A path analysis of gender, race, and job complexity as determinants of intention to look for work
| Pages | 130-146 |
| Date | 01 April 2001 |
| Published date | 01 April 2001 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450110384507 |
| Author | Sean R. Valentine |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employee
Relations
23,2
130
Employee Relations,
Vol. 23 No. 2, 2001, pp. 130-145.
#MCB University Press, 0142-5455
Received April 2000
Revised October 2000
Accepted November2000
A path analysis of gender,
race, and job complexity as
determinants of intention to
look for work
Sean R. Valentine
Department of Management and Marketing, University of Wyoming,
Laramie, Wyoming, USA
Keywords Job design, Staff turnover, Job satisfaction, Gender, Race
Abstract The relationships between intention to look for work and gender, race, and job
complexity are assessed using a national sample of working young adults in the USA (n= 3,622).
The effects of gender and race on job complexity are also assessed. The results of the path
analysis indicate that women perceive greater complexity in their jobs than do men. The findings
also suggest that minority groups experience lower job complexity compared to their Anglo
counterparts. Finally, intention to look for work was positively affected by racial minority status
and negatively influenced by job complexity. The managerial implications of the findings are
discussed and recommendations for future research are provided.
Introduction
Job search, intention to quit, and employee turnover are some of the most studied
topics in organizational behavior (Hom and Griffeth, 1995; Keith and McWilliams,
1999; Lewis and Park, 1989; Steers and Mowday, 1981). The interest in employee
turnover is generally caused by the negative financial and operational implications
of separation (Gomez-Mejia and Balkin, 1992; Griffeth and Hom, 1995; Hom, 1992).
Turnover can decrease customer service levels, lower company profits, and cause
training and expatriation losses (Hom et al., 1988; Reichheld, 1993).
While many studies note the proliferation and control of turnover in
organizations, recent efforts outline conceptual models containing factors that
predict quitting behavior (Griffeth and Hom, 1995; Hom et al., 1992). In fact, many
models are synthesized in order to develop a general understanding of employee
turnover (Bluedorn, 1982; Carson et al., 1994; Griffeth and Hom, 1995; Hom et al.,
1992; Steers and Mowday, 1981). For example, Bluedorn (1982) developed a
comprehensive model that integrates the antecedents of satisfaction, as well as the
expectations about the organization formed prior to becoming a formal member.
Employee turnover is precipitated by withdrawal from work, which is generally
related to low participation in work-related activities and increased absenteeism
rates (Hom and Griffeth, 1995). Withdrawal cognitions lead to search behaviors
that involve the evaluation of labor market opportunities. Once opportunities are
assessed, quitting follows when the available jobs are more desirable than existing
employment (Hom et al., 1992). From an employee perspective, keeping an external
labor market strategy is frequently used as a means for achieving market-level
salaries (Brett and Stroh, 1997).
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Determinants of
intention to look
for work
131
Much turnover research has focused on identifying individual
characteristics that cause job separation, which include age, tenure, education,
job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Mobley (1977) specified that
negative evaluations of an employee's present job increases job dissatisfaction,
and that these negative feelings increased quit intentions. Price and Mueller
(1981) stated that various job factors such as pay, promotion opportunity, and
general training increase job satisfaction and subsequent intentions to stay.
Bluedorn (1982) highlighted demographic characteristics such as race, age,
education, and pay that affect job expectations and environmental
opportunities, which ultimately influence turnover and job satisfaction.
Mathieu and Zajac (1990) tested a meta-analytic model of organizational
commitment and found that mature, low-educated, high-paid females tended to
have higher organizational commitment compared to other employees, and
their commitment resulted in reduced lateness, quit intentions, and turnover.
Finally, Hom and Griffeth (1995) identified several antecedents of job
satisfaction such as job scope, compensation, and negative affectivity that
indirectly affect withdrawal cognition and job search.
Although many individual characteristics are highlighted in turnover
models, research on the relationships among employee turnover, gender, and
race are not extensively examined (Nkomo, 1992; Price, 1977). Despite the
different labor market behaviors exhibited by men and women, the literature
has given ``insufficient consideration to `gender' as a generic source of
differences in voluntary turnover'' (Weisberg and Kirschenbaum, 1993, p. 988).
The research that does exist generally reports conflicting results, with some
studies implying that women and members of racial minorities leave their jobs
more often than their Anglo male counterparts (Cox and Blake, 1991; Stuart,
1992), and others concluding that turnover is greater among males than females
(Barrick et al., 1994; Stumpf and Dawley, 1981). According to Hom and Griffeth
(1995, p. 2), these issuescoupled with various ``demographicchanges in the work
force may rekindle the interestof organizations in the subject of turnover''.
Job complexity is also not extensively considered in the turnover literature.
Typical factors that characterize job complexity include task identity, skill
variety, autonomy, job scope, significance of the job, and feedback, and these
job qualities generally increase job satisfaction (Fried, 1991; Fried and Ferris,
1987; Spector and Jex, 1991) and retention (Griffeth, 1985; Hom and Griffeth,
1995). Many turnover models specify that an individual's evaluation of his or
her job will influence search behavior and turnover, but few empirical efforts
have tested these ideas (Hom and Griffeth, 1995; Mobley, 1977; Price and
Mueller, 1981). According to Hom and Griffeth (1995, p. 112), the proposition,
``that satisfaction primarily translates the effects of a job's scope into
commitment or withdrawal cognitions, remains untested''. Also, women and
minorities are commonly employed in low-level monotonous jobs that lack
motivating potential and enrichment, and the effects these situations have on
turnover requires further exploration. Consequently, the purposes of this study
are to:
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