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The city region has emerged as an important form of regional development and governance. However, the dynamics of spatial inequality in city regions are misunderstood. This study examines the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) to determine the spatiotemporal evolution of regional inequality across prefecture-level municipalities from 1990 to 2018. It finds that regional inequality has steadily increased since the 1990s but has declined somewhat in recent years. This is associated with faster growth and higher upward mobility of central regions in the early reform period and increases in the upward mobility of the periphery in recent years. The gradient-distance curve of the Shanghai-centered economy sharpened and then flattened, indicating the polarization of growth in the core regions, followed by the diffusion of development and improved regional integration. However, the core-periphery remains stronger within provinces between provincial capitals and other regions. Despite regional integration and peripheral development, the problem of spatial exclusion and core-periphery structures persists. More attention needs to be given to the core-periphery relationship and the development of peripheral regions to promote regional integration and reduce spatial polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the residential mobility decisions of rural migrants with a history of living in urban villages in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu province. Many were displaced by its demolition–redevelopment policy (forced movers); some chose to move voluntarily to improve their housing utility (voluntary movers); others decided to stay put in substandard housing (voluntary non-movers). A survey of their current housing conditions revealed that, compared to voluntary non-movers, most forced movers had not become better-off. But the voluntary movers had done much better than both of the other groups, implying that a timely move could have led to their improved housing conditions. However, even voluntary moves proved to have a downside, namely, that voluntary migrants would likely end up living somewhere more remote from coveted facilities and locations of jobs in the inner city. Logistic regression analysis showed how differences in socio-demographic characteristics between voluntary movers and non-movers could explain why some decided to move. For those who decided to stay, the analysis also indicates how the advantages of the current location may compensate for housing deficiencies. These results correspond to the motives migrants expressed in supplementary in-depth interviews: migrants intending to become permanent residents were most likely to move for better housing. The findings also point to structural constraints on residential mobility. For poor migrants without a Jiangsu hukou, moving to better housing was simply not an option. This suggests that further hukou reform is needed if urban redevelopment is not only meant to improve the image of the city but also the migrants' housing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant trend has been rapid and unprecedented migration from rural to urban China since the mid-1980s. This dramatic demographic change has profoundly reshaped the migrants' sense of the newly settled place. By examining the perceptual changes that have occurred in this usual context, we attempted to analyze the impact of social connection on the migrants' sense of belonging to the host cities. In order to accomplish this, we conducted an empirical study featuring 12,807 rural-to-urban migrants across eight Chinese cities. We found that their contact with residents who were not related to them was positively linked to the development of a sense of belonging in the host cities, whereas contact with only nonresidents had the opposite effect. In addition, we also observed that one's sense of belonging is mostly fostered by one's direct interaction with a place, but it could be also be indirectly mediated via social contacts. Furthermore, the context of place will affect one's affinity for it. Also, the availability of public services generates positive feelings regarding the new place, whereas large population size has the opposite effect. This study deepened our understanding about migrants' subjective sense place and revealed the inherent complexity in this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predominant trend has been rapid and unprecedented migration from rural to urban China since the mid-1980s. This dramatic demographic change has profoundly reshaped the migrants' sense of the newly settled place. By examining the perceptual changes that have occurred in this usual context, we attempted to analyze the impact of social connection on the migrants' sense of belonging to the host cities. In order to accomplish this, we conducted an empirical study featuring 12,807 rural-to-urban migrants across eight Chinese cities. We found that their contact with residents who were not related to them was positively linked to the development of a sense of belonging in the host cities, whereas contact with only nonresidents had the opposite effect. In addition, we also observed that one's sense of belonging is mostly fostered by one's direct interaction with a place, but it could be also be indirectly mediated via social contacts. Furthermore, the context of place will affect one's affinity for it. Also, the availability of public services generates positive feelings regarding the new place, whereas large population size has the opposite effect. This study deepened our understanding about migrants' subjective sense place and revealed the inherent complexity in this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the residential mobility of China’s rural–urban migrants in light of evidence from Yangzhou, a medium-sized city in Jiangsu province. To evaluate the effects of forced moves induced by demolition-led redevelopment, these outcomes are compared to those of voluntary moves. The evaluation is specifically concerned with dwelling attributes and location characteristics. Dwelling attributes consist of tenure and housing facilities, while commuting distance, distance to the city centre and the length of a child’s trip to school comprise the location characteristics. Logistic regression of data from a 2012–2013 survey shows that a voluntary relocation and the intention to move prior to notification of intended demolition are likely to result in positive outcomes. The migrants’ relocation strategy involves making a trade-off between better dwelling attributes and a better location. When housing improvement is their major concern, they tend to move to peripheral areas. However, it seems that children’s educational opportunities are being factored into the trade-off. In that case, migrants purchase an apartment in a specific school district or at least move closer to it. For the sake of their children, they relegate other motives to second place. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses the effects of residential relocation on China’s rural–urban migrants’ social networks in light of evidence from Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. Our study contrasts voluntary moves with forced moves driven by demolition-led redevelopment of urban villages. Based on data from a survey conducted between 2012 and 2013, the regression analysis shows that voluntarily relocated migrants are more likely than forced movers to use phone/computer to contact their former neighbours, and communication technology allows them to maintain the frequency of their contact. Furthermore, when moving to a gated neighbourhood, voluntary movers are more likely than forced movers to participate in public activities, to have more contact with new neighbours and thereby to get more help from the residents’ committee and new neighbours. The results suggest that forced moves have negative effects on migrants’ social networks in the neighbourhood and that the demolition-led redevelopment programmes do not promote the migrants’ integration in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In leadership research, Western leaderships are quite dominant while insufficient attention has been paid to Eastern leaderships, including Chinese leadership. Paternalistic leadership, an indigenous Chinese leadership, is prevalent in Chinese society given that it has been bounded by the cultural tradition. Yet, it is necessary to further explore the divergent influencing mechanisms of paternalistic leadership in Mainland China. The primary objective of this research was to replicate and empirically test a model on paternalistic leadership and in-role/extra-role performance by using trust-in-supervisor as the mediating variable. With the data of 239 supervisor–subordinate dyads collected from a textile firm in Mainland China, we conducted statistic analysis of structural equation modelling, multi-level analysis and so on by applying Amos 5.0 and SPSS 12.0. The results showed that trust-in-supervisor completely mediated the relationship between supervisors' authoritarian leadership and subordinate's in-role/extra-role performance, and trust-in-supervisor completely mediated the relationship between supervisors' moral leadership and subordinate's in-role/extra-role performance, whereas trust did not mediate the relationship between supervisors' benevolent leadership and subordinate's in-role/extra-role performance. Overall, by investigating the influencing mechanisms of the three elements of paternalistic leadership in the Chinese context, the current research not only adds a cultural perspective to paternalistic leadership literature but also advances our knowledge of the underlying psychological processes that paternalistic leadership works. The research confirms that paternalistic leadership is applicable in the context of business organizations in Mainland China. Since prior research has provided little theoretical guidance on the effect of paternalistic leadership on performance, this research contributes to the literature by identifying and examining the social exchange and social identity mechanisms of trust-in-supervisor. It highlights the great significance of trust-in-supervisor in explaining paternalistic leader effectiveness and leader–employee relationships in Mainland China. It explains how the three elements of paternalistic leadership have the differential effects upon subordinate's trust-in-supervisor, and it provides some cultural insights on paternalistic leadership. The results of the current research also shed light on how practicing managers may foster appropriate leadership styles in order to facilitate subordinates' in-role/extra-role performance. The results indicate that moral leadership and benevolence leadership are positively related to trust-in-supervisor, while authoritarian leadership is negatively related to trust-in-supervisor. Hence, supervisors who wish to obtain subordinates' trust and trigger their motivation would better abandon authoritarian leadership and adopt moral leadership and benevolent leadership instead. When subordinates have unsatisfactory in-role performance and extra-role performance, supervisors need to look into the details for the solutions, especially, in the areas of ‘trustworthiness’ and ‘paternalistic leadership’. In addition, human-oriented human resource practice is advocated, and leadership programme could be developed accordingly for business organizations in Mainland China. This research also highlights the fact that further research should be conducted in order to advance our knowledge of paternalistic leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the joint effect of LMX and emotional intelligence (EI) on burnout and work performance. Results based on data collected from 493 leader-member dyads in the call center of a large Chinese telecommunication company indicated that LMX was negatively related to burnout, yet was not significantly related to objective work performance. Moreover, we examined the effects of the four dimensions of EI (self-emotion appraisal, other-emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion) on burnout and performance, and found that burnout mediated the link between use of emotion and work performance. Results also showed that LMX was associated with burnout and work performance more strongly for service workers with lower levels of self-emotion appraisal. More surprisingly, the link between LMX and work performance was stronger for service workers with higher levels of use of emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), a capitalist practice, was borrowed for the purpose of rescuing and even consolidating socialist state-owned enterprises during the drive in China to reform ownership. More precisely, ESOP was implemented to bail out failing firms, raise funds, increase work motivation, reduce agency costs, and promote industrial democracy. The findings of a case study of three Chinese state-owned enterprises suggest that some short-term goals were basically achieved, but the accomplishment of the other long-term goals was somewhat problematic. Based on our initial findings, recommendations are put forward for future research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]