THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE INCOME, PROMOTION MECHANISM, AND CORPORATE CULTURE ON EMPLOYEE LOYALTY IN SMEs OF CHENGDU, CHINA

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effect of employee income (EI), employee promotion mechanism (EPM), and corporate culture (CC) on employee loyalty (EL) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Chengdu, China, and provide human resource management optimization insights. A quantitative research approach, utilizing a questionnaire survey, was adopted, and data were collected from 100 employees of local SMEs. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression analysis were used to process the data. The results show that EI, EPM, and CC all have significant positive direct effects on EL, with path coefficients of 0.528, 0.386, and 0.452, respectively (p < 0.001). The three variables collectively explain 67% of the variance in EL (R2 = 0.670), with EI exerting the strongest influence. This study verifies the theoretical framework of employee loyalty drivers in the context of Chinese SMEs and offers practical implications for enhancing employee retention.