Overwork, job embeddedness and turnover intention among Chinese knowledge workers

Abstract

A growing number of scholars are beginning to pay attention to the problems caused by overwork of knowledge workers. Overwork affects the health of workers in general, and has a variety of specific effects on the work of knowledge workers. This paper explores how overworking correlates with turnover intention among knowledge workers in China, and how job embeddedness acts as an intermediary factor in the role of overwork in the demission of knowledge workers. Using the data of 967 knowledge workers across 17 provinces in China, the research conducted a stepwise testing of linear regression coefficients followed by a bootstrap validation, and discovered a positive correlation between overwork and the turnover intention of knowledge workers, with job embeddedness demonstrating a significant intermediary effect. Overwork will reduce the job embeddedness of knowledge workers, thus increasing their turnover intention. Little attention has been paid to the effect of overwork on the turnover intentions of knowledge workers in China. Our research will contribute to understandings of the overwork of knowledge workers in Chinese culture. and suggest to human resource managers more rational and sustainable arrangements of the working hours of knowledge workers.