The role of perceived organisational support, diversity, engagement and burnout in the retention of employees
Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify how organisational support, diversity, burnout and work engagement influence organisational commitment and turnover intention, and if perceived organisational support and diversity act as moderators to influence the outcomes of these relationships. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Data (N = 4,658) was gathered from a survey data archive that contains responses to survey questions as well as the demographical data regarding the respondents that was completed during wellness audits. The South African Employee Health and Wellness Survey (SAEHWS©) was used during the gathering of the data (Rothmann & Rothmann, 2006). Statistical analysis was done by means of descriptive statistics and relationships were determined by means of the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients (Clark & Watson, 1995). Regressions were used to predict the outcome variables of turnover intention and organisational commitment and the interaction effects were plotted, using organisational support and diversity as moderators on burnout as well as engagement. Burnout shows a strong inverse relationship with both organisational support and commitment. A strong direct relationship exists between burnout and turnover intention. On the other hand, a strong inverse relationship was found between turnover intention and organisational commitment. It was found that engagement relates positively to enhanced commitment and support, as well as decreased turnover intention. Diversity is a statistically significant predictor but does not moderate any relationship. It thus directly influences turnover intention as well as organisational commitment. However, diversity problems were also found to be positively linked with symptoms of burnout as well as an increased turnover intention A strong inverse relationship exists between diversity problems and work engagement. Organisational support was found to moderate the effect of burnout and engagement on both turnover intention and organisational commitment and seems to negate diversity problems. As conclusion, recommendations for future research are made.