Economic development level and urban settlement intentions of the new-generation migrants in China: direct or interaction effect?

Abstract

Based on a theoretical framework, this paper uses a multilevel model to examine the factors that correlate with the settlement intentions of China’s new-generation migrants. The level of regional economic development exerts not only random effects, but also an interaction effect with social integration on urban settlement intentions. Economic factors, including household income and home ownership, have a significant positive correlation with settlement intentions, while social characteristics such as social integration and social identification also have a positive correlation with the settlement intentions of new-generation migrants. Moreover, family migration strategies, parental migration experiences, short migration distances, and long migration durations enhance urban settlement intentions. The settlement intentions exhibit significant inter-group differences between the migrants born in the 1980s and in the 1990s. Differences in the effects of the determinants are observed between these group samples and the total sample.