The effects of hukou (official household residential status) on perceived human resource management practices and organizational justice in China

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of China's official household residential status (hukou) on perceived human resource management (HRM) practices, perceived organizational justice (POJ) and its moderation of the relationship between them. Design/methodology/approach – The data for the study were collected from 775 employees in 36 companies in China. Missing data analysis was conducted in order to identify the pattern associated with personal demographic variables. A one-way between-groups MANOVA was performed to investigate hukou differences in the perceptions of HRM practices and POJ. Confirmative factor analysis was conducted on POJ's three-factor measurement model to examine the distinctiveness of the study variables. Findings – Employees registered as agricultural, i.e. rural, hukou, who have migrated to and found employment in urban areas, perceive HRM practices and distributive and procedural justice less favourably than do non-agricultural, i.e. urban, hukou. It also finds that hukou status moderates the effect of HRM on POJ. The findings therefore are that HRM that differentiates rural hukou and urban hukou results in different impressions of their employing organizations, and that hukou status changes the strengths of the relationship between HRM and employees' perceived fairness in their organizations. Research limitations/implications – The use of the single data source is more likely to result in common method variance which may bias the strength of the relationships that this study proposed. Moreover, this study contributes to the literature with regard to the moderating effects of personal demographic variables on the relationship between organizational policies and POJ, but hukou is the only personal variable examined and therefore the generalisation of the study's findings may be limited. Future research should examine the moderating effects of other personal factors. Originality/value – The moderating effect of personal demographic variables has been constantly examined in management and psychology research, but with a focus on employees' work attitudes and behaviour. For example, gender was found to moderate the relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intention. The extent to which personal demographic variables might moderate the relationship between organizational policies and POJ has not hitherto been examined. This study fills this void.