Furlough and employee turnover: unveiling the hidden costs of relative deprivation and the moderating role of autonomy support

The study develops and empirically tests a moderated mediation framework that studies the intricate relationships between furlough-induced financial and psychological costs, relative deprivation, job turnover intentions, and the moderating roles of self-efficacy and autonomy support. In particular, we combine Relative Deprivation Theory (RDT) and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to elucidate why resource losses create subjective experiences of disadvantage through social and temporal comparisons, thus triggering turnover. The Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT) is used to theorize the autonomy support as a moderator and understand how organizational practices meeting the autonomy need (i.e., offering choice, understanding, and acknowledgement) can shape the psychological process of deprivation to turnover. The findings validate substantial effects of furlough-induced costs on turnover, which are mediated by relative deprivation. To our surprise, autonomy support enhanced, rather than reduced, the detrimental effect of relative deprivation, indicating that increased understanding and acknowledgment within organizations may lead to higher leaving intentions. This emphasizes the critical importance of managing employees’ psychological experiences during furlough using cautious communication techniques.