Follow the leader? A meso-level perspective on leader exits and unit-level turnover rates

Abstract

Although work unit leaders play a significant role in coordinating members and aligning their behaviors with organizational goals, they also tend to vacate their positions on a regular basis, thus leaving behind a workforce uncertain about its future under new leadership. Whereas theory generally portrays leadership change as a disruptive and destabilizing force that portends a host of negative attitudinal and behavioral consequences for those who remain, we contend that the direction, magnitude, and duration of such effects depend on characteristics of both departing and replacement leaders. Thus, we propose and test a context- and time-sensitive model to explain how leader departures affect unit member turnover rates–an important and costly behavioral consequence rarely investigated in the context of leader succession. We use 36 months of data from 287 locations of a U.S. hospitality organization (N = 6,357 unit-month observations) to show how four key attributes of the departing and replacement leaders moderate the effects of leader departures on unit stability over time. Overall, this work shows that leader exits are pervasive and have predictable effects on the turnover of remaining members.