Antecedents and outcomes associated with a sense of place toward the organization of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand

• Date: 17 December 2019
• Published date: 17 December 2019
• Pages: 195-218
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-06-2019-0177
• Author: Tipnuch Phungsoonthorn,Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity,equality,inclusion

Antecedents and outcomes

associated with a sense of

place toward the organization

of Myanmar migrant

workers in Thailand

Tipnuch Phungsoonthorn and Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol

International College, National Institute of Development Administration,

Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the antecedents and outcomes associated with a

sense of place (SOP) on the part of Myanmar migrant workers working in Thailand toward their place of

work. The transformational leadership of top management and diversity climate were selected as the

antecedent variables, whereas turnover intention was selected as the outcome variable. Belongingness theory

and social identity theory were used as the theoretical foundation to support the roles of these variables.

Design/methodology/approach –Survey data were collected from Myanmar migrant workers working at

two factories in Thailand (n¼736). Partial least squares regression was used for the data analysis.

Findings –The results support a negative linkage between SOP and turnover intention. The positive

contribution of transformational leadership of top management and diversity climate to SOP was also

supported. Moreover, diversity climate was found to partially mediate the positive contribution of

transformational leadership of top management to SOP. Finally, the analysis found that the linkage between

diversity climate and SOP was positively moderated by the length of stay of the Myanmar migrant workers in

the organization.

Originality/value –This study provides new evidence showing that SOP also matters for foreign migrant

workers in terms of developing emotional attachment to the workplace outside their home country and that

these workers were less likely to leave the workplace although they were a culturally minority group in the

organization. This research also provides new evidence concerning the role of the transformational leadership

of top management and workplace climate, which were antecedents of an SOP toward the organization.

Keywords Leadership, Turnover, Diversity, Cross-cultural management, Organizational climate,

Migrant workers

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Most of the migrants that have crossed the border to find work in Thailand come from

different regions of Myanmar, accounting for 80 percent of all migrant workers ( Jaisat et al.,

2014). According to Sornbanlang and Bamrungsuk (2012), the high rate of Myanmar

migrant workers in Thailand can be explained by three reasons: the close geographical

location between Myanmar and Thailand; the high demand for cheap labor in Thailand; and

the pressure of Myanmar people to escape the poverty and political conflicts in their

country. In 2012, there were 1,186,805 Myanmar migrants who shifted to Thailand and these

individuals worked in jobs that are neglected by the local people (Chantavanich and

Vungsiriphisal, 2012). Despite the benefit of the lower labor cost of employing Myanmar

migrant workers, many companies in Thailand tend to face significant challenges from

hiring these workers due to their high turnover rate. For example, studies have shown that

most of the Myanmar migrants, especially the low-skilled ones, are not quite satisfied with

the poor payments they receive and tend to quit whenever they find a more lucrative offer

from another company (Phungsoonthorn and Charoensukmongkol, 2018; Puangyoykeaw

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 39 No. 2, 2020

pp. 195-218

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-06-2019-0177

Received 4 November 2018

Revised 28 October 2019

Accepted 15 November 2019

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

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Antecedents

and outcomes

associated

with a SOP

and Nishide, 2015). Moreover, discrimination by Thai employers is another factor that leads

to high turnover, as some studies have shown that Thai employers believed that alien

workers do not deserve the same privileges as Thai workers (Paitoonpong and

Chalamwong, 2012). Due to the productivity loss that the companies experience from this

high turnover of migrant workers, it is important to understand some of the underlying

factors that can prevent the turnover intention of foreign migrant workers. This is the main

area that this research will focus on.

As research shows, turnover intention tends to be influenced by the perception of

employees toward the social environment and the work environment of the organization

(Narteh and Odoom, 2015). In a supportive work environment, employees are more likely to

develop favorable attitudes toward the workplace and are less likely to quit their job (Chen

et al., 2016). A sense of place (SOP) –an aspect of the favorable workplace attitude of foreign

migrant workers that reflects the sense of belonging to the workplace outside their home

country is a concept that has not received much attention in the research. SOP reflects the

extent to which individuals assign value and have emotional attachment to a particular

place (Williams and Stewart, 1998). This concept has been widely investigated in various

physical locations, such as tourism sites, communities and cities and institutions (Sun and

Maliki, 2015; Lee and Chiang, 2016; Nanzer, 2004). It has also been applied to examine the

attachment of migrants toward a new community or city within their home country (Derrien

and Stokowski, 2014; Qian and Zhu, 2014; Du, 2017). However, little research has examined

the SOP of foreign migrant workers in terms of the workplace outside their home country.

Although prior research has identified various antecedents of SOP that individuals

developed toward a particular place (Durie et al., 2006; Tester et al., 2011; Nanzer, 2004), little

is known about the role of leadership and organizational climate that can affect the SOP of

foreign migrant workers in the organization. Furthermore, prior research exploring the

moderating factors that might influence SOP development is still scant. These are the

research gaps that will be filled in this study.

In particular, SOP is an important additional concept that adds to diversity and inclusion

study, particularly in the case of foreign migrant workers belonging to a cultural minority

group that has to relocate to work in a foreign country. This group of workers not only

moves far away from their home country to work abroad, but their cultural minority status

in the foreign country could lead them to face discrimination from local workers and

employers in the new work environment (Paitoonpong and Chalamwong, 2012). Generally,

this unfavorable work situation, as well as the minority status of the foreign migrant

workers, tends to make their sense of belongingness to the workplace in the foreign country

difficult to develop (Watt and Badger, 2009; Grossack, 1956). Thus, the study of an SOP

which reflects the degree of emotional attachment that the foreign migrant workers have

toward the workplace in the foreign country may provide additional contributions to

diversity and inclusion research by offering new knowledge about some of the workplace

characteristics that could make foreign migrant workers from a cultural minority group feel

emotionally attached to the workplace in the foreign country. Although the work

motivations of migrant workers has been examined in prior research (Morgan and Finniear,

2009; Yao et al., 2015), little is known about some of the motivations of migrant workers

belonging to the cultural minority groups in developing emotional attachment to the

workplace in the foreign country.

The main objective of this research is to examine the outcomes and antecedents

associated with the SOP of Myanmar migrant workers toward their workplace in Thailand.

In terms of the outcome variable, this research will examine the linkage between SOP and

turnover intention. Turnover intention was selected as the outcome variable given that it is

the main problem that most companies in Thailand experience when hiring Myanmar

migrant workers (Puangyoykeaw and Nishide, 2015). Regarding the antecedent variables,

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