Life happens and people matter: Critical events, constituent attachment, and turnover among part-time hospitality employees

Abstract

This research examined the impact of critical life events and constituent attachment on entry-level voluntary employee turnover. Specifically, this research examined the influence of three types of critical events on turnover – external personal events, external professional events, and internal work events. With a sample of 290 servers from a restaurant chain in the U.S., data on critical events and constituent attachment were collected with employee surveys, and turnover data were obtained six months afterwards from organizational records. Overall, the results demonstrated that positive and negative external personal events and positive external professional events were positively related to turnover. Meanwhile, positive internal work events and constituent attachment were negatively related to turnover, promoting retention. Furthermore, constituent attachment curbed the extent to which critical events lead to turnover. These findings highlight the importance of life events and constituents at work in explaining the employee turnover phenomenon in the hospitality industry.