Explaining employee turnover in an Asian context

Employee turnover is giving sleepless nights to HR managers in many countries in Asia. A widely-held belief in these countries is that employees have developed 'bad' attitudes due to the labour shortage. Employees are believed to job-hop for no reason, or even for fun. Unfortunately, despite employee turnover being such a serious problem in Asia, there is a dearth of studies investigating it; in particular studies using a comprehensive set of variables are rare. This study examines three sets of antecedents of turnover intention in companies in Singapore: demographic, controllable and uncontrollable. Singapore companies provide an appropriate setting as their turnover rates are among the highest in Asia. Findings of the study suggest that organisational commitment, procedural justice and a job-hopping attitude were three main factors associated with turnover intention in Singapore companies.

[1]  Naresh Khatri,et al.  Managing human resource for competitive advantage: a study of companies in Singapore , 2000 .

[2]  Naresh Khatri,et al.  Emerging issues in strategic HRM in Singapore , 1999 .

[3]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  The Unfolding Model of Voluntary Turnover: A Replication and Extension , 1999 .

[4]  John E. Delery,et al.  An organization-level analysis of voluntary and involuntary turnover. , 1998 .

[5]  C. D. Robinson,et al.  Reducing staff turnover: a case study of dialysis facilities. , 1998 .

[6]  David G. Allen,et al.  Integrating justice constructs into the turnover process : a test of a referent cognitions model , 1997 .

[7]  M. Deery,et al.  Turnover culture in the hospitality industry , 1997 .

[8]  Charles W. Mueller,et al.  The Determinants of Career Intent Among Physicians at a U.S. Air Force Hospital , 1996 .

[9]  Christine S. Randall,et al.  Extensions of justice theory : justice evaluations and employees' reactions in a natural setting , 1995 .

[10]  K. Law.  CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDINAL ANTECEDENTS TO TURNOVER. , 1995 .

[11]  Y. Debrah,et al.  Skills for managing human resources in a complex environment: the perceptions of human resource managers in Singapore , 1995 .

[12]  H. Koh,et al.  An analysis of the factors affecting the turnover intention of non-managerial clerical staff: a Singapore study , 1995 .

[13]  S. Moo,et al.  Work Life, Career Commitment, and Job Satisfaction as Antecedents of Career Withdrawal Cognition among Teacher Interns. , 1995 .

[14]  Omar A. Jefri,et al.  Organizational commitment, satisfaction, and turnover in Saudi organizations: A predictive study , 1994 .

[15]  Y. Debrah.  Management of Operative Staff in a Labour-scarce Economy: The Views of Human Resource Managers in the Hotel Industry in Singapore , 1994 .

[16]  R. Chew.  Excessive Labour Turnover: The Case of Clerical Staff in Singapore , 1993 .

[17]  Jacob Weisberg,et al.  Gender and Turnover: A Re-examination of the Impact of Sex on Intent and Actual Job Changes , 1993 .

[18]  S. Aryee.  A path-analytic investigation of the determinants of career withdrawal intentions of engineers: some HRM issues arising in a professional labour market in Singapore , 1993 .

[19]  J. Miller,et al.  Unraveling the mysteries of gender differences in intentions to leave the organization , 1992 .

[20]  R. Mayer,et al.  Predicting Participation and Production Outcomes Through a Two-Dimensional Model of Organizational Commitment , 1992 .

[21]  Delaney J. Kirk,et al.  Distributive and Procedural Justice as Antecedents of Job Dissatisfaction and Intent to Turnover , 1992 .

[22]  Robert H. Moorman,et al.  Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors : do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship ? , 1991 .

[23]  S. Aryee.  Creating a Committed Workforce: Linking Socialization Practices to Business Strategy , 1991 .

[24]  William H. Hendrix,et al.  Modelling the role of pay equity perceptions: a field study , 1991 .

[25]  Michael J. Kavanagh.  Our field of management has been suffering recently! , 1991 .

[26]  Barry Gerhart,et al.  Voluntary turnover and alternative job opportunities , 1990 .

[27]  Rodger W. Griffeth,et al.  The elusive relationship between perceived employment opportunity and turnover behavior: A methodological or conceptual artifact? , 1989 .

[28]  L. Shore,et al.  Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment in Relation to Work Performance and Turnover Intentions , 1989 .

[29]  G. Blau,et al.  Using Job Involvement and Organizational Commitment Interactively to Predict Turnover , 1989 .

[30]  John L. Cotton,et al.  Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research , 1986 .

[31]  Charles L. Hulin,et al.  Alternative opportunities and withdrawal decisions: Empirical and theoretical discrepancies and an integration. , 1985 .

[32]  Nestor K. Ovalle,et al.  A review and meta-analysis of research on the relationship between behavioral intentions and employee turnover. , 1984 .

[33]  C. S. Koberg,et al.  The psychology of the withdrawal process: a cross-validational test of Mobley's intermediate linkages model of turnover in two samples. , 1984, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[34]  H. J. Arnold,et al.  A multivariate analysis of the determinants of job turnover. , 1982 .

[35]  Allen C. Bluedorn.  A Unified Model of Turnover from Organizations , 1982 .

[36]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  Causes of employee turnover: A test of the Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, and Meglino model. , 1982 .

[37]  C W Mueller,et al.  A causal model for turnover for nurses. , 1981, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[38]  W. Mobley,et al.  Review and Conceptual Analysis of the Employee Turnover Process , 1979 .

[39]  E. Ghiselli.  Some perspectives for industrial psychology. , 1974 .

[40]  Richard M. Steers,et al.  Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians. , 1974 .