Professor Mingwei Liu
School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University
Mingwei Liu is Assistant Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations in the School of Management and Labor Relations of Rutgers University. He received a Ph.D. degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. His research interests fall into two broad areas. The first is Asian industrial relations, with a specific focus on Chinese employment relations, trade unions, human resource management, and skill development. The second is high performance work practices, with a specific focus on the healthcare and heavy machinery industries.
Professor Liu has published his research in top-tier industrial relations journals such as Industrial and Labor Relations Review, British Journal of Industrial Relations, and Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations. He has also contributed chapters to five books including From Iron Rice-bowl to Informalization: Markets, State, and Workers in a Changing China, China’s Changing Workplace, Negotiating for Social Justice, Blunting Neo-Liberalism: Tripartism and Economic Reforms in the Developing World, and Research on the Strategy of Employability Improvement in the Context of Dual Transformation.
Professor Liu is an ad hoc reviewer for major industrial relations journals including Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Industrial Relations Journal, Labor Studies Journal, and Journal of International Human Resource Management.
Professor Liu serves as a consultant to the U.S. State Department, the International Labor Organization, and other international organizations and multinational corporations. He has won numerous awards, grants, and fellowships and been reported by Associated Press, Ice Production Network, and China Business News.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Cornell University January 2009
School of Industrial and Labor Relations
Major: International and comparative employment relations
Minors: Collective bargaining, Human resource management
M.S. Central University for Nationalities, Beijing, China, 2003
Major: Political Economics
B.A. University of International Business & Economics, Beijing, China, 1999
Major: International finance
EMployment
Jan.2009-present Assistant Professor, Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations,
School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University
July-Dec. 2008 Lecturer, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University
PUBLICATIONS
Refereed Journal Articles
Avgar Ariel, Rebecca Givan, and Mingwei Liu. 2011. “Patient Centered but Employee Delivered: Patient-Centered-Care, Turnover, and Organizational Outcomes,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol.64, No.3, pp.423-440 [The authors contributed equally to the paper; order was determined alphabetically.]
Avgar Ariel, Rebecca Givan, and Mingwei Liu. 2011. “A Balancing Act: Work-Life-Balance and Multiple Stakeholder Outcomes in Hospitals,” British Journal of Industrial Relations, In Print [The authors contributed equally to the paper; order was determined alphabetically.]
Givan Rebecca, Avgar Ariel, and Mingwei Liu. 2010. “Having Your Cake and Eating It Too? The Relationship between HR and Organizational Performance in Healthcare,” Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, Vol. 17, pp. 31-67.
Kuruvilla Sarosh and Mingwei Liu. 2007. “Health Security for the Rural Poor? A Case Study of a Health Insurance Scheme for Rural Farmers & Peasants in India”, International Social Security Review, 60 (4), pp. 3-21. [Published in four languages: English, French, German, and Spanish]
Kuruvilla Sarosh, Mingwei Liu, and Priti Jacob. 2005. “A Case Study of the Yeshasvini Health Insurance Scheme for the Rural Poor in India”, International Journal of Self Help & Self Care, 3 (3-4), pp. 261-306.
Liu Mingwei. 2005. “Convergences or Divergences: A Review of the Frontier Research in Comparative Industrial Relations”, China Labor Economics, 2 (4), pp. 138-151. [In Chinese]
Book Chapters
Liu Mingwei. 2011. “ ‘Where There Are Workers, There Should Be Trade Unions’: Union Organizing in the Era of Growing Informal Employment.” In Kuruvilla Sarosh, Ching Kwan Lee, and Mary Gallagher (eds), From Iron Rice-bowl to Informalization: Markets, State, and Workers in a Changing China. Ithaca: Cornell ILR Press, in print.
Liu Mingwei, Chunyun Li, and Sunghoon Kim. 2011. “Chinese Trade Unions in Transition: A Three Level Analysis.” In Shelton Peter, Sunghoon Kim, Yiqiong Li, and Malcolm Warner (eds), China’s Changing Workplace. London: Routledge.
Lee Chang-Hee and Mingwei Liu. forthcoming. “Collective Bargaining in Transition: Measuring the Effects of Collective Voice in China.” In Susan Hayter (ed), Negotiating for Social Justice, Geneva: ILO.
Su Zhongxing, Xiangquan Zeng, and Mingwei Liu. 2010. “Vocational Qualification Certificates and Their Impacts on Technical Workers’ Skill Level and Earnings.” In Zeng Xiangquan (ed), Research on the Strategy of Employability Improvement in the Context of Dual Transformation, Beijing: China Renmin University Press, pp. 172-186. [In Chinese]
Kuruvilla Sarosh and Mingwei Liu. 2010. “Tripartism and Economic Reforms in Singapore and the Republic of Korea.” In Lydia Fraile (ed), Blunting Neo-Liberalism: Tripartism and Economic Reforms in the Developing World. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 85-127.
Book Reviews
Liu, Mingwei. 2011. “The Challenge of Labor in China – Strikes and the Changing Labour Regime in Global Factories by Chris King-Chi Chan, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London, 2010.” British Journal of Industrial Relations, in print.
Conference Presentations and Invited Talks
Invited Speaker at the China Labor Roundtable, the US State Department, Washington D.C., April 12, 2011.
Invited Speaker at the China Policy Meeting of AFL-CIO, Washington D.C., March 15, 2011.
Invited Speaker on China Labor Issues, Solidarity Center, Washington D.C., March 15, 2011.
Qing Shisong and Mingwei Liu. 2011. “Do Chinese Trade Unions Matter?” Poster Section, LERA annual meeting in Denvor, CO, January 7-9, 2011.
Liu Mingwei. “Logics of Action and the Labor Contract Law: Toward A Chinese Way of Soft Enforcement?” Paper presented at the Joint Columbia Seminars on Globalization, Labor and Popular Struggles and on Full Employment, Social Welfare and Equity, Columbia University, November 15, 2010.
Liu Mingwei and Chunyun Li. “Environment Pressures, Managerial Industrial Relations Ideologies, and Unionization in China.” Paper presented at the 25th Employment Relations Unit Conference, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff, September 13-14, 2010.
Liu Mingwei. “The Enforcement of the Labor Law and Trade Union Law in China.” Paper presented at the conference “Chinese Trade Union Law and Labor Law: Review and Prospect,” Beijing Normal University, August 18-19, 2010.
Liu Mingwei. “Building China with both Stick and Carrot? Employer Flexibility Strategies and Employee Outcomes in the Chinese Construction Machinery Industry.” Paper presented at the Sloan Industry Studies Annual Conference, Chicago, May 5-7, 2010.
Liu Mingwei. “Toward Labor Flexibility with Chinese Characteristics? The Case of the Chinese Construction Machinery Industry.” Paper presented at the Association of Asian Studies annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA, March 25-28, 2010.
Liu Mingwei. “Skill Formation in China: Trapped in Low Skill Equilibrium?” Paper presented at the International Labor Process Conference annual meeting in New Brunswick, NJ, March 15-17, 2010.
Liu Mingwei. “Labor Relations in China.” Invited talk, NJ Chapter of LERA, February 1, 2010.
Liu Mingwei and Chang Hee Lee. “The Impacts of China's Labor Contract Law on Enterprise Employment Practices and the Role of Enterprise Trade Unions.” Paper presented at the LERA annual meeting in Atlanta, GA, January 2-5, 2010.
Liu Mingwei. “China’s Workforce Development System,” presented at the annual conference of the International Federation of Workers’ Education Associations, Rutgers University, October 8-9, 2009.
Liu Mingwei. “The Transformation of Chinese Industrial Workplace: Toward Numerical Flexibility with Chinese Characteristics?” Paper presented at the Sloan Industry Studies Annual Conference, Chicago, May 28-29, 2009.
Avgar Ariel, Rebecca Givan, and Mingwei Liu. “Patient Centered but Employee Delivered: Patient-Centered-Care, Turnover, and Organizational Outcomes,” Paper presented at the Sloan Industry Studies Annual Conference, Chicago, May 28-29, 2009.
Liu Mingwei. “Union Organizing in China: Swimming, Floating, or Sinking?” Paper presented at the conference of “Breaking Down Chinese Walls: The Changing Faces of Labor and Employment in China,” Cornell University, September 26-28, 2008.
Liu Mingwei. Invited speaker at the conference of “Relations between the US and China Labor Movement”, Cornell ILR Global Labor Institute and the CUNY Joseph S. Murphy Labor Institute, New York City, May 5, 2008.
Liu Mingwei. Invited speaker at the conference of “Labor Law Reform in China: What are the Implications for Worker Rights? For Political Liberalization?” Albert Shanker Institute, Washington D.C., January 15-16, 2008.
Givan Rebecca, Ariel Avgar, and Mingwei Liu. “Having Your Cake and Eating It Too? The Effects of Hospital Restructuring on Diverse Organization Outcomes”. Paper presented at the LERA annual meeting in New Orleans, LA, January 4-6, 2008.
Liu Mingwei. “Grassroots Union Organizing in China: A Strategic Perspective”. Paper presented at the LERA annual meeting in New Orleans, LA, January 4-6, 2008.
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships
Thomas A. Kochan and Stephen R. Sleigh Best Dissertation Award, Labor and Employment Relations Association, 2010.
Runner-Up for the Best PHD Dissertation, Labor History, 2010.
Early Career Fellowship, Cardiff Business School, the United Kingdom, 2010 (£ 500).
Research Grant for the Economic Effects of Chinese Trade Unions, School of Management and Labor Relation, Rutgers University, 2009-2010 ($6,000).
Research Grant for China HRM Field Research (with Sarosh Kuruvilla and Sun Wook Chung), Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, Cornell University, 2008-2009 ($6,250).
Principal Investigator, “The Links between Chinese Enterprise Union Governance and Industrial Relations Outcomes”, ILO (Beijing Office) research project, 2008-2009 ($5,000).
Research Grant for China HRM Field Research (with Rose Batt, Sunghoon Kim and Xiangmin Liu), Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, Cornell University, 2006-2007 ($5,000).
Summer Fellowship, School of Industrial & Labor Relations, Cornell University, 2005 ($2,800).
Sage Fellowship, Cornell University, 2003-2004 ($15,000).
Media Report
Associated Press, Ice Production Network, China Business News
Course Taught
Employment Relations and HRM in China (Cornell)
Introduction to Labor Studies and Employment Relations
Comparative Labor Movements
International Comparative Labor and Employment Relations
Employee Relations/Human Resources in China
Industrial Relations Theory
Professional Affiliations & SERVICE
Member of Labor and Employment Relations Association
Member of Academy of Management
Member of Sloan Industry Studies Association
Member of The Association for Asian Studies
Symposium Organizer for the LERA Annual Conference, 2008 and 2010; and Asian Studies Association Annual Meeting 2010
Ad Hoc Reviewer for Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Labor Studies Journal, Industrial Relations Journal, Journal of International Human Resource Management, and China Labor Economics
Ph.D. Student Committee Chair: Chunyun Li, School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University.
