Research on employee turnover since the Porter and Steers analysis of the literature reveals that age, tenure, overall satisfaction, job content, intentions to remain on the job, and commitment are consistently and negatively related to turnover. Generally, however, less than 20% of the variance in turnover is explained. Lack of a clear conceptual model, failure to consider available job alternatives, insufficient multivariate research, and infrequent longitudinal studies are identified as factors precluding a better understanding of the psychology of the employee turnover process. A conceptual model is presented that suggests a need to distinguish between satisfaction (present oriented) and attraction/expected utility (future oriented) for both the present role and alternative roles, a need to consider nonwork values and nonwork consequences of turnover behavior as well as contractual constraints, and a potential mechanism for integrating aggregate-level research findings into an individual-level model of the turnover process.Employee withdrawal, in the form of turnover, has sustained the interest of personnel researchers, behavioral scientists, and management practitioners. At the macro level, economists and personnel researchers have demonstrated the relationship between turnover rates and the aggregate level of economic activity, employment levels, and vacancy levels (see, e.g.

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A role choice model, which included attraction, expectancy, and intention indexes for both civilian and military roles, was used to analyze the recruit training turnover behavior of 1,521 male Marine Corps recruits. Demographic, expected leadership, and expected job content were also measured at the beginning of recruit training. It was found that on the way into recruit training, subsequent graduates and dropouts differed significantly on 20 of 29 variables, including intention to complete their enlistments, expectancy of completing their enlistments, attraction to the Marine role, and a number of other expected organizational and demographic variables. When the variables were subjected to stepwise multiple regression, a multiple R of .30 was observed for 11-week recruit training attrition, with expectancy of completing, education, Marine role outcome expectancies, expectancy of finding an acceptable civilian role, and intention to complete being the first five variables to enter the equation. The results support the usefulness of moving beyond demographic prediction of attrition, including perception and evaluation of alternative roles, and exploring more closely the organizational entry process.

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Past practices in measuring performance in complex management games are reviewed. Focus is directed to the controversy of objective measurement of profitability versus decision and analysis input evaluation. As a middle ground between these extremes, a multi-dimensional approach to the evaluation problem was developed for teams competing in a simulation game. Multi-dimensional performance criteria provide a means to increase learning effectiveness by reducing feedback ambiguity and providing a vehicle for the student to understand the cause-effect relationships inherent in the game and the business environment. This paper describes the development and usage of thirteen performance criteria, and also utilizes the technique of path analysis to investigate the relationships among the performance variables. The results of the path analysis indicated both that teams which forecasted accurately were top performers in terms of profitability and that a consistent and logical relationship existed among the performance variables. These findings, though an indirect measure, contribute to confidence in the internal construct validity of the game.