Critical Review of Theories of Staff Turnover Intentions and their Implications to Staff Turnover in National Non-governmental Organizations in South Sudan

Abstract

An employee remains to be one of the most valuable resources of an organization. Unfortunately, high turnover rate in the national non-governmental organizations in South Sudan continues to be a concern for them and various stakeholders. This is because organizations spend a lot of resources in training and investing in their employees. The purpose of the study was to review the various theories that explain staff turnover with the aim of understanding their distinct views. The methodology involved the review of literature of turnover theories and models. The researcher was able to find six theories that helped to explain the phenomenon of staff turnover, and each provided distinct factors that when not addressed could lead to staff turnover. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which identified different human needs which if not met could lead to staff turnover. Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory revealed two factors that need to be addressed by an organization, namely, “motivation factors” and “hygiene factors”. The Social Exchange Theory explains that turnover intentions come because of non-compliance with the agreed rules by either the management or the staff. LMX Theory emphasized the importance of maintaining good relationships between leaders and members in different groups to promote better performance at work and minimize staff turnover. Keywords: Staff Turnover, Turnover intention theories, The Theory of organizational Equilibrium, Theory of job embeddedness and Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory.