Economic, psychological, and sociological determinants of voluntary turnover

https://doi.org/10.1016/0090-5720(90)90034-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Economists, psychologists, and sociologists have all contributed to the understanding of voluntary labor turnover. We argue for an integrated explanatory model which incorporates variables from each perspective. Such a model is presented and then estimated. Data from a cohort of 135 recently hired registered nurses employed by a university hospital are analyzed to assess the effects of the various explanatory variables on turnover during one year of employment. Turnover is measured by organization records for 12 months following the administration of the questionnaire designed to measure the independent variables. The integrated model portrays the work conditions, environmental conditions, and employee characteristics as primarily affecting turnover by impacting on the intervening variables of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to stay. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression and logistic regression are used in the analysis. The data indicate support for sociological, economic, and psychological determinants of voluntary turnover. These findings are discussed from the perspective of Etzioni's claims about the importance of the moral dimension for explaining economic behavior such as turnover.

References (33)

  • Daniel Farrell et al.

    Exchange Variables as Predictors of Job Satisfaction, Job Commitment, and Turnover: The Impact of Rewards, Cost, Alternations, and Investments

    Organizational Behavior and Human Performance

    (1981)
  • R. Mowday et al.

    The Measurement of Organizational Commitment

    Journal of Vocational Behavior

    (1979)
  • Robert P. Althauser et al.

    Firms, Occupations, and the Structure of Labor Markets: A Conceptual Analysis

  • Peter Blau et al.

    The American Occupational Structure

    (1967)
  • Mary Blegen et al.

    The Measurement of Kinship Responsibility for Organizational Research

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    (1988)
  • Allen Bluedorn

    The Theories of Turnover: Causes, Effects, and Meaning

  • John F. Burton et al.

    Inter-Industry Variations in Voluntary Labor Mobility

    Industrial Labor Relations Review

    (1969)
  • P. Doeringer et al.

    Internal Labor Markets and Manpower Analysis

    (1971)
  • Amitai Etzioni

    The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics

    (1988)
  • Mark Granovetter

    Economic Action, Social Structure and Embeddedness

    American Journal of Sociology

    (1985)
  • J.R. Hackman et al.

    Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    (1975)
  • Randy Hodson et al.

    Economic Dualism: A Critical Review

    American Sociological Review

    (1982)
  • Ricky D. Iverson et al.

    A Progress Report on Sixteen Years of Research on Turnover at the University of Iowa

    (1989)
  • Boyan Jovanovic

    Firm-Specific Capital and Turnover

    Journal of Political Economy

    (1979)
  • C. Kerr

    Labor Markets: Their Characteristics and Consequences

    American Economic Review

    (1950)
  • C.A. Kiesler

    The Psychology of Commitment: Experiments Linking Behavior to Belief

    (1971)
  • Cited by (147)

    • Economic downturn, health, and well-being in workers with disabilities

      2017, Revista de Psicologia del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones
    • Sealing the gap on teacher attrition: Unpacking effective leadership practices

      2023, Restructuring Leadership for School Improvement and Reform
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text