Social support and turnover among entry-level service employees: Differentiating type, source, and basis of attachment
Michael J. Tews, John W. Michel, Kathryn Stafford
Human Resource Management · 2020 · Volume 59 · Issue 3
Abstract
Previous research on social support and turnover has yielded mixed results. To advance research in a more comprehensive manner, the present study examined how turnover is influenced by type of support (emotional or instrumental), source of support (coworker or supervisor), and basis of attachment (affective commitmentandconstituent attachmentas mediators). In the context of entry-level service employees, these relationships were examined with a sample of restaurant servers company-wide from a casual dining restaurant chain in the USA. Coworker emotional support was directly and negatively related to turnover, and coworker instrumental support was directly and positively related to turnover. Furthermore, supervisor emotional support and instrumental support were indirectly related to turnover through affective commitment. When the mediators were considered independently, coworker and supervisor emotional support were both indirectly related to turnover through constituent attachment.
Keywords
affective commitment, constituent attachment, employee turnover, social support
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