The prediction of turnover intention by means of employee engagement and demographic variables in a telecommunications organisation

This study sought to determine the prediction of turnover intention by employee engagement and demographic variables in a large South African information and communication technology (ICT) organisation. Cross-sectional survey data was collected from the organisation. Using a sample of 2276 participants the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) was employed to measure employee engagement, while the Intention to Stay Questionnaire (ISQ) measured turnover intentions. Employee engagement was significantly negatively related with turnover intentions. A factor analysis conducted on the UWES indicated that activation accounted for 10% of the variance in turnover intentions. Age and tenure had statistically significant negative relationships with turnover intentions, whilst qualification and race had significant positive relationships with turnover intentions. The results also confirmed the predictive model of employee engagement as well as the impact of the demographic variables of race, age, tenure on turnover intentions. The study has practical implications in relation to its ability to contribute to human resources activities in the form of differentiated remuneration and retention strategies based on differences in age and tenure.     

PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A LATENT GROWTH MODELING APPROACH

The positive core construct of psychological capital (consisting of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) has been conceptually and empirically demonstrated to be related to employee performance. However, much of this work has relied on cross‐sectional designs to examine these relationships. This study utilizes longitudinal data from a large financial service organization (N= 179 financial advisory‐type employees) to examine within‐individual change in psychological capital over time and if this change relates to their change in performance. Latent growth modeling analyses revealed statistically significant within‐individual change in psychological capital over time, and that this change in psychological capital was related to change in 2 types of performance outcomes (supervisor‐rated performance and financial performance, i.e., individual sales revenue). Moreover, results of an exploratory cross‐lagged panel analysis suggested a causal relationship such that prior psychological capital leads to subsequent performance rather than vice versa. Taken together, these results highlight the impact employees’ psychological capital may have on their subjectively and objectively measured performance over time and offer evidence‐based practical guidelines for human resource selection, development, and performance management.     

Employee Happiness: Why We Should Care

Albert Schweitzer once stated that “success is not the key to happiness, happiness is the key to success.” Despite this widespread belief, employee happiness is often perceived by organizations as an insubstantial topic, irrelevant to bottom-line outcomes. Equally as problematic, past investigations have primarily utilized other positive emotion variables as a proxy for happiness, thus convoluting the relationships between happiness and work outcomes. As such, taking a scientist-practitioner approach, the present study sought to address the need to: (a) directly measure employees’ happiness, (b) link employee happiness to outcomes of organizational interest, and (c) assess the impact that organizational psychosocial factors have in decreasing employee happiness levels. Therefore, by measuring employee happiness, job demands, and organizational outcomes through a two-wave full panel design, the present study provided evidence for employee happiness’s ability to significantly mediate the relationship between job demands and organizational outcomes. Explicitly, a high level of job demands decreased employee happiness, which subsequently decreased employees’ organizational commitment, task performance, and contextual performance, while increasing turnover intentions and counterproductive work behaviors. These results carry significant theoretical and practical implications. Future QOL (Quality of Life) and organizational research would benefit from building on the present findings and establishing a nomological net of employee happiness. Additionally, practitioners have the opportunity to utilize this evidence to demonstrate the impact that employee happiness has on organizationally-relevant outcomes and the role that organizations can have in fostering employee happiness.

     

Well-Being,Personal Success and Business Performance Among Entrepreneurs: A Two-Wave Study

This two-wave longitudinal study among 121 entrepreneurs in The Netherlands investigated bi-directional relationships between entrepreneurs’ well-being and performance. Results of Smart PLS analyses showed positive well-being at Time 1 (work engagement; life satisfaction; and job satisfaction) predicted subjective entrepreneurial success 2 years later, both as indicated by entrepreneurs’ reports of achieved financial success (including personal income security and wealth, business turn-over, sales and profit growth), as well as perceptions of achieved personal success (personal fulfilment, community impact and employee relations). No relations were found with objective indicators of business performance (profit; turnover; and number of employees) over time. The expected recursive relationship between performance and well-being was only found in the short term; a better objective financial situation immediately preceding the second measurement moment, predicted better well-being at T2. These results are both in line with a well-being–performance (gain) cycle, and the happiness set-point thesis that predicts resilience in the face of events. This paper contributes to the literature by emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurs’ well-being as a key factor in long-term subjective financial and personal entrepreneurial success. The practical implication is that entrepreneurs should maintain and improve their own well-being to achieve positive long term business outcomes.     

Spiritual Leadership,Follower Mediators,and Organizational Outcomes: Evidence From Three Industries Across Two Major Chinese Societies1

Spiritual leadership process was investigated across 2 major Chinese societies (China and Taiwan) and 3 major Chinese industries (manufacturing, financial/banking, and retailing service industries). The leader's factors of spiritual leadership, vision, hope/faith, and altruistic love by Fry (2003 ) were found to be mediated by 3 types of follower's factors to influence organizational outcomes; namely, (a) employee spiritual attribute toward work—meaning/calling; (b) employee spiritual attribute toward organization/team—membership; and (c) employee spiritual attribute toward inner self—self‐esteem and self‐efficacy. The inner‐self aspect of spirituality was found, over and above the other 2 types of follower's factors, to impact on the organizational outcomes, including self‐career management behavior and productivity. This pattern was consistent across all Chinese samples and industries.     

Relationships between emotional labor, job performance, and turnover

The present study investigates the relationship between the emotional labor strategies surface acting and deep acting and organizational outcomes, specifically, employees' overall job performance and turnover. Call center employees from two large financial service organizations completed an online survey about their use of surface and deep acting. Their responses were matched with supervisors' ratings of overall job performance and organizational turnover records obtained 9 months later. Results indicate that surface acting is directly related to employee turnover and emotional exhaustion and that the relationship between surface acting and job performance is indirect via employee affective delivery. Deep acting was not linked to these outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from the perspective of emotional labor theories.     

Do you get what you pay for? Sales incentives and implications for motivation and changes in turnover intention and work effort

This study investigated relations between pay-for-performance incentives designed to vary in instrumentality (annual pay-for-performance, quarterly pay-for-performance, and base pay level) and employee outcomes (self-reported work effort and turnover intention) in a longitudinal study spanning more than 2 years. After controlling for perceived instrumentality, merit pay increase, and the initial values of the dependent variables, the amount of base pay was positively related to work effort and negatively related to turnover intention, where both relationships were mediated by autonomous motivation. The amounts of quarterly and annual pay-for-performance were both positively related to controlled motivation, but were differently related to the dependent variables due to different relations with autonomous motivation.     

Is family-to-work interference related to co-workers' work outcomes?

Previous studies have convincingly shown that employees' family lives can affect their work outcomes. We investigate whether family-to-work interference (FWI) experienced by the employee also affects the work outcomes of a co-worker. We predict that the employee's FWI has an effect on the co-worker's outcomes through the crossover of positive and negative work attitudes. Using a sample of 1430 co-worker dyads, we found that the employee's FWI had a positive relationship with the co-worker's sickness absence through the crossover of feelings of burnout. Similarly, employee FWI was positively related to co-worker turnover intention through the crossover of (reduced) work engagement. The results show that family matters at work, affecting not only employee but also co-worker work outcomes.     

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS ON INDIVIDUALS' TURNOVER DECISIONS: A META-ANALYTIC PATH MODEL

Historically, researchers have sought to identify environmental causes of employee turnover. This paradigm has led to the underemphasis of individual differences as being an important cause of individuals' turnover decisions. The results of the meta-analysis show that personality traits do have an impact on individuals' turnover intentions and behaviors. The trait of Emotional Stability best predicted (negatively) employees' intentions to quit, whereas the traits of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness best predicted (negatively) actual turnover decisions. A theoretically developed path model showed important direct effects from personality to intentions to quit and turnover behaviors that were not captured through job satisfaction or job performance. These direct effects indicate that employees who are low on Emotional Stability may intend to quit for reasons other than dissatisfaction with their jobs or not being able to perform their jobs well. The direct effects on turnover suggest that individuals who are low on Agreeableness or high on Openness may engage in unplanned quitting. Personality traits had stronger relationships with outcomes than did non-self-report measures of job complexity/job characteristics.     

On the dark side of work: a longitudinal analysis using self-determination theory

As the nature of work has changed in recent decades, employees are increasingly exposed to psychological demands in the workplace, which have associated consequences for employees, organizations, and society. Using self-determination theory, this study examined the dark side of work, in which frustration of basic psychological needs is associated with higher levels of work-related stress. In this model, work-related stress is associated with higher levels of somatic symptom burden, which in turn is associated with higher levels of emotional exhaustion, turnover intention, and absenteeism. Results of a longitudinal analysis using data from four time points over 15 months supported these predictions. Taken together, this study advances the literature towards an understanding of the (potential) detrimental impact that need-thwarting work contexts can have on employee wellness and work-related outcomes.     

Why managers should care about fairness: the effects of aggregate justice perceptions on organizational outcomes

This work examines the aggregation of justice perceptions to the departmental level and the business-unit level, the impact of these aggregate perceptions on business-unit-level outcomes, and the usefulness of the distinction between procedural and interpersonal justice at different levels of analysis. Latent variables analyses of individual-level and department-level data from 4,539 employees in 783 departments at 97 hotel properties showed that the 2 justice types exercise unique paths of impact on employees' organizational commitment and thus on turnover intentions and discretionary service behavior. Business-unit-level analyses further demonstrate paths of association between aggregate justice perceptions, aggregate commitment levels, and the business-unit-level outcomes of employee turnover rates and customer satisfaction ratings.     

THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR, AND TURNOVER ON ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: A UNIT-LEVEL, LONGITUDINAL STUDY

This study addresses the issue of whether positive employee attitudes and behaviors influence business outcomes or whether positive business outcomes influence positive employee attitudes and behaviors. We hypothesize that employee satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and employee turnover influence profitability and customer satisfaction. Data were gathered from the units of a regional restaurant chain via employee surveys, manager surveys, customer surveys, and organizational records. Cross-lagged regression analyses show that employee attitudes and behaviors at Time 1 are related to organizational effectiveness at Time 2. Additional cross-lagged regression analyses show no significant relationship between organizational effectiveness at Time 1 and the employee attitudes and behaviors at Time 2. These results add to the evidence that HR outcomes influence business outcomes, rather than the other way around.     

Job Embeddedness in a Culturally Diverse Environment

The demographic composition of the workforce is changing, with an increase in the participation of minorities. Numerous studies center their attention on the inclusion of minorities, but variation in turnover of a culturally diverse workforce has not received much attention. Forecasts indicate that by 2020 Hispanic presence will increase 60% nationwide. Given these trends, it is critical that management scholars examine the impact of Hispanic cultural factors on important organizational outcomes such as voluntary turnover. This paper assesses whether there are significant differences between Hispanics and Caucasians with respect to job embeddedness and voluntary turnover. The findings suggest that job embeddedness is a robust predictor of employee retention across diverse populations. Portions of this research were submitted by Carlos M. Mallol in partial fulfillment of requirements for his doctoral degree. A preliminary version of this article was presented at the 2003 Academy of International Business Conference.     

Predicting Voluntary Turnover from Job Applicant Biodata and Other Applicant Information

Research suggests that biodata (i.e., personal history information) is one of the best predictors of voluntary employee turnover. Given this fact, it is surprising that research on biodata has declined in recent years, and that biodata is not commonly used by employers for selecting employees. This article presents the results of a study that focused on the ability of biodata items and other information available on job applicants to predict voluntary turnover. With one exception, the hypotheses offered were confirmed. Specifically, applicant status (i.e., previously had applied for a job), submission of optional personal history information, employment status (i.e., job applicant was employed), and recruitment source (i.e., employee referral) all predicted voluntary turnover. The ability of applicant status, submission of a personal statement, and recruitment source to predict employee performance also was examined. Applicant status and recruitment source were found to predict subsequent performance ratings.     

A Longitudinal Person-Centered Perspective on Positive and Negative Affect at Work

Abstract

This research examines how the direction and intensity of employee’s positive and negative affect at work combine within different profiles, and the relations between these profiles and theoretically-relevant predictors (psychological need satisfaction and supervisor autonomy support) and outcomes (work-family conflict, absenteeism, and turnover intentions). A total sample of 491 firefighters completed our measures initially, and 139 of those completed the same measures again four months later, allowing us to examine the stability of these affect profiles over time. Latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses revealed five identical profiles across the two measurements occasions: (1) Low Negative Affect Facilitators; (2) Moderately Low Positive Affect Incapacitators; (3) High Positive Affect Facilitators; (4) Very Low Positive Affect Incapacitators; and (5) Normative. Membership into Profiles 3, 4, and 5 was very stable over time. In contrast, Profiles 1 and 2 were associated with a highly unstable membership over time. The highest levels of work-family conflict, absenteeism, and turnover intentions were associated with the Very Low Positive Affect Incapacitators. In contrast, the lowest levels of turnover intentions were associated with the Low Negative Affect Facilitators and High Positive Affect Facilitators.     

Evidence for the Impact of Organisational Resources Versus Job Characteristics in Assessments of Occupational Stress Over Time

Considerable evidence demonstrates the importance of both job demands and job resources in the prediction of employee health and motivational outcomes. However, scant empirical evidence explains how broader organisational factors can also have an impact on these outcomes. Utilising the job demands-resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical explanation of occupational stress, we examined the impact of employees’ alignment with their organisation's strategic objectives (strategic alignment) in predicting long-term occupational health outcomes. The sample consisted of 1,601 police officers employed in one Australian police service, who completed two self-report surveys over 12 months. Results of the study indicated that strategic alignment was the only resource to reduce psychological strain, and to increase work engagement over time. Job demands were not found to be significantly associated with either psychological strain or work engagement over time. There was also no evidence of the moderating effects of job resources on health and motivational outcomes. The theoretical and practical implications of the inclusion of strategic alignment as an organisational resource are discussed.     

Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction,employee engagement,and business outcomes: a meta-analysis

Based on 7,939 business units in 36 companies, this study used meta-analysis to examine the relationship at the business-unit level between employee satisfaction-engagement and the business-unit outcomes of customer satisfaction, productivity, profit, employee turnover, and accidents. Generalizable relationships large enough to have substantial practical value were found between unit-level employee satisfaction-engagement and these business-unit outcomes. One implication is that changes in management practices that increase employee satisfaction may increase business-unit outcomes, including profit.     

A moderate financial incentive can increase effort,but not intelligence test performance in adult volunteers

A positive correlation between self-reported test-taking motivation and intelligence test performance has been reported. Additionally, some financial incentive experimental evidence suggests that intelligence test performance can be improved, based on the provision of financial incentives. However, only a small percentage of the experimental research has been conducted with adults. Furthermore, virtually none of the intelligence experimental research has measured the impact of financial incentives on test-taking motivation. Consequently, we conducted an experiment with 99 adult volunteers who completed a battery of intelligence tests under two conditions: no financial incentive and financial incentive (counterbalanced). We also measured self-reported test-taking importance and effort at time 1 and time 2. The financial incentive was observed to impact test-taking effort statistically significantly. By contrast, no statistically significant effects were observed for the intelligence test performance scores. Finally, the intelligence test scores were found to correlate positively with both test-taking importance (r_c = .28) and effort (r_c = .37), although only effort correlated uniquely with intelligence (partial r_c = .26). In conjunction with other empirical research, it is concluded that a financial incentive can increase test-taking effort. However, the potential effects on intelligence test performance in adult volunteers seem limited.