Chinese workers’ responses to justice : quitting, collective action or both?
Purpose: This paper aims to analyse two ways in which Chinese workers attempt to resist unjust treatment: exit through quitting and voice via collective action. This is in the context of rapid economic growth, rising economic inequality (Lu and Gao, 2011; Qinet al., 2009; Reed, 2012) and escalating industrial conflict (Pringle, 2011). Design/methodology/approach: A model is developed and hypotheses formulated in the light of qualitative data analysis that included archival data, workplace observation and interviews with employees and managers at a large factory. A mediated chain model was tested based on a survey of 234 semi-skilled and skilled manual workers and 353 service employees employed in the same city in Western China. Findings: Organisational identification and organisational cynicism were found to mediate the relationship between interactional justice and the two outcomes, intention to quit and collective opposition. Originality/value: The authors’ interpretation of these relationships challenge previous research by showing that social identification is a more powerful explanation than social exchange in accounting for variations in these two outcomes. Implications are drawn for human resource theory and practice.
Year of publication: |
2018
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Authors: | Zhang, Yucheng ; Frenkel, Stephen J. |
Published in: |
Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management. - World Scientific Publishing House Ltd, ISSN 2040-8005, ZDB-ID 2553042-2. - Vol. 9.2018, 1 (14.05.), p. 21-44
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Publisher: |
World Scientific Publishing House Ltd |
Saved in:
Online Resource
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