Work attitude, loyalty, and employee

turnover.
By Joel Tan & Vicky Tan & Tan Ngoh Tiong   |   Today's Manager  -  Feb-March, 2007

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This article discusses the relationship between work satisfaction, stress, and turnover in the
Singapore workplace. In the study commissioned by the Singapore Institute of Management, a
model of intention to quit was developed to organise demographic, organisational, and attitudinal
factors contributing to loyalty in terms of staying with an organisation.

IT IS NOT easy to find good employees and it is harder to replace them. This costs the company
both time and money. Singaporean companies, in a 1989 National Productivity Board survey
indicated that they experienced a productivity loss of 10 per cent or more due to employee
turnover.

The 2006 Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) study Psychological Factors for Reducing
Turnover of Employees, focused on the question "What makes employees want to quit or the
reverse--what keeps them in the organisation?" The variables could be divided into three broad
categories: demographic factors, organisational factors, and attitudinal factors.

Demographic factors include an employee's age, gender, marital status, and the number of
children. Organisational factors refer to an employee's length of service with the organisation,
salary drawn, and the number of staff in the organisation. Attitudinal factors are job satisfaction,
work-related stress, as well as the level of commitment to the organisation.

The study indicates that those who are married, have one child and are less stressed and have
longer tenure or more pay in the organisation are less likely to report the intention to quit.
Organisational position and size are not related to loyalty, unlike having a commitment to people
and the company.

The model indicates that people who are more committed, and in particular, less stressed are
more likely to stay with the organisation. The mathematically derived model that included
commitment and stress was able to correctly classify those who had no intention to quit from
those who did with 73 per cent accuracy. This predictive model can be used only as a tentative
framework for understanding turnover intention and loyalty.

To maximise human resource and lower employee attrition, companies could focus on building
relationship and support (including work-life balance especially for married employees with
children) as well as develop programmes to handle stress management, decrease work
dissatisfaction and enhance loyalty to the organisation.
Research, such as those of Harris and Cameron (2005); Griffeth et al (2000); and Mueller and
Price (2005) suggest that variables such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment are
mediating factors for the actual action of quitting.

This article will also focus on the attitudinal factors of job satisfaction, work-related stress and
commitment to the organisation. An employee who is less satisfied with his or her job would be
more likely to quit.

Taylor and Weiss (1972), Porter et al, (1974) and Mobley (1977) and others found that job
satisfaction predicted turnover. An employee who is more stressed is more likely to want to quit
his or her job. Taylor and Weiss (1972) found that stress and exhaustion on the job can induce
turnover in employees. Mowday and his colleagues (1979) found that organisational
commitment, that is, an individual's identification with and involvement in an organisation is less
affected by daily events at the workplace.

Commitment as a variable was found by Chang, Du and Huang, (2006) to be inversely related to
turnover. It is difficult to collect data on those who had quit their job. The intention to quit,
however, has been found by Mobley (1977) as well as Steel and Ovalle (1984), to be a useful
indicator for actual turnover and serves as a criterion variable.

Sampling and Questionnaire

The data for this report are based on a survey of 493 voluntary participants, of whom 293
responded to an online survey at the SIM Web site between December 2005 and March 2006.
The other 200 respondents were volunteers from various business organisations. The
respondents' ages ranged between 26 to 35 years old and some 55 per cent were male while the
remaining 45 per cent were female.

The questionnaire was divided into two sections. The first section focused on demographic
information, while the second section focused on psychological scales measuring job
satisfaction, work-related stress, commitment to the organisation, and turnover intention.

Four scales measuring their job satisfaction, work-related stress, organisational commitment, and
turnover intention were administered. Job satisfaction was measured using the Minnesota
Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ; Weiss, Dawis, and England, 1967), a highly reliable measure
of job satisfaction. Questions included were: "How satisfied are you with the chance to do things
for other people?" and "How satisfied are you with the chances for advancement in this job?"
These questions were scored on a five-point scale, with 1 corresponding to "very dissatisfied"
and 5 corresponding to "very satisfied".

Work-related stress was measured using the job related tension index developed by Kahn and his
colleagues (1964). This scale consists of 18 items, with participants indicating how often they
"feel bothered" by stressors such as not knowing what opportunities for advancement or
promotion exist for them or feeling that their jobs tend to interfere with their family life.
Responses are again scored on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 corresponding to "never" and 5
corresponding to "nearly all the time".
Organisational commitment was measured using the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire
(OCQ). The OCQ (Mowday et al, 1979) consists of 15 statements describing participants'
attitudes towards their organisations. Items include statements such as "I am willing to put in a
great deal of effort beyond that normally expected in order to help this organisation be
successful" and "I am proud to tell others that I am part of this organisation".

Finally, turnover intention was measured using a modified scale based on the Turnover
Cognitions Scale (developed by Mowday and his colleagues, 1984). The turnover intention scale
used consisted of three items, including statements such as "I will probably look for a new job in
the near future". As with other instruments, responses were scored on a five-point Likert scale,
with 1 indicating the label "strongly disagree" and 5 indicating the label "strongly agree".

Factors Associated with Quitting

The participants in this study reported being satisfied with their jobs with a mean score of 3.42
out of a 5-point scale on the Satisfaction Questionnaire. Generally speaking, this seems to augur
well for the Singapore workforce as job satisfaction may be a vital link towards being happy at
work and being loyal to the organisation.

This study found that married employees have significantly lower turnover intention (to quit)
scores than their single counterparts. This is expected as those who are married may tend to be
more settled and this may be reflected in the work life as well.

Employees with one child were also less likely to want to quit their jobs. Further analyses
showed that people with two or more children as well as those with no children had significantly
higher intention to quit scores than those with one child. Again those who have a child may be
more stable and less prone to move. Moreover, more is at stake if they leave their job and the
uncertainty makes it a greater risk to move.

The finding that those with two or more children also reported higher scores on the intention to
leave is puzzling. This could mean that they are entering mid-life and are seeking changes or that
they are looking for better paying jobs to support the growing family.

Contrary to previous research findings such as those by Griffeth et al (2000) and Taylor and
Weiss (1972), there was no significant interaction between gender and turnover intention, except
when marital status was factored in.

Married women were less likely to quit compared to their single counterparts and there were no
difference, as far as marital status was concerned, in the reported intention to quit for the male
respondents. Marital status is a consideration and with emphasis on work life balance, it is vital
to retain the married employees as they are shown to be more loyal to the organisation.
Organisational size and an employee's position were not significantly related with turnover
intention.

There were correlations between other organisational variables, such as tenure and salary, and
turnover intention. These findings were consistent with those of Porter et al (1974). Tenure, or
how long they have worked at the organisation, and salary were negatively correlated with
turnover intention. In other words, employees who had been at the organisation longer were less
likely to quit their jobs.

It was also observed that the longer one stays at the job, the more loyal one is to the organisation
and the harder it is to leave. Similarly, employees with higher salaries are more likely to stay on
in their jobs. Salary, as with job satisfaction, was a factor, albeit not a critical one, as shown in
the stepwise regression analyses.

Focusing on work attitudes--work stress and job satisfaction were correlated with commitment
and these three factors impacted on the decision to leave or stay. It is thus vital to enhance
commitment in the workplace by reducing stress and increasing job satisfaction.

It is proactive to deal with turnover at the thinking stage by enhancing commitment that has to do
with building relationship and increasing participation as well as contribution to organisational
goals. It is also vital to involve staff in the organisational process that not only empowers them
but also increases their loyalty to and identification with the company.

Programmes to support employees for stress management including an emphasis on work-life

balance, especially for married people with children, would also enhance loyalty to the
organisation.

Using discriminant analysis, a mathematically derived model, which emphasised the

psychological factors of commitment and stress, was able to correctly classify the quitting and
staying groups with 73 per cent accuracy. This predictive model can be used only as a tentative
framework for understanding turnover and loyalty. It is must be noted that were no means of
doing a longitudinal study for gathering predictive measures. This is only a cross-sectional study
and the model development therefore only exploratory in nature.

The scales used in this study were selected because they are reliable measures and have been
used in conventional psychological and organisational research. There are a complexity of
attitudes impinging on the decision and action of quitting a job.

This study utilises the idea of turnover cognitions linking the demographic and organisational
variables to the thought of quitting, rather than actual act of quitting. Although evidence shows
that intention to quit is a strong predictor of the action, this may present problems in that actual
behaviour may be constrained by economic and societal or other cultural factors.

In times of economic hardship it is expected that fewer people would risk uncertainties and quit
their jobs. However, during a booming economy, a decrease in loyalty and increase in job
mobility are observed. Human resource must thus consider efforts at enhancing loyalty and
increasing the staying power of employees.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

References
Chang CS, Du PL and IC Huang, 2006. "Nurses' perceptions of severe acute respiratory
syndrome: Relationship between commitment and intention to leave nursing." Journal of
Advanced Nursing Vol 54(2), pp 171-179.

Griffeth RW, Hom PW and S Gaertner, 2000. "Meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of
employee turnover: Update, moderator tests and research implications for the next millennium."
Journal of Management, 26(3) pp 463-488.

Harris GE and JE Cameron, 2005. "Multiple dimensions of organisational identification and

commitment as predictors of turnover intentions and psychological well-being." Canadian
Journal of Behavioural Science, 37(3), pp 159-169.

Kahn RL, Wolfe DM, Quinn RP, Snoeck JD and RA Rosenthal, 1964. Organisational Stress:
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Mobley WH, 1977. "Intermediate linkages in the relationship between job satisfaction and
employee turnover." Journal of Applied Psychology, 62(2), pp 237-240.

Mobley WH, Horner SO and AT Hollingsworth, 1978. "An evaluation of precursors of hospital
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Mowday RT, 1999. "Reflections on the study and relevance of organisational commitment."
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Mowday RT, Koberg CS and AW McArthur, 1984. "The psychology of the withdrawal process:
A cross-validation test of Mobley's intermediate linkages model of turnover in two samples."
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Mowday RT, Steers RM, and LW Porter, 1979. "The measurement of organisational
commitment." Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14(2), pp 224-247.

Mueller CW and JJ Price, 2005. "Economic, psychological, and sociological determinants of

voluntary turnover." Journal of Behavioral Economics, 19(3), pp 321-335.

Porter LW, Steers RM, Mowday RT and PV Boulian, 1974. "Organisational commitment, job
satisfaction, and turnover among psychia-tric technicians." Journal of Applied Psychology,
59(5), pp 603-609.

Steel RP and NK Ovalle, 1984. "A review and meta-analysis of research on the relationship
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Taylor KE and DJ Weiss, 1972. "Prediction of individual job termination from measured job
satisfaction and biographical data." Journal of Vocational Behavior, 2, pp 123-132.
Weiss DJ, Dawis RV and GW England, 1967. "Manual for the Minnesota satisfaction
questionnaire." Minnesota Studies in Vocational Rehabilitation, 22.

Joel Tan, a research assistant, and Dr Vicky Tan are with the faculty of arts and social sciences,
National University of Singapore. Dr Tan Ngoh Tiong is professor of social work at Augsburg
College, Minnesota.

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Reference-http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/164421459.html-time-3.15