Factors influencing agency workers' intent to stay: An interdisciplinary study of contract companies in the information technology outsourcing industry in China

The study adopts a qualitative multiple-case study approach to explore factors influencing university-educated IT agency workers’ intent to stay in contract companies in the Chinese information technology outsourcing industry. This study identifies the dynamic interactions between various contextual factors in shaping the nature of agency employment. It reveals the power asymmetry between client firms and Chinese suppliers, and the role of such power asymmetry in engendering the transactional client-supplier relationships. Through the social exchange lens, the study confirms that transactional relationships lead to contract companies’ cost-based HRM practices and task-oriented organisational climate, which have a weakening effect on agency workers’ intent to stay.