Topic: When employees are out of step with coworkers: How job satisfaction trajectory and dispersion influence individual- and unit-level voluntary turnover
Speaker: Professor Dong Liu, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior in the College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Time: 14:00-15:30pm, Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Location: Room 216, New Building of GSM, Peking University.
Abstract
This study takes a dynamic multilevel approach to examine how the relationship between an employee’s job satisfaction trajectory and subsequent turnover may change depending on the employee’s unit’s job satisfaction trajectory and its dispersion. Analyses of longitudinal multilevel data collected from 5,270 employees in 175 business units of a hospitality company demonstrate a significant three-way interactive effect of unit-level job satisfaction trajectory and its dispersion, and individual job satisfaction trajectory on individual turnover. In particular, in the presence of a negative unit-level job satisfaction trajectory and low dispersion, a positive change in individual-level job satisfaction does not affect the odds of a person leaving an organization. Put differently, an employee’s being out of step with prevailing unit-level attitudes appears to alter the relationship between his or her job satisfaction trajectory and turnover propensity. Further, unit-level job-satisfaction change and its dispersion jointly influence the overall turnover rate in a unit. The results indicate unit-level and individual-level job satisfaction trajectories have unique multilevel influences on turnover above and beyond static levels of job satisfaction. Accounting for these dynamics increases the variance in turnover behavior explained substantially. The findings increase our understanding of the job satisfaction-turnover link over time and across levels.
Speaker’s brief Bio:
Dr. Dong Liu (PhD – University of Washington) is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior in the College of Management at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests include creativity, turnover, leadership, teams, and international entrepreneurship with particular focus on exploring the multilevel interface between individuals and organizational context. His research has been published or in press in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings, and Ivey Case Publishing.
