Perceived organizational support for women's advancement and turnover intentions

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine if organization's failure to support women's advancement increases turnover intentions of well qualified and experienced professional women, as asserted by many scholars and the mediating influence of job satisfaction and employer satisfaction on the relationship between organizational support and turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approachA total of 332 female executives (Study 1) and 186 female managers and professionals (Study 2) were surveyed to examine specific, heretofore, untested hypotheses. Such replications ensure that the results are repeatable and not artefactual to particular samples/or settings.FindingsResults of both studies were identical. Perceptions of support were related to turnover intentions. Employer satisfaction had a stronger effect on turnover intentions than job satisfaction, and fully mediated the relationship between support and turnover intentions.Originality/valueDrawing on the social exchange theory, it was expected that perceived organizational support (POS) for women's advancement would be negatively related to turnover intentions. POS for women's advancement is more specific and relevant to professional women than POS per se. Another new construct was introduced – employer satisfaction – and as hypothesized it was found that employer satisfaction was more strongly related to turnover intentions than job satisfaction; it also mediates the support‐turnover relationship more strongly than job satisfaction. Implications of results are discussed and directions for future research are offered.