Understanding turnover intention in cross-country business management

Pages1717-1737
Date06 November 2017
Published date06 November 2017
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/PR-07-2016-0176
AuthorChieh-Peng Lin,Yuan-Hui Tsai,Ferdinandus Mahatma
Subject MatterHR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM
Understanding turnover intention
in cross-country business
management
Chieh-Peng Lin
Institute of Business and Management,
National Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
Yuan-Hui Tsai
Department of Finance, Chihlee University of Technology,
New Taipei City, Taiwan, and
Ferdinandus Mahatma
Institute of Business and Management,
National Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose To deepen our understanding about the development of turnover intention, the purpose of this
paper is to develop a conceptual model based on the stress theory to explain cross-country differences in the
formation of turnover intention, complementing previous literature that mainly emphasizes the effect of
monetary compensation on turnover intention without taking into account anxiety and pressure.
Design/methodology/approach Empirical testing of this model by investigating personnel across
Taiwans and Indonesias banks confirms the applicability of stress theory in cross-cultural business
management. Of the 161 Chinese-language questionnaires distributed to the employees from the three
large banks in Taiwan, 137 usable questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 85 percent. At the same
time, of the 234 Indonesian-language questionnaires distributed to the employees from the two large banks in
Indonesia, 219 usable questionnaires were returned for a response rate of 93.6 percent.
Findings This research reveals that mental disengagement fully mediates the indirect relationship between
performance-related anxiety and turnover intention, while positive reinterpretation fully mediates the indirect
relationship between work pressure and turnover intention. Furthermore, the effects of performance-related
anxiety and work pressure on turnover intention are moderated by cross-country differences.
Originality/value First, the finding concerning the full mediating role of mental disengagement
complements prior justifications of the conservation of resources theory. Second, the finding of this study
regarding the full mediating role of positive reinterpretation complements the previous findings of Taylors
(1983) theory of cognitive adaptation, which conceptualizes employees as active agents in restoring the
psychological equilibrium in the aftermath of a competitive pressurized event.
Keywords Stress, Turnover intention, Anxiety, Pressure, Structural equation modelling, Social cognition,
Mental disengagement
Paper type Research paper
Defined as a deliberate and conscious willfulness to leave an organization within a
foreseeable future (Ertureten et al., 2013), turnover intention has always been a major
concern for leaders across business organizations, because high turnover intention can
seriously hurt workplace morale and prohibit employees from developing any commitment
or identification toward their organization (e.g. Lee and Shin, 2005; Lutgen-Sandvik et al.,
2016). For that reason, it is highly critical for management to understand the relationship
between turnover intention, its determinants, or moderator in depth.
Besides, examining turnover intention in this study is important because a majority of
prior studies (e.g. Nicholas et al., 2016; Tüzün et al., 2014) have consistently found that Personnel Review
Vol. 46 No. 8, 2017
pp. 1717-1737
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-07-2016-0176
Received 29 July 2016
Revised 17 January 2017
Accepted 6 March 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
This study wasfinancially supported by Ministryof Science and Technology, Taiwan MOST106-2410-
H-263-006.
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Understanding
turnover
intention
turnover intention is the best predictor of actual turnover behavior in comparison with other
attitudinal or affective predictors. Besides, in terms of research ethics, the anonymous
investigation on actual turnover behavior is often infeasible in empirical studies because
employees who have quitted their job are hardly traceable and cannot be approached due in
part to ethical issues related to personal privacy and corporate confidentiality (Henderson
and Snyder, 1999; Joarder et al., 2011).
Extending previous literature on turnov er intention, this study integrates the
conservation of resources (COR) theory and Lazarus and Folkmans (1984) stress theory
to explain turnover intention, its predictors, and mediators. These two theories are
complementary to each other and can be jointly used to configure the thinking and coping
patterns of individuals in workplaces because the former specifically elaborates job-related
stressors (Westman et al., 2004) and the latter can link such stressors to turnover intention
through different coping styles (Vandenberghe et al., 2011).
According to the COR theory, when employees do not have sufficient resources to
effectively deal with job issues, their prolonged anxiety and pressure are likely developed
and enhanced (Houkes et al., 2003). Following this theoretical stream, the literature on stress
theory has argued that a condition of emotional or psychological strain such as anxiety and
pressure can substantially influence individualscoping styles (Admi and Eilon-Moshe,
2016; Nicholls et al., 2016) and turnover intention. Collectively, this study further suggests
that employeesturnove r intention originally resu lts from a combination of the
psychological anxiety about the job consequences (i.e. performance-related anxiety) and
the appraisal of threats in the job demands (i.e. work pressure) (e.g. Ma et al., 2016) via the
full mediation of coping (i.e. individualscognitive and behavioral efforts) (Klag and
Bradley, 2004).
According to stress theory in the literature (Folkman and Lazarus, 1985; Lazarus and
Folkman, 1988), individualscoping such as mental disengagement and positive
reinterpretation (e.g. the tendency to ex pect positive consequences of challenges)
mediates the relationship between their stressors and behavioral intention because such
coping refers to the thoughts and actions they are likely to use to deal with a situation that is
perceived as threatening or stressful (Bonneville-Roussy et al., 2017). More specifically,
the stress theory indicates that mental disengagement represents avoidance coping that is
dysfunctional and can be used to signify the indirect and negative influence of job-related
frustration and anxiety on turnover intention (Ye et al., 2016). On the contrary, positive
reinterpretation represents efficacious coping that is negatively related to turnover intention
( Jenaro et al., 2007).
The stress theory has revealed that a heavy workload can be a substantial hindrance
stressor when employees perceive that their job demand and job strain exceed the available
resources, causing tremendous performance-related anxiety and work pressure.
Performance-related anxiety (e.g. Ignacio et al., 2016; Spurr and Stopa, 2002) is defined as
the emotion displayed by an individual when confronte d with circumstances of
underperformance, whereas work pressure is defined as the perception of high
quantitative job demands such as the pace of work and workload (Evers et al., 2016).
When facing anxiety and pressure, individuals often use different coping strategies
(e.g. Gaudioso et al., 2017; Limbert, 2004; Litman, 2006; Wolfradt et al., 2003; Worthington
and Scherer, 2004) to reduce emotional dissonance and turnover intention (Huang and
Miao, 2016; Mesmer-Magnus et al., 2012; Spurr and Stopa, 2002), suggesting the mediating
role of coping strategies herein.
Despite prior abundant research about turnover intention, few studies in the literature
have examined the mediating mechanism between turnover intention and anxiety
(or pressure) from the perspective of coping strategies, which this study assesses in order to
fill the gap in the literature. In addition, whether or not cross-country differences intervene
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