Turnover intention and preparedness for change

Abstract

Purpose“Turnover intention” is defined as an employee's intention to voluntarily change jobs or companies. The purpose of this paper is to set “turnover intention” in relation to “preparedness for change”. The former relates to the change of jobs or companies, the latter to employees' willingness to change their current workplace. Both phenomena relate to employability, i.e. an employee's adaptability to changing internal (i.e. the current employer) and external labour market demands. The main aim of this paper is to compare both phenomena and identify antecedents of employability, namely, leader‐member exchange (LMX) and occupational self‐efficacy.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire study was conducted in two samples of German and Dutch employees.FindingsResults indicate that the two concepts (turnover intention, preparedness for change) are, to some extent, related and show, to some extent, similar relationships to the antecedents.Research limitations/implicationsIn both samples, self‐reported data were used as well as a cross‐sectional design.Practical implicationsThe results highlight that the direct supervisor of employees may serve as an organization's agent, with a determining influence on the employees' attitudes and behaviours towards the respective organization.Originality/valueFor the first time, turnover intention and “preparedness for change” are considered in one study and the mutual relationship is investigated.

Personal resources and turnover intention among private sector employees: Does work engagement still matter?

“…The high rate of turnover intention among employees is widely understood as a damaging characteristic to be prevented in the work environment. Morrell et al (2001) and Schyns et al (2007) stated that despite a lot of literature on turnover, there is no widely recognized explanation of why workers want to leave corporations. However, Schyns et al, (2007) and Winterton (2004) maintained that it is closely linked to low work fulfillment, productivity and recruitment, and retention costs, along with the potential loss or lack of specific/implicit expertise and competencies of existing workers due to the real high turnover.…”

Effects of Leader-Member Exchange, Interpersonal Relationship, Individual Feeling of Energy and Creative Work Involvement Towards Turnover Intention: A Path Analysis Using Structural Equation Modeling

“…Besides, few studies (e.g., Schyns, Torka, & Gossling, 2007;Vecchio & Norris, 1996) revealed that the link between LMX and employee turnover had been weak and unstable statistically. On the contrary, this study shows a very strong link between the two (-0.251, p = .002).…”

Performance Appraisal and Training and Development of Human Resource Management Practices (HRM) on Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intention

“…In most cases, turnover intention can happen either voluntarily where employee decides to leave the company by willingly (Schyns, Torka, & Gossling, 2007) or involuntarily, replacing an employee for a job position, mostly without the prior willingness of the employee (Bothma & Roodt, 2013;Price, 1977) According to (Ibrahim, Usman, & Bagudu, 2013), the rate of turnover varies from institutions to institutions. Sometimes employee turnover is a benefit to an organizations in a positive way.…”