Voluntary turnover and unit performance: test and extension of context-emergent turnover theory

In a partial test and extension of context-emergent turnover (CET) theory, the authors examined the relationship between voluntary turnover rates and unit performance in a longitudinal study of 231 units of an international clothing retailer in Spain. They theorized that the relationship between voluntary turnover rates and unit performance would be stronger when human capital accumulations of departing employees were high and weaker when the human capital accumulations of remaining employees were high. They predicted further that the voluntary turnover rates→unit performance relationship would be stronger when quit patterns are clustered rather than dispersed over time. In a panel design involving 8,316 store-month observations, they found that human capital accumulations of the remaining workforce and dispersed turnover patterns buffered the negative relationship between voluntary turnover rates and unit performance. No support was found for the moderation predication concerning departing employees’ human capital accumulations.