Can Non-Economic Incentives Improve the Incentive Effect of Relocating Immigrants? Evidence from Wuwei City, Located at the Northern Foothills of the Qilian Mountains

Abstract

Towards the long-term sustainable development of the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains, the design of migration motivation mechanisms is a key issue. Considering motivation perspectives and social exchange theories, a framework and measurement scale were constructed to analyze the influence of government incentives on Wuwei’s relocated immigrants. ANOVA and generalized linear regression models were employed to analyze the differences among regions and groups, along with the influence of various incentives. The results of the study indicate: (1) In Wuwei City, non-economic incentive factors were rated higher than economic incentives. The overall evaluation value for the negative behavior of immigrants was 0.369, and the incentive effect score was 0.633, with significant regional variation. (2) Based on cultural types, Wuwei City was found to have a high percentage of hierarchists, egalitarians and individualists, comprising 39.22%, 23.85% and 21.54%, respectively. Among cultural types, motivation factors and the incentive effect of the government made no difference except for the index of communication and opportunistic behavior. (3) Immigrants’ negative behavior was significantly affected by their cultural types. An economic incentive from the government increased the likelihood that immigrants would adopt negative behavior, whereas a participation incentive effectively eliminated those behaviors. (4) The government’s economic incentives appear significantly better at promoting the incentive effect than non-economic incentives, but in dispelling the negative behavior of immigrants, non-economic incentives have played a significantly greater role than economic incentives. Incentives associated with relocation provide a new objective basis for determining a policy scheme for the relocation of migrants in the Qilian Mountains, and departments can formulate corresponding incentive models and support policies accordingly as a consequence.