The Influence of Perceptions of Labor Turnover on Stayers' Organizational Commitment

This study seeks to explain how perceptions of turnover rate affect the organizational commitment (OC) of stayers in an organization as a function of their beliefs as to why turnover has occurred. It examined the attributions of classified employees at Old Dominion University (ODU) about the causes of turnover. Participants were asked to indicate whether they perceived ODU's turnover to be high or low and which of three possible reasons was the most likely cause of co-worker's turnover (i.e., "People most often leave because they are dissatisfied with their jobs", "People most often leave to take a more attractive job elsewhere even though they are not dissatisfied", and "Both reasons are equally important"). Attributions about the causes of turnover were examined in relation to employee tenure at ODU. Each respondent completed the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) which measured commitment to ODU. Analysis of variance results indicate that commitment decreased mainly when employees reached tenure of 5 to 9 years and when they perceived the turnover rate to be high, while OC was high when they perceived turnover to be low. current findings support previous studies which have demonstrated that turnover can have positive and negative consequences depending on the moderator variables involved.