Migrants' willingness to contact local residents in China: Fid-Bau Portal

Migrants' willingness to contact local residents in China

Xu, Mengran / Wu, Fulong / Moore, Susan / Li, Zhigang

Abstract Although the integration of migrants has been increasingly pursued by the policy makers in many countries, there remains a paucity of knowledge regarding what migrants themselves think about integration. Based on the 2014 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this study draws upon new assimilation theory to investigate migrants' willingness to contact locals in China. Our results suggest that most migrants in China are willing to contact natives, but their willingness may not be strong. Different from the actual intergroup contact, migrants' willingness to develop intergroup contact is not affected by their socioeconomic status. Instead, such willingness might be developed based on the cultural commonalities between migrants and natives. Residential segregation can weaken migrants' willingness to contact locals even after the endogeneity bias of residential choice is controlled by using instrumental variable method and focusing on migrants who live in the housing provided by employers. This draws a darker picture of migrant integration. Previous literature explains that migrants faced with residential segregation have fewer opportunities to form intergroup contact which in turn can hamper their overall integration. Our analysis goes a step further by revealing that they may also lose their motivation to make intergroup contact – a preference that is critical to changing their disadvantaged situation.

Highlights • Most migrants in China are willing to contact locals, but their willingness may not be strong. • This willingness is explained by migrants’ cultural commonalities with locals rather than socioeconomic commonalities. • Residential segregation weakens migrants’ willingness to contact locals.