The unfolding effects of organizational commitment and anticipated job satisfaction on voluntary employee turnover

An evolving discontent with existing theories of voluntary turnover led to the postulation of an unfolding model for the effects of organizational commitment and anticipated job satisfaction on voluntary employee turnover. In particular, existing theory and research on voluntary turnover were judged to apply validly to only a very small number of organizational situations. That is, their ecological validities appear weak. As a result, the proposed model seeks to describe more of the organization's reality and to apply to more situations than do current theories. Thus, the proposed model seeks to increase ecological validity. Four decision paths are detailed and asserted to capture more of the evolutionary (hence the term unfolding) confluence of personal, situational, and accidental forces on the decision to leave an organization than current models. Research implications are discussed.We thank Bob Baron, Lee Beach, and Rick Mowday for their helpful comments on carlier drafts of this article.