Pre‐entry expectations and turnover : An examination of met‐expectation hypothesis in Chinese organizational context

Purpose – Met‐expectation hypothesis has been well accepted in traditional industrial and organizational psychology and organizational behavior research, but there are inconsistent findings in recent years because of problems on definition, manipulation and statistical methods. This paper aims to examine met‐expectation hypothesis in Chinese organizational context. Design/methodology/approach – Using longitudinal research design and employing 336 newcomers within a big‐size joint stock company as participants, the authors measured pre‐entry expectations and post‐entry experiences at four time points during half a year and collected turnover information from the company at the end of the second year. Findings – The results of survival analysis and hierarchical regression revealed that: met‐expectation hypothesis is not supported in Chinese organizational context – employees' recent experiences have significant predictive effect for voluntary turnover, whereas neither pre‐entry expectations nor early experiences during organizational entry can predict voluntary turnover; and team expectations moderate the relationships between team experiences and turnover. Originality/value – This is the first study to explore met‐expectation hypothesis in Chinese organizational context and the first to use survival analysis to test it. It will deepen understanding of the effect of met expectations by treating pre‐entry expectations as multi‐dimension construct and as time‐varying variables.