Job embeddedness: is it always a good thing?

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the explanatory power of reactance theory and power dependence theory in predicting the moderating effect of job embeddedness on the organizational trust-workplace deviance relationship. Design/Methodology/Approach – Cross-sectional data were collected from a sample of nurses (n=353) via an online survey organization. The data were analyzed using hierarchical regression. Findings – Job embeddedness significantly moderated the organizational trust-workplace deviance relationship such that participants who experienced low organizational trust and high job embeddedness engaged in more workplace deviance than those experiencing low organizational trust and low job embeddedness. Practical implications – Organizations should attempt to build and maintain employees’ organizational trust since employees who lack organizational trust are more likely to act deviantly. Additionally, organizations should realize that job embeddedness is not always beneficial. Therefore, organizations should seek to reduce negative perceptions of job embeddedness by alerting employees (especially those who are the most distrusting) of other job opportunities and providing more generalizable skill training, to enhance employees’ perceptions of mobility. Originality value – This study demonstrates that job embeddedness can be applied to models (i.e., the organizational trust-workplace deviance relationship) beyond those that have previously included turnover as an outcome (i.e., Lee et al., 2014), and that such influences may be negative. More notably, the results provide evidence supporting the notion of the negative side of job embeddedness.

Employee Turnover: Causes, Importance and Retention Strategies

“…Thus, employers are interested in retaining their current employees. Organizations generally try to find ways to create and expand job embeddedness which would increase retention rates and reduce costs related to recruitment, training, and employee turnover [121]. Moreover, the employees are highly critical for the organization's success, therefore; reducing turnover is a challenge to keep organizational costs under control [118], [122].…”

“…likewise, [149] indicated that job involvement is effective attitudes that affect employees' decisions, productivity and work-related decisions, which can affect the effectiveness of the organization. Job involvement depends on the work environment, such as organizational support, organizational attractiveness and pays satisfaction, which may decrease work tension and increase job satisfaction and minimize the turnover intention [15], [121]. Furthermore, Job involvement refers to the psychological connection of the employee with his job, such as interest and participation towards jobs.…”

Satisfaction with retention factors in relation to job embeddedness of public school teachers

“…In their classic study, developed a job embeddedness model to help researchers and HR practitioners to understand the reasons why people stay with their organisations (Ampofo, Coetzer, & Poisat, 2017;Coetzer, Redmond, & Barrett, 2014;Hopson, Petri, & Kufera, 2018;Kiazad, Hom, Holtom, & Newman, 2015;Thakur & Bhatnagar, 2017). The concept of job embeddedness was then defined as a mesh in which an individual may be trapped -an employee who is highly embedded has many closely linked relationships in the workplace (Chena & Shafferb, 2017;Coetzer, Inma, Poisat, Redmond, & Standing, 2018;Hopson et al, 2018;Marasi, Cox, & Bennett, 2016;Sanders, 2015). Links, fit and sacrifice were then identified as the three components of job embeddedness (Ampofo et al, 2017;Ma, Mayfield, & Mayfield, 2018;Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001;.…”

Workplace Deviant Behavior among Malaysia hotel Employees. Does organizational Factors Matter?

“…The workers' lack of organizational trust influences their engagement in deviant behaviors (20). Organizational trust was found to be negatively correlated with workplace deviance (21). Hence, the following proposition is suggested: Hypothesis 2: There is a negative relationship between trust in management and workplace deviant behavior…”