Do Employees Leave Just Because They Can? Examining the Perceived Employability–Turnover Intentions Relationship

Abstract

The relationship between perceived employability and turnover intentions seems much more complicated than what the common sense would suggest. Based on the reviewed literature, it was expected that job satisfaction, affective commitment, and perceived job security would moderate this relationship. Using a sample of working individuals from different occupations and sectors (N = 721), it was found that employees who perceived themselves as highly employable were more likely to have turnover intentions when their affective commitment was low and perceived job security was high; and the relationship was negative for employees with shorter tenures. Understanding the conditions under which perceived employability is associated with turnover intentions may help organizations design human resource policies that allow them to retain an educated and competent workforce.

Perceived Organizational Support, Alternative Job Opportunity, Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention: A Moderated-mediated Model

“…Existing empirical evidences show that perceived alternatives job opportunities have a negative correlativity with organizational commitment (Rahman, et al, 2008) and positive correlativity with turnover intention (Dardar et al, 2012;Rahman, et al, 2008). In this sense, workers who are employable are less likely to be committed to the hiring organization and are more likely to engage in turnover behavior (Acikgoz et al, 2016;Philippaers et al, 2019). This study shows that organizational commitment is the mechanisms through which perceived alternatives job opportunities use to reduce turnover intention.…”

“…According to Philippaers, De Cuyper and Forrier (2019), "employees who feel they can readily obtain a better job may also feel that they cannot obtain those better outcomes in their current job and organization, and/ or that their personal needs are not met" (p.1311). In similar fashion, Acikgoz, Sumer and Sumer (2016) noted that employable workers with low affective commitment are more likely to have turnover intentions. Others argued that perceived alternatives job opportunities are not associated with favorable organizational outcomes such as commitment (Feng & Angeline, 2010).…”

“…A plausible reason for this might be that employees who perceived themselves to be employable are constantly changing and adjusting their relationships with the hiring organizations (Hahn & Kim, 2018). Age might be another factor because majority of surveyed sample are less than 40 years, these age groups are less loyal to employers (Abubakar et al, 2020;Acikgoz et al, 2016;Yuen, 2016). Building on this evidence, we conclude that both satisfied and non-satisfied employees are more likely to be less commitment and may further develop turnover intention when perceived alternatives job opportunities are high.…”

The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall: Provoking the agency perspective in employability research

“…One illustration is studies on the “self‐made employability man” (Philippaers et al, ): Employability is often seen as the result of individual merit and effort (Assumption 1). Rather ironically, another illustration is studies probing the employability management paradox: Employer investments in employability are beneficial for the organisation, for example, in productivity gain, but also risky when employable workers are more likely to quit (Acikgoz et al, ; De Cuyper & De Witte, ; Nelissen et al, ; Philippaers et al, ). Though those studies concern the employer's perspective, they study individuals and their decision on whether or not to stay with the organisation (Assumption 2).…”

“…Outcome-based approaches of employability do not focus on aspects that increase the chance of a job, but they instead aim to directly assess this chance, mostly by looking at the window of employment opportunities that the individual perceives and considers within reach and attractive (Gunz, Peiperl, & Tzabbar, 2007) and in the internal and/or external labour market (De Cuyper & De Witte, 2011;Rothwell & Arnold, 2007). This has been coined selfperceived or self-rated employability (Acikgoz, Sumer, & Sumer, 2016;Berntson et al, 2006;Nelissen, Forrier, & Verbruggen, 2017;Wittekind, Raeder, & Grote, 2010). The argument that is commonly used to focus upon self-perceived employability and not objective outcomes (e.g., transitions) is highly agentic: Individuals are likely to act upon their perceptions, so that self-perceived employability influences labour market behaviour (Forrier et al, 2015).…”