**6. Implications**

At present, affected by the international financial crisis, the economies of developed countries have experienced varying degrees of recession. Thus innovative resources are actively seeking development space abroad, and emerging countries such as China have become the main target. The flow of innovation elements is reshaping the global innovation system. China has paid more attention to the issue of faculty mobility, placing great emphasis on faculty income. The findings herein demonstrate that income is one factor for mobility, but it is not the core factor. The strategic plans developed by university officials or governing agencies can partially but not fully achieve their objectives by simply raising income to promote mobility. Additionally, while the income of Chinese academics that return to their native land to work has greatly improved the total income for faculty members remains lower in China than in the U.S. and in European countries. Based on the research, this paper suggests that developing countries should improve the quality of higher education, the reputation of academic institutions, and the working conditions of faculty members and should guarantee academic freedom. Although income is indeed important, these aspects may be more influential than merely raising income. The findings regarding the relationship between income and mobility should be applied to policy practice areas, for example, effective mentoring of junior faculty members, and ample health and retirement benefits should be provided. Such policies may encourage faculty to consider how and when mobility may benefit them.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.L. and Z.Y.; methodology, W.L.; software, W.L.; validation, J.L. and W.L.; formal analysis, J.L.; investigation, Z.Y.; resources, Z.Y.; data curation, Z.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, J.L.; writing—review and editing, S.L.; visualization, S.L.; supervision, S.L.; project administration, W.L.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
