Job turnover versus company turnover: Reassessment of the March and Simon participation hypothesis.

Abstract

This study is designed to test the proposition that both intraorganizational and inter-organizational mobility, as opposed to interorganizational mobility alone, may be a more appropriate criterion for testing conceptual propositions regarding the prediction of turnover. To this end, the March and Simon (1958) participation model was tested utilizing two different dependent measures, job turnover and organizational turnover, among a sample of 290 retail sales employees. Measures of job satisfaction and the expectation of finding alternatives were administered and eight months later turnover data were collected. Using moderated regression, it was found that with the criterion, job turnover, the ease x desirability hypothesis was better supported than with the criterion, organizational turnover. Implications for theory and research on employee turnover are discussed. Job TUrnover Versus Company Turnover: Reassessment of the March and Simon Participation Model Job Turnover