Economic, psychological, and sociological determinants of voluntary turnover

Abstract

Economists, psychologists, and sociologists have all contributed to the understanding of voluntary labor turnover. We argue for an integrated explanatory model which incorporates variables from each perspective. Such a model is presented and then estimated. Data from a cohort of 135 recently hired registered nurses employed by a university hospital are analyzed to assess the effects of the various explanatory variables on turnover during one year of employment. Turnover is measured by organization records for 12 months following the administration of the questionnaire designed to measure the independent variables. The integrated model portrays the work conditions, environmental conditions, and employee characteristics as primarily affecting turnover by impacting on the intervening variables of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to stay. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression and logistic regression are used in the analysis. The data indicate support for sociological, economic, and psychological determinants of voluntary turnover. These findings are discussed from the perspective of Etzioni's claims about the importance of the moral dimension for explaining economic behavior such as turnover.