Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research

Cotton, John L.; Tuttle, Jeffrey M.

doi:10.2307/258331

Cited by 514 publications

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“…For instance, higher job embeddedness is associated with decreased turnover, as individuals perceive a high cost (e.g., sacrifice) of leaving environments to which they feel a higher degree of attachment (e.g., links and fit; Mitchell et al, 2001)-in essence, reducing the desirability of movement (March & Simon, 1958). Particularly relevant to the current study, this Cause and Consequences 13 effect has also been found at the organizational level, as higher firm-level job embeddedness is associated with reduced quit intentions (Horn et al, 2009).Drawing from the above logic, we expect that units with higher average employee tenure (Bennett, Blum, Long, & Roman, 1993;Cotton & Tuttle, 1986), as well as those with higher experience concentrations, will exhibit lower turnover. Employees in these units have become embedded in their jobs over time (Mitchell et al, 2001) and have become tied to social networks (e.g., Burt, 1987;Granovetter, 1973) within their organizations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 55%

Causes and consequences of collective turnover: A meta-analytic review.

Heavey¹,

Holwerda²,

Hausknecht³

2013

Journal of Applied Psychology

254

320

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Given growing interest in collective turnover (i.e., employee turnover at unit and organizational levels), the authors propose an organizing framework for its antecedents and consequences and test it using metaanalysis. Based on analysis of 694 effect sizes drawn from 82 studies, results generally support expected relationships across the 6 categories of collective turnover antecedents, with somewhat stronger and more consistent results for 2 categories: human resource management inducements/investments and job embeddedness signals. Turnover was negatively related to numerous performance outcomes, more strongly so for proximal rather than distal outcomes. Several theoretically grounded moderators help to explain average effect-size heterogeneity for both antecedents and consequences of turnover. Relationships generally did not vary according to turnover type (e.g., total or voluntary), although the relative absence of collective-level involuntary turnover studies is noted and remains an important avenue for future research. Given growing interest in collective turnover (i.e., employee turnover at unit and organizational levels), the authors propose an organizing framework for its antecedents and consequences and test it using meta-analysis. Based on analysis of 694 effect sizes drawn from 82 studies, results generally support expected relationships across the 6 categories of collective turnover antecedents, with somewhat stronger and more consistent results for 2 categories: human resource management inducements/investments and job embeddedness signals. Turnover was negatively related to numerous performance outcomes, more strongly so for proximal rather than distal outcomes. Several theoretically grounded moderators help to explain average effectsize heterogeneity for both antecedents and consequences of turnover. Relationships generally did not vary according to turnover type (e.g., total or voluntary), although the relative absence of collective-level involuntary turnover studies is noted and remains an important avenue for future research.Keywords: collective turnover, organizational performance, retention, meta-analysis Cause and Consequences 3The issue of collective turnover-that is, "the aggregate levels of employee departures that occur within groups, work units, or organizations" (Hausknecht & Trevor, 2011, p. 353)-has a long history in management and applied psychology research. Discussions of organizational-level turnover rates extend back nearly a century, as seen in early work addressing "rates of departure" (Greenwood, 1919, p. 187) and the "stability of employment" (Fish, 1917, p. 162). Topical interest further formalized via several influential accounts of collective turnover's causes and consequences (March & Simon, 1958;Mobley, 1982;Price, 1977;Staw, 1980). More recently, this attention has intensified in terms of empirical studies (e.g., Batt & Colvin, 2011;Shaw, Dineen, Fang, & Vellella, 2009;Siebert & Zubanov, 2009;Trevor & Nyberg, 2008), theoretical contributions (Dess & Shaw, 20...

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mentioning

confidence: 55%

Causes and consequences of collective turnover: A meta-analytic review.

Heavey¹,

Holwerda²,

Hausknecht³

2013

Journal of Applied Psychology

254

320

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“…Such withdrawal has long been considered to the partially dependent on the nature of the work. Cotton and Tuttle (1986) found that three quarters of the published studies report a link between dissatisfaction with work and turnover, and Steers and Rhode's (1978) well-known model of absenteeism includes job (dis)satisfaction as a prominent predictor. If retirement, like turnover and absenteeism, is a withdrawal behavior, people who are dissatisfied with their jobs would be particularly likely to retire.…”

Section: Work-related Characteristics and Retirementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work and Nonwork Predictors of Employees' Retirement Ages

Beehr

Glazer

Nielson

et al. 2000

Journal of Vocational Behavior

208

220

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In a study of the likely causes of retirement decisions, 197 older employees of a state government and their spouses were surveyed as they were getting ready to retire. Data also were collected from the employees' personnel records. Holding finances, gender, and health constant, a set of work characteristics (especially being tired of working) and a set of nonwork characteristics (personal characteristics and expected retirement activities) that were conceptualized as potentially inducing employees to retire each provided a unique contribution of about 10% of the variance to expected retirement age.

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“…Although initial models examined little more than overall job satisfaction as a correlate of turnover (see Cotton & Turtle, 1986, for a review of correlates), increasingly complex models of decision processes were developed over time (e.g., Mobley et al, 1979;Muchinsky & Morrow, 1980). When concern about turnover measures arose in these studies, the focus was on ensuring that the turnover reflected employee choice (i.e., was voluntary).…”

Section: Turnover As Individual Motivated Choice Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

Meaning and measurement of turnover: Comparison of alternative measures and recommendations for research.

Campion¹

1991

Journal of Applied Psychology

215

195

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In a review of two areas of turnover researchuindividual motivated choice behavior and organizational consequences--five alternative turnover measures are defined: reasons, voluntariness, avoidability, functionality, and utility. Turnover data for one year (1987) were gathered from 325 former employees, 568 supervisors, 418 replacement employees, and the personnel files of a university. Analyses indicated that organizational records are deficient as a source of information, especially because of the usual practice of recording a single reason for turnover. Voluntariness may result in a classification system that is too gross for validating motivational models. Avoidability, functionality, and utility each measure unique aspects of organizational consequences, but each has limitations. Turnover measures should be viewed as continua rather than as dichotomies. Recommendations for future research are provided.

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Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research

Cited by 514 publications

References 0 publications

Causes and consequences of collective turnover: A meta-analytic review.

Causes and consequences of collective turnover: A meta-analytic review.

Work and Nonwork Predictors of Employees' Retirement Ages

Meaning and measurement of turnover: Comparison of alternative measures and recommendations for research.

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