The development and testing of a content-process model of employee turnover: Toward a better understanding of voluntary turnover decisions

Despite a large amount of research leading to considerable knowledge on voluntary turnover, turnover theory is still deficient in a number of ways. The current study seeks to enrich existing theory by integrating both content and process research on employee turnover. The current model proposes that there are eight distinct motives for staying or leaving an organization which make up the content of turnover deliberations. Four generic decision processes are proposed by which individuals come to quit an organization. It is hypothesized that these decision types differ systematically on the levels of the eight forces at the time of decision as well as on other characteristics like catalysts for each, timing, and avoidability. Subjects in the empirical study were classified into one of the four types and then measured on the characteristics of interest including the eight forces. Means for each type on the characteristics were then compared. Results indicated that the four decision types did differ as hypothesized on more than half the characteristics. Foremost, subjects quitting without an alternative job were more likely to be upset or angry with the organization than those who were comparing their options. Also, those with a contingency plan to quit saw less future prospects with the organization and less psychological attachment to the organization than other decision types. These and other significant results, along with the model in general, are discussed in terms of their potential for guiding future research and improving management of voluntary turnover.