IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/josatr/v6y2021i1d10.1186_s41072-021-00087-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The bond and retention of Chinese seafarers for international shipping companies: a survey report

Author

Listed:
  • Bin Wu

    (University of Nottingham)

  • Glory Gu

    (FLEET Management Limited)

  • Chris James Carter

    (University of Nottingham)

Abstract

The shortage of junior seafarers in China in recent years raises a salient question as to how international shipping companies can improve retention rates among Chinese crews. This issue has become increasingly prominent in the context of a global lockdown resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper examines the dilemma through the lens of the “bond” between seafarers and the shipping companies they service, a term used to reflect the need to recognise, consent and integrate into management systems, safety culture, and organizational values. The value of this bond concept is investigated in a survey of Chinese crews (N = 318). The paper aims to reveal the features and underlying factors of the bond, and its influence on needs, perceptions and seafaring careers in foreign shipping companies. The study finds that the majority of respondents do not have a bond with their shipping company, but typically do wish to develop one. Furthermore, this form of attachment appears to be closely related to career satisfaction and retention. To address the shortage of junior seafarers in China, we call for the development of mutual trust, respect and shared values between global seafarers and international shipping companies. A number of policy recommendations are provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Bin Wu & Glory Gu & Chris James Carter, 2021. "The bond and retention of Chinese seafarers for international shipping companies: a survey report," Journal of Shipping and Trade, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:josatr:v:6:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1186_s41072-021-00087-1
    DOI: 10.1186/s41072-021-00087-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s41072-021-00087-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s41072-021-00087-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bin Wu, 2004. "Participation in the global labour market: experience and responses of chinese seafarers," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 69-82, January.
    2. Lijun Tang & Pengfei Zhang, 2019. "Global problems, local solutions: unfree labour relations and seafarer employment with crewing agencies in China," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 277-291, May.
    3. Lijun Tang & Mark Oliver S. Llangco & Zhiwei Zhao, 2016. "Transformations and continuities of issues related to Chinese participation in the global seafarers’ labour market," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(3), pages 344-355, April.
    4. Zhiwei Zhao & David Walters & Desai Shan, 2020. "Impediments to free movement of Chinese seafarers in the maritime labour market," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(3), pages 425-443, September.
    5. Bin Wu & Kee-hung Lai & T. C. Edwin Cheng, 2006. "Emergence of ‘new professionalism’ among Chinese seafarers: empirical evidence and policy implications," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 35-48, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eric Owusu Darko & Ilias Vlachos, 2022. "Creating Valuable Relationships with Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Providers: A Multiple-Case Study," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-22, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhiwei Zhao & David Walters & Desai Shan, 2020. "Impediments to free movement of Chinese seafarers in the maritime labour market," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 31(3), pages 425-443, September.
    2. Jiangang Fei & Jianjun Lu, 2015. "Analysis of students' perceptions of seafaring career in China based on artificial neural network and genetic programming," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 111-126, February.
    3. Lijun Tang, 2022. "Defending workers' rights on social media: Chinese seafarers during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 110-125, March.
    4. Bin Wu & Kee-hung Lai & T. C. Edwin Cheng, 2006. "Emergence of ‘new professionalism’ among Chinese seafarers: empirical evidence and policy implications," Maritime Policy & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 35-48, February.
    5. Cristina Maria Dragomir, 2019. "Gender in Postmodernism Maritime Transport," Postmodern Openings, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 182-192, March.
    6. Alexandros M. Goulielmos & Agisilaos Anastasakos & Androniki Gatzoli, 2014. "The Effect of Maritime Security Regime (ISPS Code) on World Supply of Seafarers," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 64(1), pages 63-77, January-M.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:josatr:v:6:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1186_s41072-021-00087-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.