The ‘intention to stay’ of the floating migrant population: A spatiotemporal meta‐analysis in Chinese cities

Abstract Recent literature on the floating population in Chinese cities has shed much light on their intention to stay in the city, while the empirical results have been highly controverted. This study performed a meta‐analysis to quantitatively examine the spatiotemporal variation in research foci and the changes in the characteristics of the floating population per se by synthesizing 152 peer‐reviewed papers on their intention of long‐term residence. Meta‐regression was performed to identify the main causes of the heterogeneous effects of typical determinants. The results firstly verified the strong and increasing intention of the floating population to stay in cities. Academic foci have changed significantly with the growing trend of family migration and the increasing relative attraction of large cities in central and western regions compared with the coastal megaregions over the past 15 years. Both consistency and changes in previous findings were identified and explained. Specifically, female, better education, higher income and longer living duration in host cities were confirmed as reliable indicators of stronger intention to stay in the city, while differences among results could be attributed mainly to the varying social conventions, living costs and changing thoughts of the floating population.