Learning from those who leave: intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction as determinants of employee retention

A central challenge in turnover research is that employees who exit the firm are no longer observed, leaving a blind spot regarding the factors that drive actual turnover behaviour. This study overcomes this limitation by capturing the perspectives of workers who have left their respective employers. Using a unique dataset of Glassdoor reviews from U.S. listed firms between 2015 and 2022, we analyse over 700,000 employee reviews to quantify whether and how intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction influences employees’ decisions to voluntarily leave their firms. Leveraging AI models, we generate distinct intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction scores for employees, allowing for assessment of satisfaction drivers across occupational and organizational contexts. Our findings reveal that intrinsic satisfaction linked to autonomy, recognition, and meaningful work is significantly associated with lower voluntary turnover, while extrinsic satisfaction plays a weaker, context-dependent role, significant primarily for blue-collar employees and labour-intensive firms. These results stress the growing importance of meaningful work design in sustaining labour stability whereas the effectiveness of extrinsic satisfaction in retaining employees remains confined to more traditional settings.