Determinants of the Intention to Leave among Public Sector Physicians in Morocco: Proposal for a Research Model

This article highlights the worrying phenomenon of the mass exodus of doctors from the public sector, who find themselves forced to leave their posts either to join the private sector or to reinforce other countries with medical skills, thereby exacerbating the shortage of human resources in health and further disrupting the operation of public healthcare services. Our aim is, firstly, to propose a theoretical model identifying the factors most likely to influence the intention to leave and, secondly, to examine conceptually the mediating role of organizational commitment in this relationship. To this end, we mobilize social exchange theory, the organizational commitment model, and the theory of planned behavior to build our theoretical model on the antecedents of intention to leave and, consequently, voluntary turnover behaviors among public sector physicians. Our goal is to serve as a reference for further studies and contribute to the reflection on mechanisms that may curb the drain of medical skills from this crucial sector for public health in Morocco and across the globe.