To move or to stay in a migrant enclave in Beijing: The role of neighborhood social bonds

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe social integration of migrants in developing countries has long been an important issue in academic research, and analyzing migrants’ intentions to stay in current migrant enclaves may shed light on how they view their prospects in host cities. Given the importance of migrant social bonds in helping to build their urban lives, this article evaluates the effect of neighborhood social bonds on migrants’ intentions to stay in migrant enclaves. Based on data collected from one of the largest migrant enclaves in Beijing in 2012, this article concludes that neighborhood social bonds, rather than residential satisfaction, act as the strongest predictor of intention to stay as well as intervening variables. However, some widely accepted moving triggers among urban residents show little effect in this study, suggesting that China’s migrants follow a different mobility decision-making process because of institutional barriers.