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This paper aims to provide insights into current issues, such as changing expectations and needs of blue-collar workers, from both an employee and HR perspective, to provoke further research in the business context on this crucial cohort, as well as broaden the current understanding of Human Resources Management (HRM) measures and incentives implemented by the respective foreign companies.

The author conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 Chinese employees of German multinational companies working in the automobile industry located in Shanghai. Among them, 17 were blue-collar workers and 8 were white-collar workers (General Manager or HR Manager).

Besides factors attributed to work conditions, all of the work values are located in the individual domain, regarding their level of focus (Facet C according to Lyons et al.). Work values in the growth orientation domain (Facet B according to Lyons et al.) show a mix between context- and growth-oriented factors. However, context-oriented factors are still outnumbering the frequency of growth-oriented ones. Regarding the modality of work values (Facet A), all of the categories (instrumental, social, cognitive and prestige) were reflected in the answers of the blue-collar workers.

Due to the limited number of interviewees no final statement can be made on how age, education, gender, or other demographics influence certain work values. Additionally, Inglehart and Abramson (1994) also mention other potential explanations for observed differences, such as inflation or unemployment rates, and per capita gross national product which were not discussed in this research. Furthermore, the HR management selected the interview candidates regarding the blue-collar cohort which could indicate biased answers of the interviewees.

HRM systems (e.g. reward systems or job design) should be adapted to meet the individual preferences of employees and be sensitive toward a potential value change among certain generational cohorts. The findings showed that although pay is still on the mind of the blue-collar worker, career development seems to be even more important for the future blue-collar workforce. Therefore, companies should as well consider non-financial retention strategies in the future.

Due to the talent shortage in China, employee’s ability to assert their interests, wishes and values could be taken to a new level. However, this does not hold true for the (still increasing) flood of migrant workers, often suffering from bad working conditions or discrimination incurred by their hukou status. Although recent changes in the labor regime have taken place (e.g. social insurance reform and labor contract law), the protection of migrant workers still remains insufficient.

By examining the work values of blue-collar workers, this paper draws meaningful implications for talent management with regard to work outcomes, in particular voluntary employee turnover, which is considered to be an issue of concern by both economists and businessmen.

Draws on the concept of “mixed embeddedness” to challenge the popular culturalistic view that Chinese migrants enter the catering business simply because they are Chinese. Based on qualitative interview results and observations from fieldwork conducted in German cities, illustrates first the dynamic nature of the Chinese restaurant trade. Proceeds to explore how important factors such as Chinese migrants’ access to alternative employment, the development of in‐ and out‐migration policies in Germany and East Asia, the changing consumer demand and market conditions, as well as availability of set‐up capital, shape the volume and forms of Chinese restaurant trade, the kinds of food served, hiring practices and other business strategies.

The rapid urbanization of China brings in large number of migrant workers coming from rural areas. With the perspective of social integration, this study reviews the findings about economic livelihood, social integration and health related to migrant workers since China initiated economic reform. We show that (1) though the economic wellbeing of migrant workers has been improved significantly after they moved to cities, their economic standing is still lower than local residents; (2) though there is progress of social integration between migrant workers and local residents, conflicts and challenges due to the competitions in employment and the sharing of community resource are still commonly found; (3) the disadvantaged status of health is very common among migrant workers and (4) women and the new generation in migration have more disadvantages in the social transition. We suggest that issues of equal rights between migrant workers and local residents should be discussed in the future as more migrant workers intend to stay in cities for long-term.

The methodology is literature reviews based on the current studies about migrant, migration and policy. The first category of literature is the research field on China's migration and urbanization to describe the whole context of migrant workers. The second is research field on detailed issues about migrant workers and the last field is policy issues about the welfare and needs among migrant workers.

We find that (1) though the economic wellbeing of migrant workers has been improved significantly after they moved to cities, their economic standing is still lower than local residents; (2) though there are progress of social integration between migrant workers and local residents, conflicts and challenges due to the competitions in employment and the sharing of community resource are still commonly found; (3) the disadvantaged status of health is very common among migrant workers and (4) women and the new generation in migration face more disadvantages in the social transition.

There are some limitations in the current research: (1) the review focuses on the majority of migrant workers to reveal the general picture about the living, developing and rights among migrant workers, but is still lacking in dealing with some special and disadvantaged groups. (2) More international issues related to migrant workers should be discussed in the future considering that China's labor market is becoming more and more global.

First, the conclusion about the economic and social integration among migrant workers indicates that more equal welfare services, including resident services, commence services, medical services etc. should be included in the municipal managements considering that Chinese cities will be the combination of local residents and migrant residents. Second, the conclusion about the women and children indicates that the future public services targeted at the disadvantaged population should focus on migrant members due to the second generation of migrant workers will be one of the mainstream population in future China's cities.

This study gives general views on migrant workers in current China. The findings in this review conclude the main development and improvements among tens of millions of migrant workers in Chinese cities. Meanwhile, we also conclude that there are still many disadvantaged and marginalized sub-groups in migration who are suffering from less welfares and rights in urban lives. More detailed and equal rights and public services should be considered and implemented in the fast urbanization taking place.

The assumption that the family migrates as a unit downplays migrants’ circularity. This chapter focuses on China's rural–urban labor migrants that travel back and forth between the sites of work and home community and between places of work. I argue that migrants and their households pursue work flexibility in order to obtain the best of the urban and rural worlds, by gaining earnings from urban work and at the same time maintaining social and economic security in the countryside. Work flexibility demands flexibility in household organization, in the form of division of labor and collaboration between genders, generations, and households. Based on a study in Sichuan, I examine household biographies and narratives to identify migrants’ work and household strategies.

Migrants change jobs frequently, switch from one type of work to another and one location to another readily, and often return to the home village for months or even years before pursuing migrant work again. Not only are migrants ready to split the household between the city and the countryside, but also they frequently change from one form of division of labor to another. The inside–outside model, where the wife stays in the village and the husband does migrant work, used to be the dominant arrangement. Over time, the outside–outside model, where both the husband and wife migrate to work and leave behind other family members, is increasingly popular. This is facilitated by intergenerational and interhousehold division of labor in the form of assistance by the extended family. Intergenerational division of labor takes place when the second generation is replacing the parents in migrant work. This research's findings support the notion that rural–urban migrants are fast becoming a hybrid segment of Chinese society, playing dual roles of farmers and urban workers and straddling the peasant and urban worlds.

In transnational families worldwide, different family members have varying degrees of mobility, as well as different physical and emotional experiences with relatives and places throughout their lives. For this reason, in recent decades, increasing attention has been placed upon the experiences of migrants' descendants growing up across borders.

Based on data from a multi-sited ethnography and a survey, this chapter explores the experiences of children growing up in Chinese transnational families split between Zhejiang province and their parents' immigration countries, located mainly in Europe. First, it introduces the migration context and methods, presenting the profiles and basic information of the 77 Chinese migrants' descendants who participated in a ‘Roots-seeking Journey’ summer camp held in their family area of origin in China, in 2018. Second, it explores their heterogeneous early childhood paths and conditions, paying particular attention to mobility, care strategies, intergenerational relations and transnational ties. Finally, this chapter introduces the concept of fluid childhoods, and reflects on the key role of care-related mobility and communication technologies in shaping their early life paths and experiences as well as further transnational engagement.

The conceptual framework of Multicultural Hybridism is adopted to reflect the emerging themes of transnationalism and superdiversity in the context of ethnic minority migrant entrepreneurs breaking out of their ethnic enclaves into mainstream economy. It is constructed as an extension of Mixed Embeddedness theory (Kloosterman, 2006), given that ‘Multicultural Hybrid’ (Arrighetti, Daniela Bolzani, & Lasagni, 2014) firms display stronger resilience with a higher survival rate than enclaved businesses (Kloosterman, Rusinovic, & Yeboah, 2016). With further integration of incremental diversification typology (Lassalle & Scott, 2018), the current study adopts Multicultural Hybridism as a lens to explore the opportunity recognition capabilities of transnational, migrant entrepreneurs who are facilitated by the hybridity of opportunity recognition (Lassalle, 2018) from linking host-country and home-country cultures. The hybridity of opportunity recognition focuses on access to markets and resources between transnational ethnic and local multicultural mainstream markets. Through the theoretical lens of Multicultural Hybridism, interviews with 16 Birmingham-based Chinese migrant entrepreneurs have been analysed to shape a dynamic understanding of the multifaceted concept of breakout in a superdiverse and transnational context. The multilayered interpretation of breakout provides an enhanced understanding of the diversity of hybridism between transnational ethnic and local multicultural mainstream markets. This is seen from the perspectives of firm growth and social integration in the current locations and future spaces of transnational migrant entrepreneurs. It goes beyond the narrow imagination of breakout as an economic assimilation process, avoiding the singular conceptualisation of the host-country mainstream market as the only breakout destination for transnational ethnic entrepreneurs.

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.