The External Shock of the Epidemic on Employees’ Turnover Intention in Central-Dominated China: The Mediating Effect of Automation and Teleworking

Taking the special time window of COVID-19, the research identifies the influence of the epidemic crisis and the related policies on the key indicator of the active employment policy - the turnover intention of low-wage employees in the context of the ‘employment promotion strategy’ in central-authorized China. The research aims to justify the mechanism behind the effect through the mediators of automation and teleworking, which, on the other hand, is related to the upper-level design of the “Made in China 2025” strategy. The empirical research is based on a sample size of 9,917 in Guangdong Province, China, and the survey is conducted at the mid-point of the pandemic trajectory. Probit models and path analysis were used in exploring the effects between constructs. Based on the results, the authors found that the COVID-19 pandemic has a strong positive effect on the turnover intention of employees in Guangdong Province, subject to an unequal influence on the rural-hukou labour force. Also, built on the path analysis, the author identified that the adoption of automation and teleworking negatively correlated with the effect of the pandemic while positively related to the leave intention of employees, and the adoption of automation and teleworking can mitigate the total effect of COVID-19 on the turnover intention.