Intention to stay in Chinese foreign-invested companies: previous experiences, initial expectations and current satisfactions

Abstract

The problem of retention of professional employees has become a prime challenge for foreign-invested companies in China. The present paper aims to examine the predictors of intention to stay of local Chinese white-collar employees in foreign-invested companies with a multi-dimensional approach. Through the examination and comparison of models incorporating previous experiences, initial expectations and current satisfactions, the results of this study indicate that while current intrinsic and contextual satisfaction might contribute to improving the intended stay period, current extrinsic satisfaction might not be as critical as expected. Furthermore, for individuals with voluntary turnover experiences, cumulative extrinsic and contextual satisfaction gaps (gaps between satisfaction with previous and present workplaces) might explain a higher degree of intention to stay. Aligned with the result that the number of overall voluntary turnover times is negatively related with the intended stay period, this study implies that future studies should further explore the possible influences of previous experiences on how an individual would like to maintain their employment relationship with their present company.

Keywords:

• cumulative gap
• current gap
• foreign-invested company
• intention to stay
• local Chinese employees
• multi-dimensional approach
• satisfaction

Acknowledgement

This research was partially funded by a grant to Yingyan Wang from the Matsushita International Foundation, grant number 03-316.