Decent work among rural-urban migrant workers in China: evidence and challenges
ISSN: 0048-3486
Article publication date: 27 May 2022
Issue publication date: 15 May 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how Chinese rural-urban migrant workers' socio-economic status was associated with their decent work.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded in the psychology of working theory (PWT), this study tested the path from rural-urban migrant workers' socio-economic status to decent work via work volition, with this path moderated by environmental uncertainty and trade union support. 470 rural-urban migrant workers from four manufacturing enterprises were investigated.
Findings
Results indicated that rural-urban migrant workers' socio-economic status was positively associated with rural-urban migrant workers' decent work through work volition. In addition, environmental uncertainty weakened the impact of socio-economic status on work volition while trade union support strengthened the relationship between socio-economic status and work volition.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the growing research on the PWT by testing its utility among rural-urban migrant workers in the Chinese context. The study also identifies the crucial effects of environmental uncertainty and trade union support, which are distinctive characters of contemporary China, in the formation process of rural-urban migrant workers' decent work. A detailed explanation of the results and implications is discussed in the end.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No: 72032002 and 71872089) and the Innovation Team “Research on Chinese Employment Relationship Management” of Philosophy and Social Science Research in Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province of China.
Citation
Han, M., Zhang, M., Hu, E. and Shan, H. (2023), "Decent work among rural-urban migrant workers in China: evidence and challenges", Personnel Review, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 916-932. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-09-2021-0650
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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