Theory Of Turnover Research Articles

Will IR Staff Stick? An Exploration of Institutional Researchers’ Intention to Remain in or Leave Their Jobs

The study explored the factors that relate to the likelihood of institutional researchers (IRs) to plan to leave their jobs. Learning more about the effects on IR job turnover can serve to improve the employment experience of IR practitioners, the profession of IR, and, indirectly, higher education. 1,264 IRs responded to a national survey comprised of antecedents of intention to quit one’s job that had a high degree of construct validity within job turnover theories. Data were tested against a theoretical model developed from the Industrial-Organizational Psychology and IR literature. Perceived organizational support was the strongest predictor of intent to quit. Burnout, lack of advancement opportunities, lack of rewards and recognition, job embeddedness, and available job alternatives also affect IRs intention to quit. Suggestions for supporting IRs and elevating the role of IR on campuses are included.

An examination of factors affecting repatriates' turnover intentions

PurposeThis study seeks to address the challenge of repatriate turnover by focusing on how effective repatriation adjustment, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are at predicting the Taiwanese repatriates' intentions to leave their organization. By building on the cross‐cultural adjustment and turnover theories and researches, this study expands these recent findings to Taiwanese repatriates.Design/methodology/approachMultiple regression was used to predict intent to leave and explain the impact of the three predictors on intent to leave. Correlation was used to compare the relationship of study variables.FindingsThe results of multiple regression indicated that repatriation adjustment was the strongest predictor of intent to leave followed by organizational commitment. The combination of the three variables can predict approximately 58 percent of the variance of intent to leave. Overall interrelations among the independent variables showed a positive strong relationship and negatively related to intent to leave the organization.Practical implicationsThe results provide empirical evidence that repatriation adjustment, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are negatively related to intent to leave the organization. Furthermore, the conceptual framework of this study can be a guide to future research in repatriates' turnover intention.Originality/valueThe results of this study may help multinational organizations in Taiwan to enhance the international assignment process of their employees and keep valuable human capital within the organization.

Dynamic Agency with Renegotiation and Managerial Tenure

This paper proves the renegotiation-proofness principle for a dynamic LEN (linear contracts, exponential utility, normal distributions) model and examines the impact of repeated renegotiation on incentives and managerial tenure when performance information is serially correlated. In addition to providing a general solution to a multiperiod agency problem with serially correlated performance measures, this paper characterizes optimal managerial tenure/turnover policies as a function of the time-series properties of performance measures. With negatively correlated performance measures, the principal prefers longer managerial tenure, and no turnover is optimal. With positively correlated performance measures, absent a switching cost, turnover every period is optimal. In the presence of a fixed switching cost, interior optimal turnover policies exist if the performance measures are positively correlated. Switching costs are necessary, but not sufficient for interior optimal tenure. The optimal turnover policies present an alternative to theories of performance-driven managerial turnover and are consistent with evidence that a majority of managerial turnovers are (age-related) normal retirements.

Leaving a Legacy: Position Imprints and Successor Turnover in Young Firms

This article considers how local firm histories influence individual turnover rates in organizations. We argue that position imprints—the legacies left by the first incumbents of particular functional positions—constrain subsequent position holders. We show that the functional experience of the person who creates a position influences the turnover rate of successors who later occupy that position. When the first position holder has an atypical background, all successors experience high turnover rates. Individuals who are both typical with respect to the normative environment and similar to the position imprint have the lowest turnover rates. Surprisingly, we find lower turnover rates among individuals who match the position imprint even if they violate normative expectations. Thus, contrary to institutional theory predictions, we find that local firm histories dominate. In revealing how social structures emerge within firms and affect individual outcomes, our research revisits core topics of bureaucratization and organizational stratification including idiosyncratic jobs, occupational segregation, and differential mobility. In addition, we integrate structuralist and interactionist perspectives on role theory by considering how roles are created. Finally, in demonstrating the effects of position imprints on successor mobility we add a temporal dimension to theories of turnover.

Mapping the Decision to Quit: A Refinement and Test of the Unfolding Model of Voluntary Turnover

We report a test of an influential theory of employee turnover: the unfolding model (Lee & Mitchell, 1994; Lee, Mitchell, Holtom, McDaniel, & Hill, 1999). We describe and critique this classificatory model, and propose both theory‐based and empirical refinements. The two extant tests of the current version of the model have both been with accountants in the United States, so the generalisability of the model is as yet unproven. We present results of an attempt to classify 352 nurse leavers from the United Kingdom's National Health Service using the unfolding model. In contrast to the findings of Lee et al. (1999), the model failed to classify a substantial number of nurse leavers, and specific hypotheses derived from the model received only partial support. Classification failures were investigated using both quantitative and qualitative data. Leavers were more likely to be classified if they had no dependants and described their quit as avoidable. Although the unfolding model incorporates more kinds of turnover than traditional turnover models, such systematic classification failure casts doubt on claims that it offers a comprehensive account of turnover. We explain failures with reference to: (i) shortcomings in a key measure; (ii) the characteristics of the occupational group studied; and (iii) the extremely tight labor market for this group of leavers.Nous testons la théorie influente concernant le turnover des salariés: the unfolding model (Lee & Mitchell, 1994; Lee, Mitchell, Holtom, McDaniel & Hill, 1999). Après avoir décrit et critiqué ce modèle de classification, nous proposons des améliorations tant au niveau théorique qu’empirique. La version actuelle du modèle a été testée à deux reprises auprès de comptables des Etats‐Unis, aussi ce modèle n’a pas pu être généralisé. Nous présentons les résultats obtenus en utilisant le “unfolding model” auprès de 352 infirmières du service de santé national du Royaume‐Uni qui sont sur le départ. Contrairement aux résultats obtenus par Lee et al. (1999), le modèle n’a pas permis de classer un nombre substantiel d’infirmières sur le départ et certaines hypothèses découlant de ce modèle ne reçoivent qu’une validation partielle. Ces échecs de classification ont été analysés tant quantitativement que qualitativement. Il ressort que les sujets étaient plus facilement classés si ils n’avaient aucune personne à charge et si ils décrivaient leur départ comme évitable. Bien que le “unfolding model” incorpore plus de formes de turnover que les modèles traditionnels, un échec de classification aussi systématique questionne quant à sa revendication à offrir une approche complète du turnover. Nous expliquons ces échecs par: (i) des imperfections dans la mesure principale (ii) les caractéristiques du groupe de salariés étudiés (iii) un marché du travail extrêmement difficile pour ce groupe de personnes sur le départ.

Integration of family-owned business succession with turnover and life cycle models: Development of a successor retention process model

Family-owned businesses face a unique obstacle: continuation of the business through intergenerational transfer. Most family-owned businesses cease when the next generation does not enter the business. This paper develops parallels between failed intergenerational transfer and voluntary turnover. Based on past research, we develop a taxonomy of characteristics hypothesized to influence intergenerational transfer in family-owned businesses. We, then, integrate these dimensions with prominent turnover and socialization theories to propose a successor retention process model. Implications for research are described.

Preserving knowledge legacies: workforce aging, turnover and human resource issues in the US electric power industry

The aging of the workforce is believed to be a potential threat to productivity of companies both in the US and worldwide. High levels of turnover that may result from workforce aging could cause short-term as well as permanent loss of knowledge critical to firm operations and customer service. While there is a wealth of research regarding the causes of turnover, there is comparatively little research on the actual effects of turnover, particularly involuntary forms of turnover such as retirement. Focusing on the US electric power industry, whose employees have average ages and company tenures among the highest in the world, this paper explores the aging workforce issue both qualitatively and quantitatively. Results from an executive survey encompassing companies representing over 75 per cent of the industry's workers affirm that workforce aging is the electricity industry's dominant human resource (HR) concern but that it is interrelated with many other top HR issues, including skill shortages, leadership, and transition from an ‘entitlement-based’ to a ‘performance-based’ culture. Implications of prior literature on organizational learning, turnover and socio-technical systems theories are discussed, and propositions are offered as a framework for further research on the general effects of potential knowledge loss due to aging-related turnover.

Turnover, Social Capital Losses, and Performance

A theory of turnover, social capital losses, and store performance was developed and tested in 38 locations of a restaurant chain. We assessed the ability of social capital losses to predict varian...

The Role of Shocks in Employee Turnover*

This paper reports the findings from a recent study of nurse leavers at eight large hospitals in the National Health Service (NHS) of England and Wales. The study develops and extends an influential theory of employee turnover by describing how for some leavers a single, jarring event or shock triggers the decision to quit. By elaborating on the nature of shocks for this sample of 352 nurse leavers, the paper allows for improved understanding of nursing turnover and thus offers an example of relevant management research. The analysis of shock illustrates how conventional research methodologies can lead to a distorted picture of turnover. This has wider implications, both for any organization wishing to manage turnover effectively and for future research. The paper adds to the limited body of empirical analysis on actual leavers, thereby contributing to an ongoing methodological debate concerning the use of proxy variables. By highlighting flaws in the dominant methodology used to study turnover, the paper offers an example of management research that is also rigorous, and thus ‘pragmatic’.

Executive Turnover Revisited From an Efficiency Wage Perspective

We develop theoretical arguments from the efficiency wage model (Shapiro & Stiglitz, 1984) to provide better understanding of Fama’s (1980) seminal notion that executive labor markets contribute to the alignment of executive and shareholder interests. We show how the efficiency wage model can be integrated with several other theories of executive turnover. Furthermore, the model allows for predictions that have received very little analysis to date, such as the effect of firm risk and executive salaries on turnover. We test predictions from the model on a sample of executives from 280 manufacturing firms observed annually from 1986 to 1992. Our sample includes data on over 12,000 observations and nearly 1,700 employment terminations. The results are consistent with the main predictions of the efficiency wage model. Holding performance constant, boards of directors are less patient with (more likely to dismiss) executives who have lower salaries and those in higher risk firms.

An economic theory of leadership turnover

In an infinite-horizon stochastic model, a coup not only disciplines a dictator's policy towards a group of “kingmakers”, but also enables a kingmaker to become a dictator. Greater competition for the dictator's position, a lower impact of the dictator's policy on the kingmakers, or lower risks of staging a coup raises the benefit of a coup relative to its opportunity cost and so raises the probability of a coup. Since periodic shocks affect the efficacy of the dictator's policy, a bad enough shock makes it too costly for even talented dictators to avert a coup. More talented dictators are able to survive more negative shocks, so the worst shock in a dictator's reign is informative about the probability of a coup. Conditional on the worst shock, the probability of a coup is independent of a dictator's duration in office. The unconditional probability declines with duration.

Firm Specific Human Capital vs. Job Matching: A New Test

We use a unique data set on employee turnover by industry in Arizona to test competing theories of turnover. We find that industries with lower establishment survival rates have more employee turnover, even after controlling for differences in the distribution of employee tenure. This result is consistent with a model of turnover where employees choose how much firm specific human capital to accumulate, but it is inconsistent with job matching models.

Turnover reinterpreted CNAs talk about why they leave.

This study's purpose was to contribute to the development of a theory of turnover by understanding how CNAs employed in long-term care facilities conceptualize the factors that cause them to leave their jobs. Using grounded dimensional analysis, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with CNAs currently and formerly employed by three nursing homes. The CNAs' perception that they are unappreciated and undervalued by the organizations for which they work contributes significantly to turnover. The origins of this perception lie in policies and practices that lead, CNAs to feel personally and professionally dismissed. The authors suggest how long-term care facilities might change their staffing and personnel policies to better demonstrate respect and appreciation, thus reducing turnover and enhancing the quality of work and care.

Firm Specific Human Capital vs. Job Matching: A New Test

We use a unique data set on employee turnover by industry in Arizona to test competing theories of turnover. We find that industries with lower establishment survival rates have more employee turnover, even after controlling for differences in the distribution of employee tenure. This result is consistent with a model of turnover where employees choose how much firm specific human capital to accumulate, but it is inconsistent with job matching models.

Staying in Hospital Social Work

Hospitals have traditionally been large employers of social workers. As workplaces they are often identified as being challenging and ambiguous environments for social work practice. In this study the experience of hospital work is explored. Social workers'‘tolerance’ of the hospital environment is identified as a way of explaining‘staying.’ Staying has both positive and negative features which arise from the interaction between workers' tolerance of the environment and their qualities of‘self-ac-tualisation.’ The identification of this relationship informs and challenges existing theories of retention and turnover of workers.

Constructing Vocational and Technical College Student Persistence Models

We constructed student persistence models for students at a vocational and technical college in Taiwan to predict student retention. Based on suicide, employee turnover, and social bond theories and relevant empirical research, a conceptual model was presented. Logistic regressions produced first and second semester persistence models. Our results also supported the statistical significance of nine variables (first semester grade point average (GPA), entrance examination scores, gender, first semester social integration, second semester GPA, first semester gym grade, housing, major department, and occupational guidance program) in the conceptual model. The overall classification rate for the primary persistence model was 77.0%, and for the secondary persistence model, was 78.0%. The primary and secondary persistence models can be used to calculate the probability of persistence for freshman-year students at the end of the first and second semesters.

Wage Growth and the Theory of Turnover

Theories of turnover and wage dynamics have studied the impact of wage levels on turnover, but they have failed explicitly to model the role of wage growth in predicting turnover. This article presents a theory of turnover that explains why within‐job wage growth reduces the likelihood of worker‐firm separations. The model determines the evolution of value among jobs that differ systematically in permanent rates of wage growth and shows that the value of high wage‐growth jobs increases faster. With additional assumptions about the search process, this proposition implies that high wage‐growth jobs are less likely to end.

On the role of the energy loss in turnover theories of activated rate processes

The diffusion theory of chemical reactions established by Kramers models a chemical reaction as the escape of a Brownian particle from a potential well. Kramers studied the dependence of the escape rate of the particle on the frictional damping in two limits, namely, when the damping is weak so that the rate limiting step is the transfer of energy from the bath to the particle, and in the spatial diffusion regime when the transfer of energy is fast enough to maintain thermal equilibrium of escaping particles. Mel'nikov and Meshkov extended the Kramers theory to the full damping range by using the Wiener-Hopf method. The systematic solution of the non-Markovian turnover problem was given by Pollak, Grabert and Hänggi who proposed a theory that combines the normal mode technique, as well as the approach by Mel'nikov and Meshkov. The key quantity appearing in both turnover theories is the loss of energy of the particle per oscillation. The theories, however, are asymptotic in the energy loss in the sense that their approximations for this quantity are correct only in the weak damping limit. In this paper, we present an alternative to the existing approximations for the energy loss, which approaches the correct limiting behavior for both weak and strong friction. The basic idea is to employ a properly defined energy loss of the deterministic particle dynamics. Its use in the overall rate expression is shown to considerably improve the agreement between analytical calculations and exact numerical results for the escape rate.

A conceptual model for studying turnover among family child care providers

This article outlines a theoretical framework for studying turnover among family child care providers. Stress and coping theory and organizational models of turnover are integrated with the child care literature in order to develop a conceptual model for studying turnover and its precursors among home-based caregivers. The model proposes four components which interact along the path to turnover: (a) potential sources of stress, (b) moderators of stress, (c) outcomes of a cognitive appraisal process, and (d) actions on those outcomes. Implications for future research and practical applications are discussed.

Quantum rates for a double well coupled to a dissipative bath: Accurate path integral results and comparison with approximate theories

We present accurate fully quantum calculations of thermal rate constants for a symmetric double well system coupled to a dissipative bath. The calculations are performed using the quasiadiabatic propagator path integral (QUAPI) methodology to evaluate the flux–flux correlation function whose time integral determines the rate coefficient. The discretized path integral converges very rapidly in the QUAPI representation, allowing efficient calculation of quantum correlation functions for sufficiently long times. No ad hoc assumption is introduced and thus these calculations yield the true quantum mechanical rate constants. The results presented in the paper demonstrate the applicability of the QUAPI methodology to practically all regimes of chemical interest, from thermal activation to deep tunneling, and the quantum transmission factor exhibits a Kramers turnover. Our calculations reveal an unusual step structure of the integrated reactive flux in the weak friction regime as well as quantum dynamical enhancement of the rate above the quantum transition state theory value at low temperatures, which is largely due to vibrational coherence effects. The quantum rates are compared to those obtained from classical trajectory simulations. We also use the numerically exact classical and quantum results to establish the degree of accuracy of several analytic and numerical approximations, including classical and quantum Grote–Hynes theories, semiclassical transition state theory (periodic orbit) estimates, classical and quantum turnover theories, and the centroid density approximation.