Impact of Socially Responsible Leadership on Employee Leave Intention: Exploratory Study on IT Companies in Egypt

Abstract

The study examines the impact of Socially Responsible Leadership on Employee Leave Intention in IT companies in Egypt. The sample consists of 208 employees in Egyptian IT companies. The study used the updated version of the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS-R2) as the tool of investigation. The methodology used included the Pearson coefficient, the Cronbach Alpha coefficient, simple liner regressions and ANOVA tests. The study concluded that Socially Responsible Leadership and its eight dimensions (Congruence, Commitment, Common Purpose, Collaboration, Controversy with Civility, Citizenship, Change for the Common Good and Consciousness of Self) have a significant negative impact on the Employee Leave Intention.Keywords: socially responsible leadership, employee leave intention, IT sector, Egypt IntroductionEmployee turnover is a major challenge for today's organizations. Most organizations will experience turnover in some capacity. In fact, O'Connell and Mei-Chuan (2007) reported the average cost of employee turnover to be $13,996 per employee. Hom and Griffeth (1995) concede that since employees are considered to be an essential organizational resource, the costs associated with their turnover, the resultant hiring of replacement employees, loss of productivity, time to acclimate to the organizational culture, the onboarding process for the new personnel and overall administration costs can be taxing on the organization. Long and Thean (2011) indicate that since employees work interdependently in organizations, the turnover of some employees will affect the overall efficiency of the remaining employees. It is important to understand the causes of voluntary turnovers and what can be done in order to reduce them. Therefore, turnover of employees poses a significant threat to organizations, which necessitates a deeper look at its causes and effects. Dawley et al. (2010) found that organizational leaders/supervisors who manage to create and implement processes aimed at employee retention which reduce voluntary turnover will have an advantage over those leaders who do not. Maertz et al. (2007) found that the leader/supervisor and organizational perceived support is an indicator and predictor of employee turnover intention. Allen et al., (2003) and Rhoades and Eiseberger (2002) find that leader and organizational support can lead to a reduction in employee turnover.Previous research focused on examining and describing turnover predictors, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, which are linked to turnover behavior and turnover intention (Griffeth et al., 2000). However, it is important to point out that turnovers could have positive effects on an organization. It is healthy for the organization to fire the employees who are unproductive and replace them with the productive employees who will increase the human capital and introduce innovative ideas and solutions. Hughes et al. (2010) find that minor turnover is healthy for the organization in order to help reduce conflicts and bri...

The Effect of Leader-Member Exchange “LMX” on Employee Turnover Intent: An Applied Study on the Telecommunication Sector in Egypt

“…High turnover rates will lead to a problem with employee retention for the firms. High employee turnover rates will also lead to costs associated with the replacement of the employee skill set and intellectual capital, costs for training, loss of effectiveness and productivity, and time taken by new employees to acclimate to organizational values and cultures (Arishi, Elsaid, Dawi, & Elsaid, 2018;Abbasi & Hollman, 2000). Other costs associated with employee turnover are fees for recruiting agencies, advertising costs for the vacant positions and administrative costs associated with screening and interviewing candidates (Schyns et al, 2007).…”