The relationship between perceived training and development and employee retention: the mediating role of work attitudes

Abstract

The relationship between perceived training and development and employee retention: the mediating role of work attitudes This paper considers how utilizing a model of job-related affect can be used to explain the processes through which perceived training and development influence employee retention. We applied Russell's model of core affect to categorize four different forms of work attitude, and positioned these as mediators of the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay.Using data from 1,191 employees across seven organizations, multilevel analyses found that job satisfaction, employee engagement, and change-related anxiety were significantly associated with intention to stay, and were mediators of the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay.Contrary to our hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was not significantly associated with intention to stay nor acted as a mediator when the other attitudes were included. These findings show the usefulness of Russell's model of core affect in explaining the link between training and development and employee retention.Moreover, it suggests that studies examining employee retention should include a wider range of work attitudes that highlight pleasant forms of affect that induce motivational rather than impairment prevention effects.Keywords: employee retention, perceived training and development, job-related affect, multilevel analysis, work attitudes IntroductionTraining and development (T&D) is a systematic approach to developing and enhancing employee skills, abilities and knowledge for the purpose of increasing organizational effectiveness (Aguinus and Kraiger, 2009). As an overarching HR practice it is often considered, and evidenced, to be a broad collection of activities that refer to continual learning and development of general job-and career-related skills (e.g. Boon, den Hartog, Boselie, and Paauwe, 2011). Previous research demonstrates that perceived T&D is associated with higher levels of retention 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 More recently, researchers have become interested in understanding the exact mechanisms that underlie this relationship (e.g. Koster, de Grip and Fourage, 2011). For example, Koster et al (2011) demonstrated that job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between perceived support in employee development and intention to quit.In contrast, Dysvik and Kuvaas (2008) showed that intrinsic motivation partially mediated the relationship between perceived T&D and turnover intention.While these studies have enhanced our understanding of how T&D is related to retention, exploring mediators individually is problematic for two reasons. Firstly, it encourages researchers to add potential mediators into the literature with little consideration of how they are differentia...

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