish the moderating effect of migrants' demography on the determinants of job satisfaction in NZ's construction sector.

Data were obtained from migrant construction workers of Chinese extraction through a structured questionnaire survey. From 200 questionnaires administered, 108 samples were completed by migrant construction workers involved in major projects in Auckland city, NZ. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to establish the moderating effects of their demography on job satisfaction.

Results from this study support the internal validity and reliability of these personal characteristics as moderators of job satisfaction for migrant construction workers. These results suggest the relevance of personal characteristics of Chinese migrants in any improvement initiatives being developed for this group of construction workers.

The findings from this study contribute to the discourse on the relevance of construction migrants as a strategic alternative to addressing skill shortages within the NZ construction sector. They also provide evidence that contributes to an improved understanding of the migrant workforce to meet their aspirations and enhance their general well-being.

Although the study is ethnic-specific, the conclusions show the relevance of personal characteristics in the experiences of construction migrant workers. The study is representative of the catchment of temporary migrant workers in the construction industry in NZ. The study provides insights for organisations employing migrants about putting in place appropriate measures to enhance their satisfaction levels. Finally, this study's findings may contribute to policy initiatives on the optimal categories of migrants engaged on construction activities to derive the maximum benefits for NZ.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic responses of multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries in China toward a unique institutional characteristic – the structural discrimination against rural migrant workers.

Based on surveys of 181 firms and 669 rural migrant workers, as well as a case study of eight firms in Jiangsu and Shanghai, the authors examined and compared the human resource management (HRM) policies of MNE subsidiaries and domestic Chinese firms toward rural Chinese migrant workers.

This study found that MNE subsidiaries are more likely to accept local discriminatory HRM practices when managing migrant workers. In response to the institutional environments of host countries, MNE subsidiaries tend to share similar behavioral characteristics with local firms and are reluctant to show leadership in initiating institutional change in host countries.

This study is important since it enables investigation of some prevailing assumptions in the literature. Contrary to common wisdom that MNEs are change agents that proactively engage in institutional entrepreneurship in host countries, this study found that MNEs’ responses to the institutional environment of host countries are shaped by their entry modes and the institutional environment in their home countries. MNEs are as diverse as their home countries and far from forming a unified organizational field with similar behavioral characteristics.

This paper aims to investigate how human capital of rural migrant workers is regulated and manipulated at ten petrol stations in one Chinese coastal city. The research is based on ethnographic research with participatory observation at forecourts and interviews with managers and workers. This paper argues that human capital development is inhibited by patterns of discrimination, such as in the treatment of rural migrants in China’s coastal urban areas. Instead, human capital is developed as migrant workers learn to resist management rules by relying on social capital networks. This requires management to confront or acquits some control to workers, which itself may benefit employers in certain circumstances. There has been a tendency towards analysing non-financial capital in positivist frameworks within human resource management (HRM), in which human capital and social capital are seen in terms of their contribution to profits. There has also been a tendency within Chinese HRM to sometimes understand social networks in normative cultural terms, in which Chinese identities as being or seeking harmonies.

This paper, based on a qualitative research, shows that a more nuanced approach may be needed, one that understands tensions and countervailing forces. The research is based on ethnographic research with intensive participatory observation at forecourts and interviews with managers and workers.

The way human capital can be developed to restrict management prerogative, though this may benefit employer’s interests.

There has been a tendency towards analysing non-financial capital in positivist frameworks within HRM, in which human capital and social capital are seen in terms of their contribution to profits. There has also been a tendency within Chinese HRM to sometimes understand social networks in normative cultural terms, in which Chinese identities as being or seeking harmonies. This paper shows a more nuanced approach may be needed, one that understands tensions and countervailing forces.

Given migrant workers’ critical role in the Chinese economy, the increasing number of migrant workers who leave their organizations and return to their hometown has caused severe socioeconomic issues in China. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to migrant worker literature by revealing the micro-mechanism underlying migrant workers’ return-to-hometown intention and turnover.

Data were collected from a convenience sample from seven Chinese companies that employed migrant workers (n=147). The authors used path analysis to test the hypotheses.

Migrant workers’ family encouragement of returning to hometown was positively related to their return-to-hometown intention, which subsequently predicted their turnover decision in six months. Further, migrant workers’ perceived career sacrifice associated with returning to hometown weakened the effect of family encouragement to return.

For organizations that need to retain migrant workers, the findings indicate that it is particularly important to take migrant workers’ family needs and their career-related concerns into account. For migrant workers, the study highlights the importance of assessing gains and losses in the process of making turnover-related decisions.

This study contributes to migrant worker literature by investigating psychological processes underlying migrant workers return-to-hometown intention and the subsequent turnover from a micro perspective.

Previous research has documented the ways that migration contributed to the rise of Hong Kong as a global city by the early 1990s. Much academic attention has been paid to the causes of labor migration and issues related to the adaptation of migrant workers in Hong Kong. Based on a review of such studies, the purpose of this paper is to describe three representative groups of migrant workers in Hong Kong and discuss how research on migrant workers in Hong Kong has provided new insights to the global city literature and to the study of development and migration.

This paper reviews published works regarding migrant workers in Hong Kong since 1996. Discussion focuses on three representative groups: high-skilled immigrants from developed countries, low-skilled migrant workers from less developed regions and mainland Chinese immigrants.

Findings suggest that the migration patterns and challenges of the adaptation of migrant workers in Hong Kong correspond largely to the social polarization thesis proposed by global city literature. However, Hong Kong is unique compared to core global cities in the USA and Western Europe due to its special power relationship with mainland China and its colonial history, which have a significant impact on immigrants’ decision to migrate and their post-migration integration.

This review paper provides a better understanding of migration and development, and highlights new factors that contribute to reasons for migration and challenges of integration for migrant workers in the host society.