Search Results (180)

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between digital transformation, employee engagement, and turnover intention, with particular emphasis on the mediating role of employee engagement. Using a quantitative research design, data were collected from 240 employees working in public and private sector organizations in Saudi Arabia. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to examine the proposed relationships. The findings reveal that employee engagement serves as a significant mediator in the relationship between digital transformation and turnover intention. Specifically, employees reporting higher levels of engagement are less likely to express intentions to leave their organizations during periods of technological change. In contrast, the direct relationship between digital transformation and turnover intention was not statistically significant, indicating a full mediation mechanism. These findings contribute to the literature by enhancing understanding of the human and organizational dimensions of sustainable digital transformation, particularly within emerging economies. The results suggest that the success of digital transformation initiatives depends not only on technological investments but also on fostering employee engagement to support workforce sustainability and long-term organizational resilience. By promoting engagement, organizations can strengthen employee retention, maintain workforce stability, and support sustainable organizational performance during periods of digital change. Consequently, the study highlights employee engagement as a critical mechanism for achieving both digital transformation objectives and broader sustainability goals related to human capital development, employee well-being, and sustainable organizational growth. Full article

The global and national skills shortages, shifting employee work attitudes post-COVID pandemic, and the presence of a multigenerational workforce with diverse needs and preferences have sparked interest in employee retention. Traditional one-size-fits-all retention strategies are becoming less effective, and contemporary organisations are focusing on tailored retention strategies. The effectiveness of the tailored retention strategy does not only rely on its design but also on how it is perceived and experienced by employees. However, few studies have explored employees’ perceptions of their organisation’s employee retention strategy in the South African context. Hence, the objective of this study is to explore professional engineers’ perceptions of their organisation’s employee retention strategy and how these perceptions influence their intention to stay or leave the organisation. A qualitative research approach underpinned by the constructivism paradigm was employed in this study. A single case study was adopted, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 professional engineers working at a manufacturing organisation participating in the study. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings indicated that the professional engineers were unaware of, and did not fully understand, their organisation’s employee retention strategy, and they felt that their organisation was not adequately implementing a robust, dynamic one, which resulted in high turnover. They indicated that the retention strategy seemed to lack provisions for career growth opportunities and formal mentorship programs and failed to embrace technological advancement, which influenced engineers to leave the organisation. They perceived that their organisation provided competitive compensation, onboarding, and offboarding, as well as training and development, though implementation gaps existed. This study suggests that organisations should develop a robust, dynamic employee retention strategy and widely communicate it to their workforce. A robust, well-communicated employee retention strategy is likely to positively influence employee perceptions and enhance the organisation’s employer brand, thereby facilitating retention. Full article

This study investigates the relationship between toxic workplace culture and voluntary employee turnover, undermining workforce sustainability in Ghana’s construction industry. While some previous research has found a relationship between a toxic working environment and employee withdrawal habits, few studies have investigated the psychological processes between the toxic work culture and employee turnover in Global South construction companies. Based on the theories of Conservation of Resources and Social Exchange, this research examines the possible mediating factors between the toxic work culture and employee turnover: employee burnout, psychological safety, and job dissatisfaction. Structured questionnaires were used to design a quantitative cross-sectional survey, which was administered to 174 construction workers in Ghana. The data were analysed using mediation regression models based on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The findings show that a hostile work environment and a lack of organisational support were the two highest dimensions of work culture assessed as negatively impacting employee burnout, psychological safety, and attrition intentions. Employee burnout was the only significant predictor for voluntary employee attrition (β = 0.3628, p < 0.001), and psychological safety had a significant protective effect (β = −0.1785, p = 0.016). Mediation accounted for 67.4% of the variance in attrition outcomes. This paper shows how a negative organisational climate can undermine the stability of human resources, psychological well-being, and the social dimension of sustainability in construction companies. The results indicate that organisational support, leadership accountability and psychologically safe working environments are important for increasing employee retention and long-term organisational resilience. Full article

Background: Managing occupational stress in healthcare services is critical because frontline workers operate under multiple job demands. Objective: We extend the literature on health psychology and organizational behavior by examining how two types of occupational stress—eustress and psychological distress—impact the performance of frontline healthcare service workers. We also investigate the interactive influence of stress management strategies—savoring and avoidance coping—on the performance effects of occupational stress. Methods: We surveyed 400 frontline healthcare service workers across the globe using MTurk. We used Smart PLS4 to assess our measures and test our hypotheses. Results: Job demands—a higher-order construct comprising workload, role conflict, and work complexity—had a non-significant effect on eustress (β = 0.037, p = 0.596) but a significant positive effect on psychological distress (β = 0.566, p < 0.001). Eustress had a positive effect on employee engagement (β = 0.229, p < 0.001) and savoring (β = 0.437, p < 0.001). Psychological distress had a positive effect on turnover intention (β = 0.275, p < 0.001) and avoidance coping (β = 0.525, p < 0.001). The interaction between savoring and eustress had a negative effect on employee engagement (β = −0.162, p = 0.003). The interaction between avoidance coping and psychological distress had a negative effect on turnover intention (β = −0.058, p = 0.054). Conclusions: Job demands in frontline healthcare services manifest as hindrance stressors that increase workers’ psychological distress. Avoidance coping is an effective strategy for managing psychological distress and reducing workers’ turnover intention. Full article

Background: The retention of Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) is critical for the integrity and sustainability of clinical trials in South Africa, an emerging hub for global clinical research. High CRA turnover threatens trial quality, data continuity, and site relationships, yet the context-specific drivers of turnover within the South African clinical research landscape remain poorly understood. This study explores the factors influencing job satisfaction and turnover intentions among CRAs to inform targeted retention strategies. Methods: A qualitative, interpretivist study was conducted using semi-structured interviews. Twelve CRAs with experience in South African Contract Research Organizations (CROs) were sampled on LinkedIn using purposive sampling. Data were analyzed iteratively using thematic analysis within Atlas.ti 26.0.1.33961 software, guided by Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory and Mobley’s Turnover Model. Results: The analysis revealed a complex model of turnover drivers. Compensation was the most salient factor, operating not only as a hygiene factor but also as a direct motivator for job mobility in a competitive market. Unsustainable workload and a culture stigmatizing discussions of overload were key push factors. Intrinsic motivators were equally decisive: misalignment with therapeutic area preferences caused profound dissatisfaction, while alignment fostered engagement. Career growth manifested dual pathways: ambition for vertical progression and a redefined search for horizontal growth into roles offering greater work-life flexibility. Conclusions: CRA turnover is driven by an interplay of extrinsic pressures and intrinsic motivational deficits. To enhance retention, managers must adopt a multi-pronged strategy: implement market-competitive, well-being-oriented compensation; foster a culture that supports open workload dialogue; create transparent career architectures with dual progression tracks; and facilitate internal mobility across therapeutic areas. This study provides a foundational framework for developing context-sensitive retention policies, thereby contributing to the stability and quality of clinical research in South Africa. Full article

The study aimed to examine how customer incivility (CI) spills over into workplace deviance (WD) and turnover intentions (TI) among Egyptian hotel kitchen staff through the mediating mechanism of emotional exhaustion (EE), while also assessing the moderating role of moral disengagement (MD). Specifically, the study sought to (1) investigate the impact of CI on EE; (2) examine whether EE mediates the relationships between CI and both WD and TI; and (3) test whether MD strengthens the effects of EE on WD and TI. The study’s theoretical foundations were anchored in the conservation of resources (COR) theory and social cognitive theory (SCT). We developed a moderated mediation model and tested it using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique based on data collected from 300 kitchen staff at four- and five-star hotels in Hurghada, Egypt. Findings demonstrated that CI had a positive effect on EE, and that further EE affects WD and TI. EE partially mediates the relationships between CI and these two model outcomes (WD and TI). Furthermore, MD moderates the relationships between EE and both WD and TI, such that these positive effects are amplified among employees with higher levels of MD. Multi-group analysis further indicates that the moderating effect of MD on the EE–deviance relationship is stronger for long-tenure employees. These findings extend COR theory to back-of-house hospitality populations and integrate SCT’s moral detachment framework to explain heterogeneous employee responses to emotional depletion. Theoretical contributions, practical implications for hotel management, and directions for future research are discussed. Full article

Voluntary turnover represents a critical challenge in essential public services, where workforce attrition affects both employee well-being and service quality. The primary objective of this study was to identify the psychosocial predictors of well-being profiles and turnover intention among public transport workers, using the Job Demands–Resources model as a theoretical framework. A cross-sectional study design was employed, with 131 employees of an Italian public transport company completing a questionnaire assessing turnover intention and key psychosocial factors (job satisfaction, perceived work-related stress, work engagement, meaning of work, and perceived workplace safety). The analytical strategy integrated Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), logistic regression, and path analysis. LPA identified two distinct well-being profiles: a “low well-being profile,” with high perceived stress and low engagement and meaning of work; and a “high well-being profile,” with low stress and high engagement and work meaning. Logistic regression analyses showed that satisfaction with pay and the intrinsic nature of work tasks predicted membership in the high well-being profile. Path analysis indicated that profile membership significantly predicted turnover intention, with employees in the high well-being profile reporting lower turnover intention. Additionally, satisfaction with supervision, perceived workplace safety, and age showed direct effects on turnover intention. These findings highlight the organizational and psychological resources that can increase employee well-being and retention in the public transport sector, offering insights for preventive interventions and for promoting safer and more sustainable public transport systems. Full article

Workplace bullying is a pervasive interpersonal stressor with well-documented negative consequences for employees; however, the understanding of the psychological processes linking bullying to employee outcomes remains fragmented and constrained by methodological similarity. As a result, it remains unclear which psychological mechanisms are most central in explaining how bullying affects employees, particularly at the within-person level. Addressing this gap, the present study compared within-person variation in two mediating processes: basic psychological need (BPN) frustration and psychological capital (PsyCap). Eighty-five participants participated in a five-wave weekly diary study, completing a total of 356 surveys. As predicted, within-person variation in weekly bullying exposure predicted poorer outcomes (i.e., lower energy, higher stress, reduced belonging, and greater turnover intentions). Multilevel mediation analyses showed that BPN frustration mediated these relationships: weeks with more bullying were associated with greater need frustration and poorer outcomes. In contrast, PsyCap did not mediate these relationships. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models provided no support for lagged mediation effects, indicating that neither BPN frustration nor PsyCap transmitted the effects of bullying across weekly intervals. These findings demonstrate that workplace bullying undermines employee outcomes primarily through the contemporaneous frustration of BPN and underscore the importance of organizational interventions that support employees’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Full article

The hotel industry is widely induced by emotional transactions between frontline employees and their guests leading to unintentional transfer of emotions, a phenomenon known as emotional contagion (EC). EC can result in positive or negative outcomes in the workplace influencing employees’ well-being and performance. This research paper explored direct effects of emotional contagion (EC) on (H1) employees’ well-being (PW), (H2) job performance (JP), and (H3) turnover intention (IL). Based on the affective events theory (AET) and the social exchange theory (SET), employee’s psychological well-being was employed as a mediating factor (H6-H7) and leader–member exchange (LMX) as a moderator variable that might alleviate the adverse consequences of EC (H8). Cross-sectional survey data were collected online from 792 frontline employees. The proposed model was evaluated with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed that EC can significantly weaken PW, which accordingly decreases JP and increases IL. Nonetheless, strong levels of LMX can alleviate these harmful influences, emphasizing the main significant role of LMX in regulating emotional dynamics in the service workplace. This study expands our understanding of how emotional mechanisms and LMX practices can adjust employee resilience, retention, and performance in the context of high-emotion service. Full article

Rapid workplace changes have been associated with increased burnout and turnover intention. This study investigates the mechanisms linking decent work to employees’ turnover intention through a moderated mediation framework, in which burnout mediates the association between decent work and turnover intention, and career calling is hypothesized to moderate both the effect of decent work on burnout and the effect of burnout on turnover intention. A cross-sectional sample of 225 employees from diverse sectors in Portugal completed self-report measures. Data were analyzed using PROCESS, with 5000 bootstrap resamples. Decent work was negatively related to burnout, which in turn predicted higher turnover intention, supporting the mediating role of burnout. Career calling moderated the association between decent work and burnout, with the indirect effect of decent work on turnover intention via burnout significant at moderate and high levels of calling, but not low levels, indicating a partially supported moderated mediation. These findings highlight burnout as a key mechanism linking decent work to turnover intention, show that career calling amplifies the protective effect of decent work, and underscore the relevance of strategies aimed at fostering healthier, resilient, and sustainable workplaces. Full article

Turnover is a major concern for the hotel and hospitality industry on a global scale. This research focuses on several Middle Eastern five-star hotels in terms of transactional leadership and its relationship with employees’ turnover intentions. In addition, the mediating effect of organizational climate, along with the moderating influence of psychological contract fulfillment are examined. This research combines the premises of social exchange, organizational support, and psychological contract theories to support the development of hypotheses. A total of 350 employee data from five-star hotels in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain was gathered using surveys using a convenience sampling method. The research used Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the hypotheses, which were supported by the results obtained. The importance of organizational climate and fulfilling psychological contracts is highlighted, which, under transactional leadership, can reduce turnover intentions. This is critical for the labor-intensive hotel sector with high turnover rates and random and unpredictable tasks. Transactional leadership is found to be a good fit for the Middle Eastern hotel sector through routinization and a structural approach. The current findings can be beneficial for scholars and practitioners. Full article

This study examines the impact of role overload on female hoteliers’ intention to quit, highlighting the mediating role of work–family conflict and the moderating role of co-worker support. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, the research conceptualizes role overload as a key job demand that depletes employees’ personal and emotional resources, triggering strain and turnover intentions. Data were collected from 255 full-time female employees working in five-star hotels in Egypt and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via WarpPLS software version 8. The findings reveal that role overload significantly increases both work–family conflict and intention to quit, while work–family conflict partially mediates the relationship between role overload and turnover intentions. Moreover, co-worker support plays a crucial buffering role, weakening the positive effects of both role overload and work–family conflict on intention to quit. The study contributes to hospitality research by providing a gender-sensitive understanding of how high-demand hotel environments affect female employees’ retention and highlights the importance of co-worker support as a practical intervention to mitigate turnover among women employees. These insights offer valuable guidance for hotel managers aiming to enhance employee well-being and reduce attrition in luxury hotel settings. Full article

This study investigates the determinants of turnover intention among real estate sales professionals in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), two markets that represent contrasting economic realities within the MENA region. Drawing on Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, and March and Simon’s Push-Pull Model, this study adopts a multidimensional framework to assess the effects of compensation, job stress, career growth opportunities, and work–life balance on employee retention. A quantitative method was employed using a structured questionnaire administered to 832 respondents (425 in the UAE and 407 in Lebanon), and data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results reveal that job stress is the most influential predictor of turnover intention, particularly in Lebanon, followed by work–life balance, compensation, and career growth opportunities. These findings underscore the importance of psychological well-being and structural incentives in talent retention. By offering empirical evidence from an underexplored regional labor market, the study contributes to the global turnover discourse and provides comparative insights into the labor dynamics of both a crisis-prone and a high-growth economy. The results carry significant practical implications for HR managers, firm owners, and policymakers, highlighting the necessity of adopting holistic and context-sensitive retention strategies that extend beyond financial rewards to include flexible work arrangements, career development frameworks, and supportive workplace cultures. Full article

Workplace behaviors and employee outcomes, such as team functioning, job satisfaction, and intentions to leave, are crucial for healthcare quality and safety. It highlights the substantial productivity, societal, and economic costs of worker well-being. Against this backdrop, this study examines how two dimensions of organizational culture: ethical climate and perceived managerial competence, together with team support, relate to job satisfaction and turnover intention among healthcare professionals. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey was conducted with 430 physicians, nurses, and other clinical staff in public and private institutions across the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Using established scales and structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS, we first verified satisfactory reliability and construct validity via exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The structural model showed that ethical organizational culture and managerial competence are positively related to team support and, directly or indirectly, to higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intention. Team support was positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to turnover intention and significantly mediated the effects of both ethical climate and managerial competence on these outcomes. In addition, job satisfaction was strongly and negatively correlated with turnover intention, underscoring its central role in retention. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) integration into human resource management (HRM) in recent years has revolutionized HRM processes, thus affecting employee job behavior and turnover intentions. While much of the existing research has focused on the decision-making capabilities of AI, how and when AI-driven HRM empathy influences employee behavior and performance remains unclear. This study draws on organizational commitment theory to investigate how AI-driven HRM empathy affects employee outcomes, including job and organizational engagement, job satisfaction, employee performance, and turnover intentions. A time-lagged survey design was employed to collect data from 359 employees in China. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationships among the constructs. The findings revealed that AI-driven HRM empathy enhances employee engagement, which subsequently improves job satisfaction, enhances job performance, and decreases turnover intentions. This research advances understanding of how employees experience workplace technologies by highlighting the novel role of empathy as a human-like quality that is embedded in AI-enabled HRM systems. The findings suggest that organizations must develop targeted solutions for their AI-driven HRM workplace strategies. This research makes a valuable contribution to the developing knowledge about AI in human resources by demonstrating how AI-driven HRM empathy influences workplace participation and employee retention. Full article