Social ties and urban settlement intention of rural-to-urban migrants in China: The mediating role of place attachment and the moderating role of spatial pattern

Using nationally representative data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this study investigated the mediating role of place attachment and the moderating role of spatial pattern in the association between local network ties and urban settlement intentions among rural-to-urban migrants. We found that local ties were positively associated with urban settlement intention measured by permanent settlement intention (PSI) and place attachment served as a mediating mechanism of this relationship. Results from the moderated path analysis showed that spatial pattern of migration positively moderated the linkage between local ties and PSI, indicating that beneficial role of local ties in urban settlement was more pronounced for inter-provincial migrants than for intra-provincial migrants. This study enhances our understanding of the association between social ties and migrant settlement, elucidating the conditions under which these effects are more pronounced in the context of internal migration. We thus call for a more targeted policy design aimed at integrating rural-to-urban migrants into local communities and eliminating the welfare gaps between migrants and local residents through appropriate intervention measures.