Understanding China's Post‐80 employees' work attitudes: an explorative study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among job and career satisfactions, work commitment, and turnover intentions for the Post‐80 employees in China. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 290 of China's Post‐80 employees from 19 knowledge‐intensive companies were surveyed. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Findings – The perceptions of selected Post‐80 employees on job and career satisfactions were negatively related to turnover intention, while job satisfaction was positively related to four types of work commitment, affective commitment, normative commitment, career commitment and job involvement. Career satisfaction was also positively related to three types of work commitment, affective commitment, normative commitment, and career commitment. However, the relationships of job and career satisfactions and turnover intention as mediated by continuance commitment and career commitment were inconclusive. Research limitations/implications – Combining the available literature on China's Post‐80 generation with the inconclusive results, the authors posit that the uniqueness of work attitudes held by this generation has not been captured in previous studies. Future research should focus on differentiating work attitudes between this cohort and its preceding generations, as well as its Western counterparts. Practical implications – Organizations need to recognize the uniqueness of China's Post‐80 generation employees' work attitudes, and develop appropriate talent strategies to retain and motivate this cohort of employees in China. Originality/value – The paper highlights China's Post‐80 generation employees and extends the turnover models by integrating the perspectives of job satisfaction, career satisfaction and work commitment. The paper identifies research gaps for future research on China's Post‐80 employees' work attitudes.