同事离职对留任员工离职意图影响的机制研究

Research of the Influence Mechanism of Coworker Turnover on Stayer Turnover Intention

同事离职事件对留任员工的影响是员工离职研究的新动向,但同事离职情景下探索留任员工的心境、情绪反应的研究仍存在不足。结合社会比较理论和归因理论提出假设模型,探讨同事主动离职对留任员工离职意图的影响,分析情景妒忌的中介效应和离职归因的调节效应。对所在高科技行业的4家公司198名员工进行问卷调查,采用阶层回归分析进行检验。研究结果表明,离职同事向上流动、留任员工与离职同事的表层相似性越高,留任员工的离职意图越高;离职同事向上流动、留任员工与离职同事的表层相似性越高,留任员工产生的情景妒忌也越强烈;离职同事向上流动、留任员工与离职同事的表层相似性通过情景妒忌影响留任员工的离职意图;留任员工对离职同事离职的外部归因会加强离职同事向上流动和留任员工与离职同事的表层相似性与留任员工情景妒忌的正向关系。深入探索同事离职事件的影响机制,对处置同事离职事件并降低其负面影响具有实践意义。

The influence of coworker turnover on a stayer turnover is an emerging issue in employee turnover research. Scholars have devoted efforts on investigating the effects of eoworker turnover on stayer work behavior and attitude. However, few studies have focused on the role of stayer emotional reaction and the mechanism between coworker turnover and stayer turnover intention. On the basis of social comparison theory and attribution theory, we propose that coworker upward mobility, stayer perceived similarity to coworkers, and stayer closeness with coworkers may influence stayer turnover intention via episodic envy. Stayer attribution may respectively moderate the relationship between coworker upward mobility, stayer perceived similarity to coworkers, closeness with eoworkers and stayer turnover intention. In this study, we collected data from 198 employees in 4 foreign-owned high-tech companies in China. Questionnaires were distributed to the respondents in 2 periods： we surveyed the independent, mediating, and moderating variables in July 2014; we surveyed the dependent variable in September 2014. Before conducting hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypothesis, we used confirmatory factor analysis to ensure that common method bias will not influence the results. Results show the followings： （1）coworker upward mobility and stayer perceived similarity to coworkers positively influence stayer turnover intention; （2）coworker upward mobility and stayer perceived similarity to coworkers positively influence stayer episodic envy; （3）stayer episodic envy mediates the effects of coworker upward mobility and stayer perceived similarity to coworkers on stayer turnover intention; （4）stayer external attribution toward coworker turnover enhances the effects of coworker upward mobility and stayer perceived similarity to coworkers on stayer turnover intention. However, closeness with coworkers is negatively related to stayer episodic envy. Our research enriches social comparison theory and attribution theory in an organization context. This study extends the content of these two theories by integrating episodic envy and attribution. Second, the results indicate that episodic envy and attribution both play important roles in coworker turnover context to predict stayer turnover intention. Therefore, the results provide a new perspective for studying employee turnover. Third, we suggest that when a coworker who has high similarities to the stayer leaves the organization and finds a better job, companies should find ways to manage and motivate the stayer and focus on his/her emotional changes. For example, transparent communication with the stayer after a coworker leaves the organization may influence his/her emotions. The limitations of this study include a small sample size, use of retrospective method, etc. We suggest that future studies should try to enlarge the sample size and use a longitudinal design when conducting research.