Determinants of Job Attachment among Young Employees: An Empirical Study in Southern Vietnam’s Industrial Zones

Amid global supply chain relocations, retaining young human resources within industrial zones has emerged as a critical challenge for sustainable development. Grounded in the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and Herzberg’s two-factor theory, this study examines the structural mechanisms through which financial-behavioral and organizational psychological variables influence the job attachment of young employees (encompassing the Generation Y and Generation Z cohorts) within the industrial zones of Southern Vietnam. Primary data were gathered through a structured survey yielding 484 valid responses and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The empirical results indicate that expenditure control behavior and pay satisfaction operate as prominent antecedents driving job satisfaction, which subsequently functions as a full structural mediator to sustain long-term job attachment among employees. Concurrently, professional identity operates as an internal personal resource attribute, exerting a positive direct impact on both job satisfaction and job attachment. Notably, the study reveals an asymmetric mechanism regarding job frustration: this factor exhibits no statistically significant negative effect on overall job satisfaction due to urban livelihood pressures that necessitate acceptance of workplace realities among laborers, yet it directly disrupts the emotional linkages underpinning job attachment. Based on these empirical insights, this study proposes strategic managerial implications for enterprises (encompassing flexible welfare structures, personal financial education, and lower-level management leadership transformation) alongside macro-level policy recommendations to establish sustainable social security infrastructure for industrial zone laborers.