Linking Workplace Unfairness with Urban Withdrawal Intentions: The Moderating Role of Urban Identification

The mobility of skilled employees from developing to developed cities is a prominent phenomenon in China. However, little is known about whether and how micro factors (e.g., unfair treatment) in the workplace affect employees’ cross-city mobility. The aim of this study is thus to investigate the effect of employees’ perceived workplace unfairness on their intentions to withdraw from the city where they work, specifically, to shed light on the moderating role of urban identification in this effect. Through a survey of 453 skilled employees working in developing cities in northeast China, this study reveals that (a) both perceived distributive and procedural unfairness have a positive effect on employees’ urban dissatisfaction, which in turn reinforces their urban withdrawal intention; (b) urban identification can amplify the positive effect of perceived distributive/procedural unfairness on urban dissatisfaction; and (c) the positive joint effect of perceived distributive/procedural unfairness and urban identification on urban dissatisfaction can further carry over to urban withdrawal intentions. This study therefore sheds new lights on how employees’ workplace unfairness shapes their withdrawal intentions toward the city where they work and how their urban identification moderates this process, offering implications for how developing cities and firm managers can retain skilled employees. Plain language summary Numerous prior studies have argued that individuals’ urban identification (a sense of belonging and/or affective commitment to a city) helps them to accept the city’s imperfections and facilitates their intentions to stay. This implies that urban identification plays a buffering role in individuals’ reactions to a city’s imperfections. However, this study challenges the buffering role of urban identification with the argument: if employees experience unfairness in the workplace regarding distribution and procedures, and they attribute blame to the city, an increase in their intentions to leave the city may be witnessed. More importantly, urban identification will play a “love becomes hate” amplifying effect between the experience of workplace unfairness and the intentions to leave the city. Empirical analyses based on a survey of 453 employees from developing cities in northeastern China confirms the above arguments. The key implication is that for employees working in developing cities who experience unfairness in the workplace and attribute blame