"Voting with their feet": The impact of health services on the willingness of new generation of migrant workers to settle in the city

"Voting with their feet": The impact of health services on the willingness of new generation of migrant workers to settle in the city | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article "Voting with their feet": The impact of health services on the willingness of new generation of migrant workers to settle in the city Zicheng Wang, Huiting Liu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7746254/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In the strategic context of comprehensively promoting "Healthy China" and new urbanization, it has become common practice to enhance the willingness of new generation migrant workers to settle in the city (NSW) by improving health services in the inflowing areas. However, whether this approach achieves the expected positive effects still lacks empirical testing. Based on data from the 2018China Mobility Dynamic Survey, we examined the effect of health services in receiving areas on NSW and the underlying mechanisms, focusing on health records (HR) and health education (HE). Our findings indicat that both HR and HE have a significant positive impact on NSW. Even after controlling for potential endogeneity using instrumental variables and conducting omitted variables and robustness tests, these findings remain consistent. Additionally, we identified some gender and regional mobility heterogeneity in the effects of HR and HE on NSW. The positive effect of HR on the willingness to settle in the city is more pronounced for new generation female migrant workers. The positive effect of HE is more pronounced for those with inter-provincial mobility. Mechanism testing confirmed that HR and HE could enhance the willingness to settle in the city by improving the subjective quality of life (SLQ) of new generation migrant workers. The findings provide empirical support for the development of public policies and hold significant reference value for expediting the acculturation of migrant workers and promoting the advancement of new urbanization. health services new generation of migrant workers willingness to settle in the city subjective quality of life Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 31 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 30 Oct, 2025 Editor invited by journal 07 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 06 Oct, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 06 Oct, 2025 First submitted to journal 29 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7746254","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":542141145,"identity":"337688b3-eea8-4582-a295-177b279fdfee","order_by":0,"name":"Zicheng Wang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAwUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACZiD+2ADl8BCrhXEmSAsb0VpAunhJ0iLfzvxM2nbHncT58xsYH7xtY5A3J6SFsZnNTDr3zLPEDccYmA3ntjEY7mwg5ChmHrbbuW2HEzewMbBJ87YxJBgcIKCFDaTFEqhlfhsD+2+itPCAtDACtTQcA2onSosEM5v5z962w8YbjiU2S845J2G4gZAW+f7Djw1+th2Wnd98+OCHN2U28gRtQQKMDSBbiVc/CkbBKBgFowA3AABwRzpXz+IsQAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Hunan University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zicheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":542141146,"identity":"f6262b04-ce42-42b2-baa3-459e005b8d2a","order_by":1,"name":"Huiting Liu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Huazhong University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huiting","middleName":"","lastName":"Liu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-09-30 02:23:05","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7746254/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7746254/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":95528793,"identity":"92acaa6c-efe8-4db4-8a4b-3778053c8fec","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 10:16:30","extension":"docx","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":344992,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/88fe225f442ded36e0f10167.docx"},{"id":95529043,"identity":"c8faf2cb-d028-471b-8fbd-5247bac8db17","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 10:16:43","extension":"json","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4559,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"8babc31a87454bb3a905c5d8c9aa1514.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/6603d5e4d5668710f5bf4299.json"},{"id":95494964,"identity":"5059d3bb-e4de-4206-ad68-d41439e3e983","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"xml","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":239215,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"8babc31a87454bb3a905c5d8c9aa15141enriched.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/1018f4637a1226b30d40edf5.xml"},{"id":95494960,"identity":"460b012d-ccf6-4673-9857-9b92713ffb11","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":41241,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/3c0522cdab926143b78c21d6.png"},{"id":95528134,"identity":"e22e6cd4-b205-4b59-8040-42dcb632d79e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 10:15:39","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":30219,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/c2b5fb5a6510a9b8569ebe12.png"},{"id":95528335,"identity":"608274c3-45c4-4dd8-9a74-e01fd8c00466","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 10:15:56","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":62719,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/152fcb43a1655543263be2cc.png"},{"id":95494969,"identity":"5b8f2a08-d3e0-47ac-a78a-0952202d88b3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":53459,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"floatimage4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/f6d07dbcb7f1ed02545cc609.png"},{"id":95494962,"identity":"3cd217dc-f45d-460f-9076-24f290ba9d4a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"png","order_by":7,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":10087,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/d49652db232f8ff7342ad7ed.png"},{"id":95494970,"identity":"e9f1cf0f-3ecd-4039-b6c1-747ca3b8546f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"png","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":14214,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/43f0d1890fbc9cb2e16812e5.png"},{"id":95494967,"identity":"1c2e3ec9-1cca-4c7c-8641-a5fd362b096a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"png","order_by":9,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":14494,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/1baa702bf5e448cefa7da7cc.png"},{"id":95494968,"identity":"6ab5e8b0-a892-4943-af7c-df48224007d0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"png","order_by":10,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":13359,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Onlinefloatimage4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/9c4fa1a576b89442ad6766f1.png"},{"id":95494972,"identity":"dc4a71e6-b02f-4e3d-848b-2942f4d47d2c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"xml","order_by":11,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":238647,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"8babc31a87454bb3a905c5d8c9aa15141structuring.xml","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/82b004e7e8d4ecb02f8d1e85.xml"},{"id":95494971,"identity":"c166b342-7148-4785-b11c-e6cbf847dbf0","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 03:43:16","extension":"html","order_by":12,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":249231,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1/95a6495967346f09e51a40cd.html"},{"id":95531638,"identity":"dc4cad8a-072a-406f-91fb-8544bbf26de9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-10 10:23:36","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":723549,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7746254/v1_covered_9cc9d79a-1532-4f35-844b-ea6816623434.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\"Voting with their feet\": The impact of health services on the willingness of new generation of migrant workers to settle in the city","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-health-services-research","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"bhsr","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Health Services Research](http://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/BHSR/default.aspx","title":"BMC Health Services Research","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"health services, new generation of migrant workers, willingness to settle in the city, subjective quality of life","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7746254/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7746254/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn the strategic context of comprehensively promoting \"Healthy China\" and new urbanization, it has become common practice to enhance the willingness of new generation migrant workers to settle in the city (NSW) by improving health services in the inflowing areas. However, whether this approach achieves the expected positive effects still lacks empirical testing. Based on data from the 2018China Mobility Dynamic Survey, we examined the effect of health services in receiving areas on NSW and the underlying mechanisms, focusing on health records (HR) and health education (HE). Our findings indicat that both HR and HE have a significant positive impact on NSW. Even after controlling for potential endogeneity using instrumental variables and conducting omitted variables and robustness tests, these findings remain consistent. Additionally, we identified some gender and regional mobility heterogeneity in the effects of HR and HE on NSW. The positive effect of HR on the willingness to settle in the city is more pronounced for new generation female migrant workers. The positive effect of HE is more pronounced for those with inter-provincial mobility. Mechanism testing confirmed that HR and HE could enhance the willingness to settle in the city by improving the subjective quality of life (SLQ) of new generation migrant workers. The findings provide empirical support for the development of public policies and hold significant reference value for expediting the acculturation of migrant workers and promoting the advancement of new urbanization.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"\"Voting with their feet\": The impact of health services on the willingness of new generation of migrant workers to settle in the city","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-10 03:43:11","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7746254/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-11-01T02:51:04+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"208776599466904332298634425034564382684","date":"2025-10-30T11:01:27+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-10-30T09:52:36+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-10-07T06:19:47+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-10-06T22:00:22+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-10-06T21:59:56+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Health Services Research","date":"2025-09-30T02:07:55+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-health-services-research","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"bhsr","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Health Services Research](http://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/BHSR/default.aspx","title":"BMC Health Services Research","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"82040423-1a2b-429b-9366-e8fd61c238c4","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 10th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-10T03:43:11+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-10 03:43:11","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7746254","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7746254","identity":"rs-7746254","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}