Are satisfied employees less inclined to quit? Moderating effects of human capital and abusive supervision
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-07-2021-0141 |
| Published date | 28 April 2022 |
| Date | 28 April 2022 |
| Pages | 439-456 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
| Author | Yu-Chen Wei |
Are satisfied employees less
inclined to quit? Moderating effects
of human capital and
abusive supervision
Yu-Chen Wei
Department of Educational Management, National Taipei University of Education,
Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose –The study investigates the moderating effect of individual human capital in the relationship
between job satisfaction and turnover intention. In addition, the moderating effect of abusive supervision on
moderation by individual human capital was considered.
Design/methodology/approach –This study used cross-sectional, self-reported data from 133 human
resource specialists and their supervisors, who responded to a matching dyad survey.
Findings –The study found that human capital moderated the negative effects of job satisfaction on turnover
intention. The results also verified the moderated moderating effect of abusive supervision on the interaction
effect of human capital and job satisfaction on turnover intention. More specifically, the moderating effect of
human capital on the relationship betweenjob satisfaction and turnover intention was more pronounced when
employees perceived high levels of abusive supervision.
Originality/value –The study developed a moderated moderation model to understand the risk of human
capital and abusive supervision for an organization and provided a new perspective indicating that job
satisfaction is a key determinant in retaining low-human capital employees but not high-human capital
employees. Accordingly, companies may strategically choose to employ suitable employees, rather than star
employees. In addition, talent management should focus beyond reward/compensation and prevent negative
leadership behaviors.
Keywords Human capital, Turnover intention, Job satisfaction, Abusive supervision
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Turnover has a significantly negative impact on organizational effectiveness. This can
reduce morale (Shaw et al., 2005) and increase operating costs. The retention of human
resources is generally critical for organizations, and turnover has significant financial and
social consequences for individuals, organizations, and the society (Morrell et al., 2008).
Research has investigated the reasons for turnover, among which job satisfaction has been
most widely studied and is regarded as a key predictor of actual turnover and turnover
intention (Holtom et al., 2008;Swider et al., 2011). The argument is that dissatisfaction with
one’s job triggers a series of steps that eventually leads to thoughts about quitting the job.
However, Griffeth et al.’s (2000) meta-analysis showed a modest correlation between job
satisfaction and turnover, suggesting that the relationship between job satisfaction and
turnover intention is complex and influenced by several contextual variables (Morrell
et al., 2008).
Previous studies do not fully explain what causes individuals to ignore their feelings
about their organizations based on job satisfaction and to be willing to bear the psychological
costs and risks associated with quitting their jobs (Griffeth et al., 2000). This study believes
Human capital
and abusive
supervision
439
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan) under Grant [MOST
104-2410-H-152–024 -MY2].
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2049-3983.htm
Received 15 July 2021
Revised 13 March 2022
Accepted 12 April 2022
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 10 No. 4, 2022
pp. 439-456
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2049-3983
DOI10.1108/EBHRM-07-2021-0141
that an individuals’willingness towards continuing in an organization is not only affected by
cognitive factors but is also influenced by their personal conditions. Previous studies do not
explore this component in depth. This study claims that the above-mentioned gap can be
filled from the perspective of the human capital theory. In other words, past research on the
impact of job satisfaction on turnover intention has not considered differences in human
capital among employees. For individuals, the level of human capital refers to different
internal driving forces and external market movement forces (Freund and Holling, 2011),
which may destroy the effectiveness of existing job satisfaction, thereby weakening the link
between job satisfaction and turnover intention. In addition, the cost of turnover among high-
human capital employees is different from that among low-human capital employees.
Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and
turnover intention from the perspective of human capital so that a complete understanding of
this relationship is developed.
Furthermore, this study uses the dark side of human capital to explain the importance of
providing a suitable work environment for employees. Previous studies highlighted the
positive value of human capital for companies (Crook et al., 2011), but ignored its dark side
(e.g. leadership, social capital, and citizenship behavior) (Larreina and Gartzia, 2017;Liu et al.,
2012a). Wei (2015) finds that high human capital leads to higher turnover and eventually
results in higher costs for organizations. Hence, the usefulness of human capital for
organizations or individuals must be established under certain conditions. When these
conditions cannot be met, human capital can hurt the organization.
This study argues that the above-mentioned “leadership”is an environmental condition
wherein human capital is beneficial to organizations. Conversely, poor leadership reduces the
benefits of human capital to organizations. An increasing amount of literature on the dark
side of leadership (abusive supervision) can be found in the field of organizational behavior
(Huang et al., 2019;Mackey et al., 2015). Abusive supervision is defined as subordinates’
perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile
verbal and nonverbal behaviors (Tepper, 2000) and has been used to predict turnover
intention (Peng et al., 2018). However, previous studies have rarely used abusive supervision
to explain the difference between employees with high human capital and employees with
low human capital in the job satisfaction-turnover intention relationship.
Therefore, this study attempts to incorporate abusive supervision as a moderator to
further interpret the moderating relationship between human capital, job satisfaction, and
turnover intention to understand why satisfaction arising out of the job itself is unable to
effectively retain individuals. The human capital theory can help support this argument. The
human capital theory advocates the pursuit of educational investment by individuals to
maximize economic value. However, abusive supervision may bring negative signals to
employees (Wang et al., 2020); suggesting that such supervision poses a threat to individuals’
processes of pursuing investments and converting them to rewards. To ensure that their
personal value can be exchanged for better compensation in the market, employees withhigh
human capital experiencing abusive supervision will make changes in their career decisions.
In this scenario, the effectiveness of job satisfaction in reducing turnover intention, which has
been traditionally affirmed, is being challenged.
The main purpose of this study is to develop a moderated moderation model to
understand the risk of human capital and abusive supervision on an organization.
Specifically, the moderating effect of human capital on the relationship between job
satisfaction and turnover intention is investigated. In addition, the three-way interaction
between job satisfaction, human capital, and abusive supervision is examined. The
contributions of this study are two-fold: First, the predictive value of job satisfaction has been
re-examined, and the different effects on employees with high and low human capital have
been investigated. Second, this study aims to expand the knowledge on the turnover
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