Unemployment Rates as a Moderator of the Job Dissatisfaction-Turnover Relation

Abstract

The moderating effect of opportunity for alternative employment on the relationship of job dissatisfaction and turnover was examined in an archival study correlating unemployment rates with the results of past studies examining the strength of the dissatisfaction-turnover relationship. A positive correlation (r = .39) was found indicating that the strength of the relationship between dissatisfaction and turnover is greater during periods of relatively high unemployment (i.e., low opportunity) than during periods of low unemployment (i.e., high opportunity). This finding contradicts what has been predicted by theories of turnover proposed by many social scientists, but it is in line with what might be expected from a general push-and-pull model of labor mobility.