Factors That Affect Employee Turnover Intention - Research Paper Example

Title: Students Name: Course: Instructor’s Name: Date: I. Introduction Employee turnover is one of the greatest problems that organisations have been dealing with for a long time. Indeed, the problem has transcended decades, and up to the present 21st-century organisations have not established proper ways to tackle the issue. Also, Steel, 2002 defines the term employee turnover as the rate at which organisations tend to gain or lose their employees. In fact, it is divided into two major subdivisions which are voluntary and involuntary turnover. Although employment turnover is inclined towards the negative aspect, it also has some positivity. For a fact, it leads to the injection of new talent into the organisation, ejection of poor performers and the increase of new opportunities. However, according to Goldberg (1990), there have been negative aspects facing organisations. These include added costs like extra staff training on new talent, extra pay for promoted staff and other work setting dynamics, for instance, increasing working unit size. Therefore, all these negative aspects have led to a drastic drop in organisation’s level productivity and reputation. Indeed, employee turnover has increased in the 21st century as a result of immense organisational competition and the advancement in technology. According to Porter and Stress (1973), four factors affect employee turnover they include: organisation issues, job-related, personal and eventually the work environment. So much study has been conducted on the effect of job dissatisfaction on employee turnover but minimal research on the effect of personality on employee turnover. To emphasis, this point, Spector (1997, p51) stated that “Although many traits have been shown to correlate significantly with job satisfaction, most research with personality has done little more than demonstrate relations without offering a much theoretical explanation.” The factors proposed are general factors that affect most organizations from the external perspective. From the employees internal perspective, the personality is one of the factors that do affect employee performance at the place of work. Goldberg, (1990) proposed the use of the five factors model of personality also known as the Big Five to explain the cause-effect relationship between the employees and employee turnover. Indeed, only modest research has been carried out in this area due to the lack of an organized structure when tackling the issue. It is a fact that no research has been conducted on the effect of personality on employee turnover in the University of Australia. The fact necessitated the research, and it was centered on one major research question that is What are the factors affecting turnover intention of University of Australia employees? The research objectives of the study are1)To investigate the factors that determine employee turnover,2) To determine the relationship that does exist between the five-factor model of personality and employee turnover rate at the University of Australia. However, the study encountered the following limitations during the research. Firstly, the employees were able to return the questionnaires on time hence downsizing the quality of the study. Secondly, it was difficult to get all the former employees of the University of Australia to answer the questionnaire. Most of them had left to work overseas, and communication over the internet was costly. Therefore, this study shall be a significant resource to investors; academia and researchers in the management field. This will be through adding more information to the body of knowledge. Additionally, the management board of the University Of Australia will be able to implement the proposed strategies to reduce employee turnover. II. Literature Review According to Peter Drucker, 1997 the major challenge that is facing organization is not centred on technology but on the art of ensuring proper human and their management. The increment in the rate of labour turnover does affect the competitiveness of any organisation or institutions, and it does limit the knowledge continuity process. Firth, Mellor and Loquet, (2004) defined the term employee turnover as the number of employees that the organisation replaces over a given period compared to the total employees that they have within their institutions. The past studies conducted by researchers reveal that training employees, improving their pay and the organisational commitment to their welfare reduce the employee turnover rate (Booske, Karsh, and Sainfort, 2005). Another research conducted by Bartle, Dansby, Landis, and McIntyre, 2002; Parker and Kohlmeyer, (2005), shows a positive inverse correlation between organisational commitment and the employee turnover variables. Also stress levels at the place of work have a negative effect on employee retention. When the employees feel stressed at the place of work they are more likely to quit. Yousef, 2000; Lambert, Eric, and Pauline (2008), carried out research on the impact of job stress and its influence on the rate of employee turnover in the organisation. According to their findings when the employees are subjected to stress levels be they job-related or personal they tend to depict poor performance. In the instance, it is job-related most employees prefer to quit employment and seek for alternative ways to earn a living. Without a doubt, stress is a bigger contributor to the reason why people defect from their jobs especially in the private sector. According to their findings, the private sector does record a higher percentage of employees who live their work place due to stress related issues compared to the public sector (Lambert et al., 2008). The private sector has stiff competition which forces the organisation to put more pressure on their employees to meet the stipulated targets. When tackling employee turnover it has been discovered that the major influence in the turnover is the personality of the employees. People, in general, have different personalities that distinguish them from other people. The personalities include; agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, emotional and commitment. To emphasis on the subject matter, Griffeth, Horn and Gartner (2000) conducted research on the effect of personality on job satisfaction. In their meta-analytical study, they found out that there is a positive correlation between the employee personality and their ability to handle job stress. When analysing employee turnover, there are many models that have been proposed on the issue. The most outstanding ones are Beach (2010) who came up with the image theory and focuses on the different decision-making process encountered by employees. Another one is the unfolding model proposed by Thomas, Lowell and Steven (1996) and focussed on the impact of job satisfaction on employee turnover. Despite all this, according there is a gap in literature since no study has been conducted and related the aspect of personality on employee turnover rate. This study has incorporated the five-factor model of personality proposed by Judge et al (2002) to determine the rate of employee turnover at the University of Australia. III. Theoretical Framework Five-factor model of personality The five factor model of personality also referred to as Big Five came about as an agreement between various researchers of its applicability in the industrial-organizational psychological about job performance(Goldberg,1990).The fundamental principle that governs the theory is that the personality of the individual will determine their capability of deriving satisfaction or stress from their jobs. In the instance that the level of job satisfaction is low and the job stress levels are high the intention to a turnover by the employee does increase. Indeed, in this study, a conceptual framework has been proposed to aid in the achievement of the research objectives of the study. The study will utilise the turnover intention as the dependent variables while the independent variables agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, emotional and commitment. Shore and Wayne (1993), proposed the use of the turnover as the dependent variable since it does reflect the actual turnover behaviour. On the other hand, the independent variables are individually owned hence providing a conclusive aspect on the impact of personality on the dependent variable. The following conceptual model was derived from the combination of personal and work-related factors and their influence on employee turnover intention. Figure 1 Proposed Conceptual Framework IV. Research and hypothesis H1: Agreeableness of employees is positively related to job satisfaction According to Costa and Mc Crae (1991), the agreeableness has a positive relation to job satisfaction though at a minimal level. Agreeable individuals have a personality that draws them in seeing positivity in every situation that they are in hence building relations that aid in the reduction of their stress levels. Agreeable people relate well with other people and are good at communicating their problems with others (Duraisingam, Pidd and Roche2009). H2: Extraversion characteristic of employees is positively related to job satisfaction Duraisingam et al., 2009 conducted a meta-analysis where they depicted that extroverts tend to strike a balance between their interpersonal relations and their work. The extroverts have a higher chance of experiencing job satisfaction from their work due to the social networks that they build on a daily basis (Organ and Lingi, 1995). The presence of humanity contributes to lower stress levels resulting in higher levels of job satisfaction and lower intention to turnover. H3: Conscientiousness of employees is positively related to job satisfaction Deneve and Copper (1998), suggested that there is a positive relation that does exist between Conscientiousness and job satisfaction. The aspect of Conscientiousness does focus on the involvement of the employees in their daily work activities. Employees who are more involved in their jobs tend to derive satisfaction from it since they understand how to attain the desired organisational standards. The employees often end up getting monetary and social rewards from their employers (Duijens and Diekstra, 1995). H4: Emotion characteristics of employees are positively related to job satisfaction Brief and Roberson (1989), stated that emotions tend to interfere with job satisfaction. Emotional employees often do not rely on logic when they are carrying out their activities their emotions govern the rate of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is lowered when it comes to the emotional employee, and the stress levels are high depending on the situation. According to Freud (2005), there is a negative relation between job satisfaction and intention to turnover. H5: Openness characteristics of employees are positively related to job satisfaction The openness aspect refers to the employees being willing to embrace change and divergent ideas. Employees with openness characteristics are liberal in their political and religious thinking. The aspect of being open according to Costa and Mc Crae (1991) neither shows a positive or negative relation to job satisfaction.Judge, Heller and Mount (2002) concludes that the reason for the lack of a consistent analysis is due to the emotion being subjective to different individuals. H6: Organizational Commitment positively affects job satisfaction Porter, Crampon and Smith, (1976) in their research of the workplace activity they concluded that when the organisation is committed to their employees, the employees tend to stay in the organisation for longer periods. Commitment to employees often includes providing them with training opportunities, promotions, monetary rewards, minimum supervisions among other aspects. Mitchell, Holton, Lee and Erez (2001), when predicting the voluntary turnover they found out that employee is more inclined to stay at their places of work when the management provides them with a conducive environment. Therefore organisational commitment has a positive relation to job satisfaction. H7: Job stress positively affects employee’s turnover intention Judge, Bono and Locke (2000), stipulated that when employees are stressed their immune and concentration levels are lowered. When the stress levels accelerate, the employees often tend to leave their jobs and seek alternative jobs that will aid them to reduce their stress. Job-related stress and employee turnover have positive relation when one increases the another aspect follows suit. Ramesh and Gelfrand (2010) p12, stated that when the stress levels of the employees increase the decision to go from their job is high across different cultures. H8: Job stress negatively affects job satisfaction Tongachaiprasit and Ariyabudhiphongs 2016 p38, stated that job stress has a negative impact when it comes to job satisfaction. When employees are stressed, they tend to underperform in the place of work. Stress does manifest itself in employees in different ways. When employees have stressed, their immune system and concentration span suffers immensely which impact job performance negatively and does result in accelerated levels of employee turnover rate (Judge et al., 2000). H9: Job satisfaction negatively affects turnover intention Mitchell et al (2001), in their research on a voluntary turnover they found that job satisfaction negatively affects the turnover intention. According to their findings employees who are satisfied with their jobs tend to prefer to continue working in the organisation for long. Therefore, the relationships between them leaving their jobs is narrowed down. Job satisfaction is derived from providing the employees with better wages, rewards and conducive environment for them to work. When employees are satisfied, they stimulate a ripple effect in the job market which does result in people seeking for job opportunities in the company (Elangovan, 2001). REFERENCES Steel,R.P.(2002).Turnover theory at the empirical interface:Problem of fit and function.Academy of Management journal.41(5),511-525. Gothem, R. W., (2005). Organizational Behavior. Dallas, TX: HoustinMiffn Goldberg, L.R. (1990). 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