When and how is job embeddedness predictive of turnover? a meta-analytic investigation.

The present meta-analytic study introduces an overall model of the relationships between job embeddedness and turnover outcomes. Drawing on 65 independent samples (N = 42,907), we found that on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness negatively related to turnover intentions and actual turnover, after controlling for job satisfaction, affective commitment, and job alternatives. In addition, the negative relationships between on-the-job embeddedness (off-the-job embeddedness) and turnover criteria were stronger in female-dominated samples and public organizations (collectivistic countries). Finally, turnover intentions, job search behavior, and job performance fully (partially) mediated the effect of on-the-job embeddedness (off-the-job embeddedness) on actual turnover. The research and practical implications of our findings are noted, in light of study limitations and future research needs.

[1]  Murray R. Barrick,et al.  Reducing voluntary, avoidable turnover through selection. , 2005, The Journal of applied psychology.

[2]  Mark S. Teachout,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORK EXPERIENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE: A CONCEPTUAL AND META‐ANALYTIC REVIEW , 1995 .

[3]  D. Ahlstrom,et al.  Cultural diversity in China: Dialect, job embeddedness, and turnover , 2011 .

[4]  M. Gelfand,et al.  Cross-cultural organizational behavior. , 2007, Annual review of psychology.

[5]  Gert Jan Hofstede,et al.  Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 3rd ed. , 2010 .

[6]  Brooks C. Holtom,et al.  Using job embeddedness factors to explain voluntary turnover in four European countries , 2008 .

[7]  P. Hom.  Employee Turnover , 1994 .

[8]  Anthony R. Wheeler,et al.  The relative roles of engagement and embeddedness in predicting job performance and intention to leave , 2008 .

[9]  M. Koslowsky,et al.  On-the-job embeddedness as a mediator between conscientiousness and school teachers' contextual performance , 2012 .

[10]  D. Ones,et al.  Theory testing: Combining psychometric meta-analysis and structural equations modeling , 1995 .

[11]  Jennifer D. Oyler.  Core Self-Evaluations and Job Satisfaction: The Role of Organizational and Community Embeddedness. , 2007 .

[12]  T. Chou,et al.  The Organizational Context, Job Embeddedness, And Effectiveness Of Managing Knowledge Work Teams , 2010 .

[13]  Bonnie S. O’Neill,et al.  Job Embeddedness: A Theoretical Foundation for Developing a Comprehensive Nurse Retention Plan , 2004, The Journal of nursing administration.

[14]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  The effects of organizational embeddedness on development of social capital and human capital. , 2010, The Journal of applied psychology.

[15]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 1998 .

[16]  Joanne McGrath Cohoon,et al.  Will they stay or will they go? , 2008, SIGCSE '08.

[17]  Heather M. Coon,et al.  Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. , 2002, Psychological bulletin.

[18]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  Increasing human and social capital by applying job embeddedness theory , 2006 .

[19]  Chandra Stroth.  Job Embeddedness as a Nurse Retention Strategy for Rural Hospitals , 2010, The Journal of nursing administration.

[20]  Y. Poortinga,et al.  The Relationship of Family Bonds to Family Structure and Function Across Cultures , 1997 .

[21]  Cynthia R. Cook,et al.  Gender Differences in Organizational Commitment , 1993 .

[22]  G. Johns.  The Essential Impact of Context on Organizational Behavior , 2006 .

[23]  A. Eagly.  Sex differences in social behavior : a social-role interpretation , 1987 .

[24]  Thomas W. Lee,et al.  Voluntarily Leaving an Organization: An Empirical Investigation of Steers and Mowday's Model of Turnover , 1987 .

[25]  P. Hom,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents and Correlates of Employee Turnover: Update, Moderator Tests, and Research Implications for the Next Millennium , 2000 .

[26]  Ryan D. Zimmerman.  UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF PERSONALITY TRAITS ON INDIVIDUALS' TURNOVER DECISIONS: A META‐ANALYTIC PATH MODEL , 2008 .

[27]  Randall P. Settoon,et al.  A Relational Perspective on Turnover: Examining Structural, Attitudinal, and Behavioral Predictors , 2005 .

[28]  M. Sobel.  Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models , 1982 .

[29]  Daryl R. Smith,et al.  Enhancing precision in the prediction of voluntary turnover and retirement , 2011 .

[30]  Richard M. Devens,et al.  The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey , 2000 .

[31]  H. Markus,et al.  Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. , 1991 .

[32]  Edward R. Kemery,et al.  Correction for variance restriction in point-biserial correlations. , 1988 .

[33]  Chris J. Sablynski,et al.  The buffering effects of job embeddedness on negative shocks , 2010 .

[34]  Gugup Kismono,et al.  THE EFFECT OF JOB EMBEDDEDNESS ON ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR: The Mediating Role of Sense of Responsibility , 2004 .

[35]  Jason D. Shaw,et al.  Pay fairness and employee outcomes: Exacerbation and attenuation effects of financial need , 2001 .

[36]  D. Halfer.  Job embeddedness factors and retention of nurses with 1 to 3 years of experience. , 2011, Journal of continuing education in nursing.

[37]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  Occupational embeddedness and job performance , 2009 .

[38]  Brooks C. Holtom,et al.  Job Embeddedness in a Culturally Diverse Environment , 2007 .

[39]  Murray R. Barrick,et al.  Hiring for retention and performance , 2009 .

[40]  Christopher A. Higgins,et al.  A Comparison of the Values and Commitment of Private Sector, Public Sector, and Parapublic Sector Employees , 2006 .

[41]  P. Hom,et al.  Embedding social networks: How guanxi ties reinforce Chinese employees’ retention , 2011 .

[42]  How Negative Affectivity Moderates the Relationship between Shocks, Embeddedness and Worker Behaviors. , 2012 .

[43]  Karim Mignonac.  Individual and contextual antecedents of older managerial employees' willingness to accept intra-organizational job changes , 2008 .

[44]  Shi Jin-tao.  An Empirical Study of Organizational Embeddedness and Its Effect on Employees' Work Behavior , 2007 .

[45]  Dan J. Putka,et al.  Are you interested? A meta-analysis of relations between vocational interests and employee performance and turnover. , 2011, The Journal of applied psychology.

[46]  Extensions and further examination of the job embeddedness construct. , 2005 .

[47]  Richard Fletcher.  Job Embeddedness: A Construct of Organizational and Community Attachment Utilized to Assess Voluntary Turnover , 2012 .

[48]  S. Heilmann.  The Impact of Community Embeddedness on Turnover: An Investigation of the Moderating Effects of Career Plateauing, Occupational Portability, and Occupational Commutability , 2005 .

[49]  Tapabrata Maiti,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling (2nd ed.) , 2006 .

[50]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  The Effects of Job Embeddedness on Organizational Citizenship, Job Performance, Volitional Absences, and Voluntary Turnover , 2004 .

[51]  Maria L. Kraimer,et al.  No Place Like Home? An Identity Strain Perspective on Repatriate Turnover , 2012 .

[52]  Erich B. Bergiel,et al.  Human resource practices, job embeddedness and intention to quit , 2009 .

[53]  M. Riketta,et al.  Attitudinal organizational commitment and job performance: a meta‐analysis , 2002 .

[54]  John S. Besich.  Job embeddedness versus traditional models of voluntary turnover: A test of voluntary turnover prediction. , 2005 .

[55]  Marc Buelens,et al.  An analysis of differences in work motivation between public and private sector organizations , 2007 .

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

[57]  Young-bohk Cho,et al.  Organizational Citizenship Behaviors In Relation To Job Embeddedness, Organizational Identification, Job Performance, Voluntary Turnover Intention In Korea. , 2011 .

[58]  Kristen M Shockley,et al.  Reconsidering Work—Family Interactions and Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis , 2011 .

[59]  David G. Allen,et al.  DO ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION TACTICS INFLUENCE NEWCOMER EMBEDDEDNESS AND TURNOVER , 2004 .

[60]  Nathan P. Podsakoff,et al.  Differential challenge stressor-hindrance stressor relationships with job attitudes, turnover intentions, turnover, and withdrawal behavior: a meta-analysis. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[61]  J. Perry.  Bringing Society In: Toward a Theory of Public-Service Motivation , 2000 .

[62]  Cary L. Cooper,et al.  The Mediating Effects of Job Satisfaction and Propensity to Leave on Role Stress-Job Performance Relationships: Combining Meta-Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling , 2008 .

[63]  James L. Perry,et al.  Antecedents of Public Service Motivation , 1997 .

[64]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  Organizational embeddedness and occupational embeddedness across career stages , 2007 .

[65]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind , 1991 .

[66]  Charles E. Hassell.  An Extension of the Theory of Job Embeddedness: An Investigation of Effect on Intent to Turnover of United States Air Force Members , 2005 .

[67]  Phyllis Tharenou,et al.  Will I Stay or Will I Go? Explaining Repatriation by Self-Initiated Expatriates , 2010 .

[68]  Brooks C. Holtom,et al.  Integrating the Unfolding Model and Job Embeddedness Model to Better Understand Voluntary Turnover , 2006 .

[69]  Daniel A. Newman,et al.  How Important are Job Attitudes? Meta-Analytic Comparisons of Integrative Behavioral Outcomes and Time Sequences , 2006 .

[70]  Albert N. Link,et al.  Are Public Sector Workers More Risk Averse Than Private Sector Workers? , 1981 .

[71]  Brian W. Swider,et al.  Examining the Job Search-Turnover Relationship: The Role of Embeddedness, Job Satisfaction, and Available Alternatives , 2010, The Journal of applied psychology.

[72]  William H. Mobley,et al.  Intermediate linkages in the relationship between job satisfaction and employee turnover. , 1977 .

[73]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  Careers: Mobility, Embeddedness, and Success , 2007 .

[74]  A. Eagly,et al.  Explaining Sex Differences in Social Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Perspective , 1991 .

[75]  Anthony R. Wheeler,et al.  The mediating role of organizational job embeddedness in the LMX-outcomes relationships , 2011 .

[76]  Mark A. Huselid,et al.  Organizational Commitment, Job Involvement, and Turnover: A Substantive and Methodological Analysis , 1991 .

[77]  Albanian Turnover: Is the Job Embeddedness Construct Predictive in an Albanian Context? , 2009 .

[78]  Chris J. Sablynski,et al.  WHY PEOPLE STAY: USING JOB EMBEDDEDNESS TO PREDICT VOLUNTARY TURNOVER , 2001 .

[79]  Tao Sun,et al.  The impact of psychological capital on job embeddedness and job performance among nurses: a structural equation approach. , 2012, Journal of advanced nursing.

[80]  P. Hom,et al.  Challenging conventional wisdom about who quits: revelations from corporate America. , 2008, The Journal of applied psychology.

[81]  D. Hall,et al.  When expatriates explore other options: Retaining talent through greater job embeddedness and repatriation adjustment , 2009 .

[82]  Jackson Wilson.  Examining job embeddedness survey items for an adventure education population , 2010 .

[83]  Mary-Ann Anderson,et al.  An overview of job embeddedness. , 2011, Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

[84]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  Turnover Contagion: How Coworkers' Job Embeddedness and Job Search Behaviors Influence Quitting , 2009 .

[85]  John P. Meyer,et al.  Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, and turnover: Path analyses based on meta-analytic findings. , 2006 .

[86]  Thomas W. H. Ng,et al.  The impact of job embeddedness on innovation-related behaviors , 2010 .

[87]  P. Hanges,et al.  A network model of organizational climate: Friendship clusters, subgroup agreement, and climate schemas , 2008 .

[88]  M. Gelfand,et al.  Will they stay or will they go? The role of job embeddedness in predicting turnover in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. , 2010, The Journal of applied psychology.

[89]  D. Birnbaum,et al.  Fitting Job Performance into Turnover Model: An Examination of the Form of the Job Performance-Turnover Relationship and a Path Model , 1993 .

[90]  Timothy R. Hinkin,et al.  The Cost of Turnover , 2000 .

[91]  K. Lewin.  Field theory in social science , 1951 .

[92]  Todd C. Darnold,et al.  The impact of job performance on employee turnover intentions and the voluntary turnover process A meta-analysis and path model , 2009 .

[93]  R. Bennett,et al.  Development of a global measure of job embeddedness and integration into a traditional model of voluntary turnover. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[94]  Hao Zhao,et al.  THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT BREACH ON WORK‐RELATED OUTCOMES: A META‐ANALYSIS , 2007 .

[95]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  5 Turnover and Retention Research: A Glance at the Past, a Closer Review of the Present, and a Venture into the Future , 2008 .

[96]  Chris J. Sablynski,et al.  THE ROLE OF JOB EMBEDDEDNESS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: THE INTERACTIVE EFFECTS WITH LEADER–MEMBER EXCHANGE AND ORGANIZATION‐BASED SELF‐ESTEEM , 2008 .

[97]  H. Moon,et al.  Job Embeddedness and Subjective Norms in an East Asian (Korean) Context , 2009 .

[98]  Lillian T. Eby,et al.  PREDICTORS OF OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE CAREER SUCCESS: A META‐ANALYSIS , 2005 .

[99]  K. S. Lyness,et al.  Are female managers quitters? The relationships of gender, promotions, and family leaves of absence to voluntary turnover. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[100]  Ann Yan Zhang,et al.  Explaining employment relationships with social exchange and job embeddedness. , 2009, The Journal of applied psychology.

[101]  Osman M. Karatepe.  The Effects of Coworker and Perceived Organizational Support on Hotel Employee Outcomes , 2012 .

[102]  R. Cropanzano,et al.  Dynamic aspects of voluntary turnover: an integrated approach to curvilinearity in the performance-turnover relationship. , 2011, The Journal of applied psychology.