How Do Human Resource Management Practices Matter in Young Employees’ Intention to Stay in Chinese State-owned Enterprises?

Abstract

Improving young employees’ intention to stay through appropriate human resource management (HRM) practices has always been a concern for enterprises. Based on literature review, the previous research results showed that the relationship between HRM practices and employees’ intention to stay was not always consistent. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between HRM practices and young employees’ intention to stay. A quantitative research study was conducted via survey among young employees below 35 years in 11 state-owned enterprises in Tongling City, Anhui Province, China. Purposive sampling method was used in this study and a total of 127 questionnaires were collected and used for data analysis. The structured equation modeling-partial least squares (SEM-PLS) method is used to examine the research framework. The research findings confirm that HRM practices including recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, and compensation have significant positive influences on young employees’ intention to stay; however, training and development cannot significantly influence young employees’ intention to stay. Hence, the relationship between HRM practices and intention to stay to ensure the achievement of organizational goals by retaining more young employees in China’s state-owned enterprises is intertwined.