Turnover in dirty work occupations: A focus on pre‐entry individual characteristics

The current study explored newcomer turnover in a unique population: dirty workers. Based on social identity theory (SIT) and conservation of resources theory (COR), a set of individual level predictors theoretically relevant to dirty work turnover were identified. We examined whether differences in access to job information prior to hire, career commitment, belief in the value of the job, negative affectivity (NA), and maladaptive coping style were related to turnover of animal shelter employees with euthanasia responsibilities. Results supported the potential importance of all variables for understanding turnover amongst these dirty workers. Access to job information, NA, and maladaptive coping style were found to have the highest relative importance amongst the set of predictors.