Employee Demography, Organizational Commitment, and Turnover Intentions in China: Do Cultural Differences Matter?

Abstract

This study investigates the main effect of demographic variables on organizational commitment (OC) and the moderating effect of gender and education on the relationship between OC and turnover intentions (TI) based on a survey of 333 employees in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Only position positively influenced employees' OC while other demographic variables had no main effects on OC. Gender was found to moderate the relationship between OC and TI but education did not. The results demonstrated that, under the influence of traditional Chinese culture, Chinese employees behave differently from their western counterparts. These differences were explained in terms of cultural variables, particularly, personalism and guanxi (personal relationship network).