Turnover Intentions Among College Counselors in China: Examining Predictors and Their Mediating and Moderating Effects

Abstract

The high attrition rate of college counselors in Chinese colleges has evolved into a social problem that is receiving an increasing amount of attention. The current study aims to investigate the link between organizational justice and organizational commitment on turnover intention and whether this effect is mediated by job satisfaction, drawing upon the framework of Social Exchange Theory. Meanwhile, whether the relationship between organizational justice and turnover intention is moderated by job embeddedness based on the Job Embeddedness Theory. Data gathered from 161 college counselors in China were analyzed using a structural equation model. The results showed significant relationship between organizational justice, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. Furthermore, job embeddedness plays a moderating role in the relationship between job embeddedness and turnover intention; specifically, the higher the degree of job embeddedness, the weaker the effect of organizational justice on turnover intention. Most importantly, it is confirmed that job satisfaction partially mediates the link between organizational justice, organizational commitment, and turnover intention. These outcomes contribute valuable new knowledge that can be employed to improve counselor retention in colleges. Meanwhile, the findings are examined in detail, and recommendations for future studies are provided.