Predicting ill-health and turnover intentions at the workplace : the impact of personal, job, and organizational factors

Abstract

This study examined the joint predictive ability of organizational and job-related variables that are within the control of organizations, on work satisfaction, in order to demonstrate how the work satisfaction of employees can be influenced by organizations, thereby ultimately decreasing the ill health and turnover intentions of employees. This study looked at the influence of work satisfaction on turnover intentions, and examined whether organizational commitment (affective, continuance, and normative) partially mediated this model. This study also looked at the relationship between work satisfaction and ill-health symptoms, and examined whether coping (problem-focused, emotion-focused, and maladaptive) moderated the relationship.

Controlling for gender and age, supervisory support, organizational support, career impact on family and social life, work stimulation, ambiguity, work hours, and shift work, significantly predicted work satisfaction. Organizational commitment partially mediated the relationship between work satisfaction and turnover intentions. Finally, although work satisfaction and in maladaptive coping were predictive of ill-health symptoms, coping did not moderate this relationship.

The results of this study contribute to the understanding and prediction of turnover intentions and health. Moreover, these results indicate that there are variables within the control of organizations, that have the potential to jointly predict work satisfaction. This finding has implications for organizations because it suggests that there are controllable factors that can be altered in order to increase the work satisfaction of employees, thereby, ultimately decreasing the ill-health and turnover mentions of employees.