Differences in Mechanisms Linking Motivation and Turnover Intention for Public and Private Employees: Evidence From China

Junwei Zheng,Xueqin Gou,Hongtao Xie,Hongyang Li

doi:10.1177/21582440211047567

Junwei Zheng, Xueqin Gou + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211047567

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Abstract

Drawing on motivated information processing theory, this study examined and compared the mechanism of prosocial motivation and intrinsic motivation on turnover intention among public and private employees. A valid sample of 328 public and private respondents was selected from the responses to the module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in the 2015 Chinese General Survey. The t-test was used to examine the differences in prosocial motivation, intrinsic motivation, and turnover intention through SPSS, and the methods of multigroup structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were adopted to examine and compare the mediation effects through AMOS. The results indicated that there were significant differences in prosocial motivation, intrinsic motivation, and turnover intention between public and private employees. Additionally, the indirect effects of prosocial motivation and intrinsic motivation on turnover intention were significantly mediated by affective commitment and then job satisfaction. There were significant public-private differences in the mediation mechanism. The findings suggest the chain mediation mechanism that prosocial motivation and intrinsic motivation are critical in facilitating organizational commitment, enhancing job satisfaction, and reducing turnover intention. This research contributes to a better understanding of the motivational mechanisms impacting turnover intention in the Chinese indigenous context, and suggests that so-called “good soldiers” and “good aspirants” are more likely to emerge in the public sector and remain in the public sector organizations.

Highlights

As the organizational work environment becomes increasingly competitive, demanding, and stressful, employees’ decisions to remain or leave are critical for the success of the organization
We suggest that the effects of prosocial motivation and intrinsic motivation on turnover intention will be mediated by affective commitment and the resulting job satisfaction, and this chain mediation effect will be stronger for public employees than for private employees
Because some values were missing from different items for certain variables, including intrinsic motivation, prosocial motivation, affective commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intention, the final valid sample size for purposes of this study was 328 after excluding and removing missing answers or information for the variables examined in this study

Summary

Introduction

As the organizational work environment becomes increasingly competitive, demanding, and stressful, employees’ decisions to remain or leave are critical for the success of the organization. Practitioners and scientists have shared a strong concern for exploring the influencing factors of and potential solutions for employee turnover, due to the harmfully high cost it incurs for organizations (Regts & Molleman, 2013). The prior literature on turnover intention mainly focused on the relationships among the organizational or individual factors and turnover intentions, such as job stress and burnout (Huang et al, 2003), individual motivation (Kim, 2015), satisfaction with pay and job (Wang et al, 2012), and job insecurity (Urbanaviciute et al, 2018). Few studies on turnover intention have been concentrated on both individual motivation (e.g., job motivation, prosocial motivation), and job attitudes (e.g., organizational commitment, and job satisfaction) for public and private employees. This study attempts to fill these gaps by comparing the impacts of public and private employees’ motivation on turnover

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