HR environment and regional attraction: An empirical study of industrial clusters in China

This study seeks to explain why talent tends to gravitate to industrial clusters (ICs) and how the human resources (HR) environment affects regional attraction and retention of talent. Regional attraction is defined as a region’s ability to attract and retain workers and immigrants. Data were collected from four ICs in China. A region’s HR environment was measured at five levels. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), hierarchical regression, and the structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted to analyse the data. The results of the one-way ANOVA showed that there were statistically significant differences in the regional attraction of the four ICs in this study. The results of the hierarchical regression and SEM suggest that elements in the macro-HR environment directly affect talent growth and regional attraction, and talent growth partly mediates the relation between three levels of the HR environment (economic environment, HR policy environment, and the enterprise’s HR management) and regional attraction. The results infer that the HR environment in an IC is the ultimate cause of talent concentrating to a given IC. This paper helps us understand why talent clusters to ICs and offers theoretical support for how governments can make policies and programs to attract talent. This study illustrates how the HR environment affects talent growth. It also examines the immediate role of talent growth in the relationship between HR environment and regional attraction. These findings enhance the literature on HR environments, regional attraction, and the concentration of talent.