Cultural diversity in China: Dialect, job embeddedness, and turnover

China is a large and diverse country. Although increasing attention has been given to ethnic Chinese research sites in recent years, researchers have seldom given much thought to the diversity present among Chinese communities. For example, clear regional attributes are embodied by the many different dialects of China. Dialect has long been recognized as a basis for establishing personal relationships, but its impact on other individual outcomes is less well understood. In this paper, we propose that in China, Chinese people’s frequency of speaking in their local dialect is related to their identification process with an organization or a community, which could in turn influence their decision to stay with their organization. The theoretical and practical implications of utilizing regional and cultural differences in large countries such as China are also examined.