Treat Floating People Fairly: How Compensation Equity and Multilevel Social Exclusion Influence Prosocial Behavior Among China’s Floating Population

The hundreds of millions of floating people in China who leave their hometown for a new city to improve their standard of living constitute an important phenomenon, but as yet the ethical predicaments they face, such as low compensation equity and high social exclusion, have attracted little attention. With a national sample of 125,626 floating people in China, this study investigated how and when compensation equity influences prosocial behavior through the lens of justice theory. This study found that floating people’s compensation equity positively influences prosocial behavior, and this relationship is mediated by subjective well-being (SWB). This study also supported that multilevel social exclusion, including the perception of social exclusion and provincial social exclusion strength, positively moderates the relationship between compensation equity and SWB. Moreover, the perception of social exclusion and provincial social exclusion strength moderate the mediating effect of SWB between compensation equity and prosocial behavior. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are further discussed.