A multidisciplinary model of voluntary employee turnover

Abstract

This paper proposes a model of employee turnover based upon the existing literature from psychological, sociological, and economic perspectives. Voluntary turnover is posited to have three major classes of determinants: characteristics of the individual employee, work-related factors, and the states of certain economic variables. The model proposes that economic factors serve to control the degree to which individual and work-related factors can explain variation in turnover. It is hypothesized that individual and work-related variables will be more predictive of turnover under prosperous economic conditions than when the economy is strained. The model also proposes four classes of consequences of turnover: individual, organizational-social, organizational-economic, and societal. Recommendations for future turnover research are discussed. © 1980.