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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 OVERVIEW

The literature review section examines recent research studies,

company data, industry reports that act as a basis for the proposed study. This
research study began with discussion of the related literature and relevant
secondary data from a comprehensive perspective, moving to more specific
studies that are associated with the problem of the study. This section supplied
the required secondary data to help form the basic concept of this study.

2.2 INTRODUCTION

While literature on attrition and retention activities in general industry

is easily available, such detail on IT segment is found to be scarce. Some of the
articles referred to here are articles published in American Journals. Some are
from India and UK. There are a few from Egypt, China and other countries also.
This chapter has been framed with Eighteen subsections, beginning with an
Overview, Introduction, Definitions on Attrition and Retention, Attrition in IT
sector, Attrition in other sectors, Retention, General Retention Strategies, Job
Satisfaction and Attrition, Occupational Stress and Attrition, Training and
Attrition, Role of Demographic Characteristics on turn over and Retention,
Attrition due to Supervision, Motivation for Retention, Description of Hackman
& Oldhams (1976) Job Characteristics Model, and Factors influencing
Employee Retention.
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2.3 ATTRITION AND RETENTION - DEFINITIONS

Employee attrition is the rate at which people leave an organization.

The definition of attrition is “the termination of an individual‟s formal
membership from the organization” Lee (1997) and Reggio (2003) “Employee
attrition refers truly the movement of employees out of an employer”. The
Harvard Business Essentials defined retention as the converse of turnover being
voluntary and involuntary. Retention activities may be defined as assume of all
those activities aimed at increasing organizational commitment of employees,
giving them an overall ambitious and myriad of opportunities where they can
grow by outperforming others. It is a voluntary move by an organization to
create an environment which engages employees for a long term. Literature has
overwhelmingly proved the importance of retaining valuable workforce or
functional workforce for the survival of an organization. Mak and Sockel noted
that retaining a healthy team of committed and productive employees is
necessary to maintain corporate strategic advantage.

2.4 ATTRITION IN IT SECTORS

Attrition rates vary from sector to sector and business to business.

aside from the inescapable ones like resignation, retirement, death or incapacity,
the causes are found to be several and varied. They vary consistent with the
character of business, the extent of the workers and therefore the nature of the
responsibility body part by them. The common and main reasons are stated to be
that an employee could not cope up with his peers and supervisors and low
remuneration.

John & James (1992) have suggested that seeking a consensus are the
primary tools for measuring attrition. The purpose of their discussion is that
there are multiple methods of calculating attrition and they have suggested
 32

generating a conversation/exchange of ideas about these methods to encourage

forming an accord on the mensuration ways and definitions for attrition terms.

Bennett Nathan et al. (1993) have examined the variables that have
been linked to employee turnover in micro- level investigations and to industry
turnover rates in macro – level investigation. The article examined the role of
firm characteristics, work force characteristics, and location and employee
benefit practices and employee turnover. The research was done on turnover
conducted at the individual or job level analysis, examining the cognitive
processes that precede a jobholder‟s decision to leave a firm. The findings are
that the lack of firm –level turnover, the difficulty associated with obtaining data
on turnover and its possible correlates from a heterogeneous sample of firm and
explanation is the lack of cogent theoretical model to guide such an effort.

Arora & Athreye (2002) have noticed that India has emerged as a
major exporter of software services in the international economy in the past
decade. In the initial years, the excess supply of software engineers and scientific
personnel helped the industry to grow. Further they understood that the wages in
the software industry started to rise as the demand for professionals increased.
The higher wages let alone shortage of toughened professionals light-emitting
diode to higher attrition rates. Shortage of qualified personnel and worker
attrition were two main issues expressed by several of the corporations surveyed.

Gupta (2004) has urged concerning the necessity of the hour to line
up a practical model which might map the work surroundings and therefore the
employees‟ desires. The concept of gold collared workers talks about the
employers‟ need to take care of the human assets, who in turn, brings in the
revenues. They asserted that reasons for attrition may be many. However, these
factors need to be identified for each employee. There cannot be a generic
classification of factors affecting employee turnover. Noe et al. (2003); and
 33

Guthrie (2001), have thought that there is a positive correlation between high
involvement work practices and employee retention and firm productivity. A
dis-ordinal interaction is indicated. Employee turnover is associated with
decreased productivity when use of high involvement work practices is high and
increased productivity is low.

Sudipta Dev (2005) has indicated that calculating employee attrition

rate is difficult because there are no proper theories for attrition rate calculation.
This calculation varies from one organization to another. He also discussed that
direct impact of attrition affects the morale and productivity of the business and
concluded that high attrition rate will lead to more people leave the organization
and low rate would act as a retention strategy.

Kulshreshtha et al. (2005) have analyzed and developed a theoretical

model for employee contribution and compensation and explored the problem of
attrition from an economic point of view.

Kulshreshtha & Kumar (2005) found that the concept of knowledge

workers is fast catching up in the Indian IT industry. Employers are realizing
that not only the salaries but there are many factors that determine an
employee‟s retention in a company. They look for other softer rewards like a
challenging job, clarity of work and proper training etc. Amaram (2005), has
realized that the need is not merely to drive attrition rates. He further suggests
that it is better to identify the right candidates at the time of recruitment, so that
they stay on for a longer period proving to be assets for the company.

According to Chandramohan & Vasanthikumari (2006) high attrition

rate is a major challenge for the HR manager as many individuals (mostly fresh
graduates) take it just to kill time. Once they join the sector and understand the
requirement, they start leaving the organization due to pressure of work. Again
high percentage of women in the workforce adds to the high attrition rate.
 34

Cordery (2006), has reported that the increasing difficulties in retaining skilled,
effective workers amounted to a looming crisis within the industry, and called
for the development of effective workforce retention strategies within the
industry.

Snyder et al. (2006) have examined the personnel selection of

information technology workers. Many software professionals resort to job
changes in order to gain new skills, better experience and advanced training in
latest technologies. As a result, the common time spent by these professionals in
an exceedingly explicit company is obtaining reduced considerably. It is also
possible that the comparatively short tenure of IT professionals may be due to
the focus by the organizations on hiring workers who have the technical skills
needed to deliver on the project immediately. Later, after the project is
completed they may realize that the formerly valuable skills are no longer
beneficial.

Capelli & Hamori (2006) have found employee attrition can be

attributed to both push and pull factors. Push factors involve employee
intentions to switch jobs as a result of situational elements, and are usually
related to job dissatisfaction. Pull factors, on the other hand, act as driving forces
that attract some individual toward alternative work placements. Ghosh a&
Geetika (2006) have examined the retention strategies in the Indian IT industry
with new career horizons within the industry and multiplied prospects of
mobility of IT professionals among different companies. They found that a
growing number of employees are not willing to spend their career with the
same employer.

Anupama (2006) studied “Management of call center boredom,

Employee Attrition and retention”. Her analysis shows that attrition was more
common in the age group of 20-25 years and within three months of joining the
 35

organization. She also found that attrition in call centers occur because of lack of
social interaction, career growth, personal problem, odd shifts and monotony of
work. Based on her findings she also has recommended employee retention
strategies to contain attrition.

Sudipta Dev (2007) has stated while organizations have to constantly

encounter the consequence of employee turnover, the truth is that all attrition is
actually not detrimental to an organization. It is in fact a myth that every time
employee walks out of the door, the organizational growth and development are
affected. He points out how to differentiate between what is commonly known
as “good attrition” and “bad attrition”. He lamented that it is a thin line, which is
not always easy to understand. Bloomsbury (2007) has defined “Exit interview”
as a meeting between an outgoing employee and a management representative
on the employee‟s departure from an organization may clearly show the reality
of management toward employees.

According to Srikant & Tyagi (2007) an average Indian call center

employee works with a company for 11 months, whereas an average UK call
canter employee stays in a company for three years, The reasons are; high stress
level at the job, monotonous nature of the job, loss of identify, demand – supply
disparity, vague values and vision, lack of positive direction, wrong hiring
policies, mismatched measures and rewards, overwork and burnout. They found
that most people join a BPO not for quick money but for a luxurious lifestyle at
a young age and a career that requires no particular educational background. Exit
from a BPO happens because of certain reasons like lack of growth avenues,
mismatch of expectations, dissatisfaction with the organizational policies and the
quest for a better job profile. And night shift, monotony of work and lack of
salary hikes that contribute to the attrition rate as the case.
 36

Sharma (2007) has stated that, in India, the average attrition rates
range between 12 percent and 35 percent. This makes it very hard for the
companies to develop future term strategies for internal development of skills
and knowledge. Thus, attrition is of great concern for the entire industry. The
competitive advantage of the Indian software industry owes its origin to the
availability of large number of skilled personnel at lower than international cost.
The loss of an employee results in increasing the cost in different ways. These
include cost of the position remaining vacant, cost of hiring a new person, cost
of training, loss of knowledge and loss of productivity. All these costs
accumulate and over a period of time resulting the industry losing its competitive
edge.

Nagadevara et al. (2008) have examined establishing a link between

employee turnover and withdrawal behaviours. From application of data mining
techniques, employees show withdrawal behavior. The mismatch between the
individual‟s goals and values and those of organization could be the main reason
for attrition. However, organizational withdrawal and intention to leave may not
lead to attrition every time because of personal commitments and personal
problem.

Mallikarjunan (2008) has mentioned that attrition is caused not only

by natural inevitabilities like disability and death or workplace phenomena such
as retirement and resignation, but similarly by the burgeoning mobility of HR
resources or the human capital. He analyzed the efforts for survival of corporates
amidst the competitive environment. It has thrown up new avenues that aided
attrition. Also ergonomic discomfort, functional incompatibility and inadequate
pay package have accelerated attrition. He suggested that the policies assuring
the needs and welfare of the employees would be taken care. The organizations
should project the right employer brand or an agreeable organizational behavior
 37

towards the workforces so that it instills confidence and trust in their minds and
motivates them to stay on.

Aravamudhan (2008) has examined the causes of attrition and the

strategies to be put in place to manage the increasing attrition rates. He declared
that in today‟s fiercely competitive business environment, success could be
achieved much on the retention of employees. In a knowledge-driven economy,
it is the people who are emerging as key competitive differentiators and retaining
the talent has become a matter of paramount importance. But increasing attrition
levels across the businesses are affecting HR practitioner‟s ability to come out
with good retention strategies. Punia & Priyanka Sharma (2008) have studied the
influence of organizational procurement practices on employee retention
intentions on the basis of personal and positional variables of employees in the
Indian IT industry. They also examined the variations in the corporate perception
on the procurement practices as a retention tool for IT personnel.

Anantharaja (2009) examined the causes of attrition in BPO

companies in India. The result of the study is economic status of the
organizations plays a major role in controlling the attrition. Small companies are
not able to retain the knowledge and talented employees. The author found few
factors causing attrition which vary from small organization to big organization.
High training, recruitment, hiring, lost productivity costs, and cost due to
personal leaving are associated with attrition. The author further suggested that
exit interview can help to control the employee turnover.

Atanu Adhikari (2009) examined the relationship between the high

attrition rate in the Indian Information Technology and Information Technology
Enabled Services sectors. He segmented the people into three categories; Based
on this segment, he framed retention strategies to reduce attrition rate in IT
companies.
 38

According to Gaan (2011) employee turnover has been a major issue

pertaining to Information Technology personnel. It has been noted frequently
that IT personnel have a stronger than average tendency to depart their current
employer in order to work for another. Employee Retention involves taking
measures to encourage employees to stay within the organization for the
maximum period of time. They conclude that the manager‟s practices in support
of their employees were important for reducing the turnover and enhancing
perceptions of career success in a culture known for high power distance among
managers and employees.

Ghapanchi & Aurum (2011) have classified attrition drivers into the 5
broad categories that are, individuals, organizational, job related, psychological,
and environmental variables. They found that, in the entry stage, preferred
employment duration for these professionals is significantly influenced by the
career anchors of job security and technical competence along with the
employing organization. Niharika & Gaan (2011) have examined the
relationship between the job satisfaction, organizational commitment and
employee turnover. It views turnover from attitudinal perspective. Their study
was based on a survey of 308 information system professionals from giant
companies in Indian software and BPO sectors. Results revealed that the
relationship between organizational commitment and employee turnover, and
job satisfaction seems to be explaining significant amount of incremental
variance in turnover intention. Bibhu Prasad Kar et al. (2011) studied the causes
of attrition in SMEs and the findings suggested that some important factors that
are affecting attrition in SMEs are working condition, nature of work,
organizational philosophy, salary, and career progression.

Sengupta & Santoshi Gupta (2012) have made a comprehensive

attempt to explore the dimensions of attrition by identifying the following
factors that lead to it. They are, low perceived worth, lack of equality, lack of
 39

advancement opportunities, and incompatible policy. They also found that the
working conditions of organization, dissatisfaction and de-motivation as reasons
to leave the job.

Sri Devi & Panchanatham (2012) have studied Employee Attrition in

Chennai based Call Center Industry in health aspect. The findings are the quality
of the work occupation and the employment experience is useful for enhancing
their career prospects. They imply flexible work practices accommodating some
work- life balance, opportunities to meet and interact with people and work
experience help to gain employment in a call center. (Nidhi Bish & Singh 2012)
in their research state that attrition is a contemporary fact for all the big and
small software companies.

Gaurav Bagga (2013) examined the high rates of employee attrition in

IT industry in India and put forward some possible solutions. He found that how
employees seemed most likely to leave a company after around five years.
Gayatri Negi (2013) studied the reasons for attrition and came to a conclusion
that the role of leadership styles plays an important role in controlling attrition.

Vibha Gupta (2013), Bidisha Lahkar Eas & Mukulesh Baruah (2013),
Mita Mehta et al. (2014), Towers Watson (2015), and Praveem Kumar Sharma
& Rajnish Kumar Misra (2015) have come out with a conclusion that attrition in
IT industry has terrible effects on the organization. The industry is struggling to
combat the unplanned exits of employees. Lot of expenses in training,
orientation resources, on those employees went in vain. Further, it affects the
productivity of the organization.

Bharathi & Paramashivaiah (2015) under took a study on attrition and

retention with special reference to IT and ITEs organizations in Bangalore and
found that one part of the attrition is where the employee leaves the industry
entirely, and the other part is where the employee joint other firm in the same
 40

industry. They concluded that both the parts have separate reasons which need to
be identified.

Venkatesh Kumar & Uma Maheswari (2015) have collected primary

data from 100 employees of IT industry in Chennai City on following factors;
employee path, rewards and motivation. The fifteen variables of the
questionnaire were grouped into four major heads. The findings from the
empirical study revealed that to prevent attrition and to retain the employees, the
organizations have to provide with best salary, higher education, performance
rewards and to consider the personal problems of employees working during
night shifts.

2.5 ATTRITION IN OTHER SECTORS

Attrition is prevalent in other sectors also. However, this is found

largely in IT and its related sectors. The important factors which pull and push
attrition in other sectors mostly the same as that of in the IT sector. Few studies
related to the other sectors may throw some light on the subject under study.

Bilginsoy (2003) has studied apprenticeship programs in United

States, which provide workers with the broad- based skills required for
practicing a trade via on – the – job training, sponsored either unilaterally by
employers or jointly by employers and worker unions. A assessment of the
attrition and retention rates in these programs shows that program could be
completed more likely by apprentices in joint programs than for similar
apprentices in unilateral programme by employers or jointly by employers and
trade unions. Rates of completion are lower for women than for men, and lower
for ethnic and racial minorities than for whites.

Ans De Vos & Annelise Meganck (2003) have examined the two
most frequently cited reasons for voluntary turnover were financial rewards, and
 41

a lack of career opportunities. The most frequently cited reasons to stay were
social atmosphere and a good relationship with colleagues, job content, financial
rewards, and career opportunities.

Taplin et al. (2003) conducted a large–scale turnover study in the

British clothing industry. Two factors were emerged as the most significant
reasons for employees leaving the industry. One was the low level of wage rates
in the clothing industry relative to other manufacturing sectors. The other reason
referred to industry image with staff leaving because of fears relating to the
long- term future of clothing manufacture in the UK. In this study, attrition rates
were the highest among the most skilled workers.

Deepali Upadyay (2006) made an attempt to analyze the problem

faced by employees of Larson and Toubro Ltd., and to analyze certain factors
responsible for high attrition rate in the organization and to suggest some ways
by which the company can retain its employees. The research results revealed
that most important factor behind employee attrition is opportunity for
development and growth. The second most important factor is salary, the third
factor is job content and the fourth most important factor is relationship with
supervisor. She suggested a much broader approach towards decreasing attrition
rate and retaining employees.

Hope & Mackin (2007) have explored the relationship between

employee attrition and firm size as it relates to compensation using the National
Longitudinal survey of youth (NLSY). The purpose of the study was to examine
whether employee attrition differences between small and large firms. The result
of differences are wages and benefits or some form of self- selection. Employees
of small business are simply more prone to high attrition rates than those in
larger firms. Employees of large establishments stay in their jobs longer than
employees of small establishments. Offering benefits improves employee
 42

retention. When a company offers benefits, it decreases the probability of an

employee leaving in a given year by 26.2 percent and increases the probability of
staying an additional year by 13.9 percent. The earnings results based on the
relationship between establishment size and earnings show that firm size has a
positive impact on earnings for service and manufacturing occupations.

Sandeep (2008) in his research report has revealed that the

determining factors causing increase in attrition rate and found out some
retention tools at HDFC Standard Life Insurance company Ltd. Major findings
of his research was that maximum number of employees were satisfied with the
working environment and behavior of other employees but they were not
satisfied with the performance appraisal, training and development, and too
hectic Working hours which cause attrition in the insurance sector. He suggested
some retention tools to remove the causes of attrition. The retention strategies
are that hire the right people in the first place, empower the employees, respect,
recognize and appreciate their achievements etc., Moreover it improves
employee capacity and potential with the effective utilization of manpower.

Ho et al. (2010) have attributed that employees in service industries

are motivated for attrition by both push factors like improper work life balance,
poor relations with co- workers stress at work etc., and pull factors like better
compensations, more interesting work, promotion opportunities, desire to return
for academic studies etc.

Khan, Alamdar Hussain & Aleem Muhammad (2014) have studied

the effect of job satisfaction factors like, pay, promotion, job safety and security
on employee turnover in Autonomous Medical Health Institutions in Pakistan.
The respondents of the study include 200 doctors, nurses, administrative and
accounts staff of the hospitals. The findings of the study revealed that variables
 43

like promotion, working conditions and nature of work are the prominent for the
job satisfaction level of the employees.

2.6 EMPLOYEE RETENTION

Few of the studies which exhibit the importance of retention of

employees in an organization and the strategies recommended have been
presented below:

Andrews et al. (2003) examined the moderating effect of exchange

philosophy on the relation between discernments of organizational policies and
assessments of retention. Data collected from 178 employees of distribution
services organization indicated that employee‟s perceptions of organizational
policies related negatively to manager assessments of retention. However, the
variables were only related to moderate to strong exchange ideology. These
individuals were more sensitive to a political atmosphere than individuals with a
weak exchange ideology.

Ramlall (2003) tries to determine the factors that most significantly

influence employee‟s decisions to remain employed at a particular organization
and possible reasons for choosing to leave. In addition, the study sought to
describe the importance of retaining critical employees and developing strategies
to enhance employee retention practices. Research indicates that the total cost of
employee attrition is about 150% of an employee‟s salary, it was determined that
the location of the company and its compensation package were the most
common factors in remaining with the company and that compensation and lack
of challenge and opportunity were the most common factors in contemplating
leaving the organization. Employee retention is more than a quantitative measure
of how many workers stay. But it also involves who stays with the focus being
on the employee who may be a valuable player in terms of individual and
organizational goal attainment (Hillmer et al. 2004).
 44

Employee retention is more than a quantitative measure of how many

workers stay, however additionally involves who stays with the focus being on
the worker who is a valuable player in terms of individual and organizational
goal attainment (Hillmer et al. 2004). The organizations interested in
maximizing productivity and effectiveness adopted systematic and rigorous
approaches for attracting, selection, development and retention of talented key
employees (Huselid et al. 2005).

Cordery (2006) says that retention has arisen as a consequence of

growing concern within the meat processing industry regarding employee
retention and turnover. This report specified that the increasing difficulties in
retaining skilled, effective staffs amounted to a looming crisis among the
industry, and called for the development of effective workforce retention
strategies within the industry.

Stable predictors of job satisfaction, psychological strain, and

employee retention: an evaluation of organizational change within the New
Zealand Customer Services by Angela & Paula (2006) state that changes in
employment conditions have resulted in the increased exposure of workers to
unfavorable job characteristics and to consequential increase in adverse
individual and organizational health outcomes. Staff retention and employee
satisfaction significantly improved over time and these increases were
attributable to workplace improvements. Stable predictors of job satisfaction
included minor daily stressors, positive work experiences, job control, and
perceived supervisor support.

Karia & Asaari (2006) believe that teamwork has a significant

positive impact on job satisfaction and employee commitment because the
greater the extent of teamwork, the greater is the enhancement of job-related
attitudes.
 45

Chaminade (2007) has defined retention as “a voluntary move by an

organization to create an environment which engages employees for a protracted
term”. He has prompt that retention is a voluntary move by an organization to
create an environment which engages employee for long term.

Jyostna Bhatnagar (2007) in his research article entitled “Talent

management strategy of worker engagement in Indian ITES employees: Key to
retention” investigates talent management and its relationship to levels of
employee engagement using a mixed methods research design. The results were
found as low factor indicated low engagement scores at the beginning of the
career and at completion of 16 months with the organization. High factor
intermediate stage of employment indicates high engagement levels, but the
interview data analysis indicates high loyalty only for limited time and it also
indicates three distinct factors of organizational culture, career planning along
with incentives and organizational support. The first two was indicative of high
attrition. The conclusion of this research was implementing retention in the
BPO/ITES sector referred to.

Cappelli (2008) has stated that the concept of employee retention was
derived from World War II. He further stated that Employee retention is a
process in which the employees are encouraged to remain with the organization
for the maximum period of time or until the completion of the project. The main
purpose of retention strategies is to prevent the loss of competent employees
from the organization. According to Vaiman (2008), retention management has
become a major source of competitive advantage in the modern and rapidly
globalizing business world.

Foster & Krolik (2008) have examined the factors that pose
challenges to IT employee retention, and came to a conclusion that the factors
 46

are; tactical environment, cancellation of key projects, and poorly communicated

organizational and structural changes.

Taylor et al. (2008) categorized the reasons people stay with and may
leave the organizations into four categories: Organization Issues, Job Issues,
Leader Issues, and Team Issues. Retention is just one part of the several
components that combine to create an organization‟s approach to talent
management. Litheko (2008) has stated that the Government sector admited that
one of the most difficult aspects of its jobs is the retention of key employees in
heir organization.

Ram Devi (2009) in her article entitled “employee engagement is a

two –way street” has highlighted the significance of creating a retention – rich
structure culture and discuss the drivers of employee engagement as a purpose of
the study. The author further stated that retaining talent is a critical element of an
organization‟s ability to improve profitability, manage costs, grow by
acquisition, innovation, develop new products and services and discover new
markets. The author came out with a conclusion that corporate culture
characterized by teamwork, pleasant working conditions, considerate treatment
of employees, growth opportunities, flexible- working practices and good
leadership and management practices foster employee engagement which lead to
retention.

Eva Kyndt et al. (2009) have focused on the organizational and

personal factors that influence employee retention. A special interest of the
researchers in employees‟ learning was taken along with retentions and they
found a large positive contribution of appreciation and stimulation of the
employee to employee retention. The retention benefits arising from personal
development offer new possibilities. Individual differences influence employee
retention and leadership skills and seniority has a positive relationship with
 47

employee retention. They concluded that all these factors are important for
retentions.

Shoaib et al. (2009) has conducted a study on determinants of

employee retention in telecom sector of Pakistan Telecom Sector in Pakistan by
taking 130 responses from 150 respondents regarding the impact of career
development opportunities, supervision support, working environment, rewards
and work life policies on employee retention. The study revealed that the
positive relationship between career development opportunities, supervision
support, working environment, rewards and work life policies with employee
retention.

Gurumani (2010) has attributed that employee retention is a process

in which the employees are encouraged to remain with the organization for a
maximum period of time. He found that employee retention is beneficial for the
organization as well as the employee. His findings revealed that employees
today are different. When they get dissatisfied, they move to other organizations.
He suggested that it is the responsibility of the employer to retain their best
employees. If not, the organization will lose the star performers (employees).

Allen et al. (2010) have thought that effective retention management

requires ongoing diagnosis of the nature and causes of turnover, a strategic
approach to determining in what human capital markets retention has the largest
impact on organizational success, and the development of an appropriately
targeted and organized bundle of retention initiatives. However, its strategic
importance was realized only when McKinsey consultants group claimed the
human resource as “War of Talent” in late 1990‟s (Scullion & Collings 2010).

Koustab & Sangeeta (2010) have stated that the turnover of

managerial employees at junior and middle levels has been widely recognized as
a critical organizational concern. The problem happens to be more intensified for
 48

organizations belonging to the service sector as the services provided to

client/customer groups get directly affected. A number of studies have shown
that compensation factor alone does not explain the retention of managerial
employees in the organization. This study aimed at focusing on designing and
balancing the organizational social and technical sub-system elements in order to
moderate the turnover of junior and middle level managers in the company. The
Situation Actor Process- Learning Action Performance (SAP-LAP) framework
has been adopted as the diagnostic instrument for analysis. The findings showed
that the organizational socio-technical factors have an impact on managerial
retention.

Franckeiss (2010) demonstrates how to re-engage talented employees

after they have left an organization. The “Green room” is a facilitated process
that moves beyond a simple employee exit survey approach to build rapport that
supports not only re- engagement, but also the identification and auctioning of
critical push and pull factors at play within an organization. This enables it to
develop and strengthen its employee value proposition and its positioning as an
employer of choice. Through the provision of confident and skilled third party
practitioners, the Green Room process not only leads to the successful return of a
percentage of previously quit key talent, but notifies an organization‟s talent
management, recruitment and retention strategies and practices, and can
significantly reduce attrition rates.

JayachandraBairi et al. (2011) have provided evidence of various

strategic, technological, and local issues influencing the success of retention and
its benefit to Knowledge Management (KM) programs in global IT service
companies. Organizations adopt attrition control measures for long –term
benefit. This study suggested clear benchmarks for developing employee
retention capabilities.
 49

Deepak Sharma et al. (2011) have attempted to find out the reasons
for employee attrition and to study the strategies to be employed by the
organizations to retain the employees. The factors studied by the researchers are
job security, working environment, career opportunities and salaries. These
factors are taken to analyse the reasons for employee to stay in the present job.
This study also deals with employee interest, co-workers, supervisor‟s
relationship, promotion, rewards and incentives and employee benefits.

Ramanaiah & Lavanya (2011) have studied the level of commitment

towards retention practices in IT and Non-IT companies in Chennai. They
concluded that IT companies should identify the difference between avoidable
and unavoidable departure and take measure to retain their key talent. The
results of the study were that there is a definite commitment towards retention
practices but there is a difference in commitment levels in IT and Non-IT
companies. They have suggested that employers should treat their employees as
an asset and not as a liability. Employee – centric work culture and performance-
linked salary and bonus are the key factors to be improved in Non- IT segment.

Khalid Ahmad (2012) explores the factors that can significantly

impact employee retention in an organization and attempts to relate a number of
the factors discovered to major theories such as the Employee Equity Model,
Herzberg‟s (Two-Factor) theory and Job Embeddedness theory. They studied job
embeddedness as a superior model that significantly explains employee
retention. The sample size of their study was 53 respondents selected using
simple random sampling technique and the survey questions were categorized
under six major theories of employee retention chosen as Employee Equity
Model, Herzberg‟s (Two-Factor) Theory and the Job Embeddedness Theory and
the study implies that age Two-Factor theory, is still significant for managing
employee retention in today‟s rapidly expanding service and knowledge-based
organization.
 50

Kiet Nguyen (2012) has formulated a set of tactics to improve current

recruitment and retention in an organization called Aiya. He has done his thesis
based on recruitment theory, rethinking retention model theory and motivation
theories. The findings are: that the training session is not informative or
interesting to benefit employee. The employees were not told about management
expectation and work related regulations. The relationship between supervisors
and employees was not very strong; financial benefits, recognition and
expectation and incentives were the reasons for leaving the company which are
considered to be important for retention.

Akila (2012) has studied the employee retention program in the

company called BGR Energy by daily reviewing. It was found that the
employees were found to be dissatisfied with it. This is found to be a threatening
factor for higher employee attrition rate. The author concluded that the factors
that had a bigger influence on employee retention were career opportunities,
work life balance and recognition in her study.

Rajnish & Chawla (2012) studied the key factors of retention and
retention strategies in telecom sectors. The purpose of the paper was to study the
key factors of retention, employee‟s satisfaction level about key factors and the
retention strategies being followed in the telecom sector. Exploratory research
was used in the study. The result revealed that importance of training,
consultation of the employees during target setting, satisfaction with
compensation level, rewards and recognition given to the executives, working
conditions, job capability, ability to meet targets, plans to start their own
business, satisfaction with the initiatives taken by HR, and participation in
management are the factors that play an important role in attrition and retention.

Leena James & Lissy Mathew (2012) have examined Employee

retention strategies in IT industry. This study is an attempt to understand the
 51

impact of retention strategies on employee turnover in IT sector in India. The

variables which are associated with the employee turnover namely, welfare
benefits, personal satisfaction and organizational culture, were investigated in
this study. They proceeded with two models namely job satisfaction and
organizational commitment.

Varaprsad Goud (2014) has studied the retention strategies followed

in HCL Technologies and Infosys to analyse how the retention strategies pay
way for sustainable development. He concluded that the employee retention
strategies implemented by HCL have promoted sustainable development as well
Infosys insists upon sustainable development which could promote the concept
of employee retention.

Mita Mehta et al. (2014) have conducted a theoretical study taking

into various research studies of various authors to derive the factors that impact
employee commitment and retention in a work environment. They have
examined the following factors: career development opportunities, effective
talent management strategies, recruitment, on boarding and orientation,
investment in training and development, compensation and benefits, work life
balance, culture of the organization, leadership, communication, image of the
company, autonomy and empowerment, audits, personal causes, role of HR head
and supervisors, work related policies, flexi time, performance appraisals, career
growth and development opportunities. The authors have asserted that there are
no one fixed practices which showed the importance and significance of the
influence of all these above broad factors because different organization laid
different emphasis on these factors depending upon their suitability for retention.

2.7 GENERAL RETENTION STRATEGIES

Khanna & Sushama (2008) in their study view that most

organizations today realize that a „satisfied‟ employee is not necessarily the
 52

„best‟ employee in terms of loyalty and productivity. It is only an engaged

employee who is intellectually and emotionally certain with the organization,
and feels passionately about its goals and is committed towards its values.
Moreover, in time of diminishing loyalty, employee engagement is a powerful
retention strategy. The facts that it has a strong impact on the bottom line add to
its significance.

Sajeev Sharma (2009) has classified retention strategies and ancillary

strategies. The first category involves communication, e-learning expectations
on job responsibilities, clarity, relevance, and rewards. The second category
involves supervision and supervisor, freedom of speech for the employer‟s,
talent and skill utilization, and fair and equal treatment.

Stephen Bradford (2009) has emphasized that human capital is the

most valuable asset before any business and therefore the retention of existing
talent and finding new talent are both essential. It describes the process of
recruitment step by step and the costs involved in the process.

Paul & Alison (2009) have found out that there were a few indicators
namely lack of empowerment or challenge and change in employee personal
situations for people quitting their job. They have suggested that a company that
recruits employees should consider the factors which are important for retention.
The entire company‟s design and the interaction of the newcomers with the
existing people should be studied. It must consider employee expectations and
aspirations.

Priya (2009) has stated that many companies are now resorting to
promoting their entry – level employees by various means. Though these actions
provide the employees growth opportunities in the organization but in the long
run, they would be disappointed with having to do the same work continuously
in spite of promotion. The company insists on employees passing rigorous
 53

training and work tests. The growth opportunities are considered reduce attrition
considerably. The author understood that another company allows fresh
employees to become vice presidents in about 5 years. Such promotions cannot
be mechanical but on the merit considering their contribution, potential and
growth.

Walter & Tymon (2011) have found that intrinsic reward, personal
commitment, perceived career success, were some of drivers toward retention.
They found that intrinsic rewards and personal commitment mediated these
relationships and implied the managers play a much greater role in employee
retention. Employees can improve their perceived career success by balancing
their long and short – term goals, improving their competence, and
communicating openly with their managers. To reduce the turnover, HR
professionals can provide better manager support, training, hold managers
accountable for retention, enhance the career management and more non-
monetary rewards, and learn from those who left the organization.

Shakeel, Nausheen & Saharbut (2015) have discussed retention

strategies in their theoretical framework. They have considered the following
factors to be considered for retention. The factors are: Job satisfaction, Training,
Job embeddedness, Flexible work arrangements, Career development,
Organizational values and beliefs, Organizational support, Job involvement, Job
content, Status, Organizational commitment, Work life balance, Location, Work
conditions, Relationship with immediate boss, Pay, Promotion, social
environment, Respect and recognition and Organizational justice and prestige.

Few important selected factors which cause attrition have been

explained in the following sections.
 54

2.8 JOB SATISFACTION AND ATTRITION

Job satisfaction is the pivotal one which led to attrition or retention of

employees in organizations. If an employee is dissatisfied with job, the intention
of leaving the job is intensified. Several studies based on western research, have
shown that work-related factors are major determinants of job satisfaction,
organizational commitment and turnover intentions among employees. Though,
there are a large number of studies available on the effect of job satisfaction on
attrition, a few of them have been given below:

Mobley et al. (1977) noted that age, tenure, overall satisfaction, job
content, intentions to remain on the job and commitment were all negatively
related to turnover. It is quite evident from the review of past researches that
intention to stay/quit; job satisfaction and organizational commitment were
among the most consistent, close and commonly researched determinants of
employee turnover. Job satisfaction has been acknowledged as the most common
antecedent of employee turnover. Job satisfaction is defined as how people feel
about their jobs and different aspects of their jobs. Price and Mueller analyzed
the determinants of turnover and identified job satisfaction as the most important
factor. Griffeth et al. (1984) have concluded from their studies that when high
performers receive inadequate remuneration/rewards, they look out for
alternative employment.

Meta-analytic research by Hom & Griffeth (2000) showed that job

satisfaction is a significant predictor of turnover, with overall job satisfaction
explaining more variance than the dimensions of job satisfaction itself like
satisfaction with the work itself, satisfaction with coworkers and, satisfaction
with the supervision etc. considered individually. Griffith et al. (1995)
reaffirmed that the turnover process is indeed caused by job dissatisfaction.
 55

Job satisfaction and attrition are strongly linked. An employee who is

satisfied with his job would perform his duties well and be committed to his job,
as well as the organization. On the other hand, researchers like Ahuja et al.
(2007) have opined that if an employee does not feel satisfied with the job, he
will response to the organization and thus possess a lower commitment to the job
and is therefore, likely to leave sooner or later This view finds ample support in
the literature. Several recent researchers have upheld the traditional hypotheses
that job satisfaction has a significant negative impact on employee turnover. Job
satisfaction plays an important role in determining the turnover of employees.
High job satisfaction leads to low turnover. In general, dissatisfied workers are
more likely to quit than those who are satisfied. Delfgaauw (2007) suggested
that self-reported level of job satisfaction is a good predictor for job mobility and
employee attrition. Thus, frequent satisfaction surveys act as burn indicators and
help in uncovering potential turnover intentions.

Hwang et al. (2013) have added that perceived job stress has
significant negative relationships with job satisfaction and significant positive
relationships with turnover intention.

Wakida, Edith, Lawther & Wendell (2014) from their theoretical

study, have concluded that motivating employees for better job satisfaction and
performance is very crucial and will go a long way in helping retain high
performers in the organization as there will be satisfaction.

2.9 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND ATTRITION

Occupation stress among employees has its role in intensify the

attrition in organizations. According to (Bridger et al. 2013 & Hwang 2013)
“High level of turnover intension could be attributed to work-related stress”.
Bridger et al. (2013) have highlighted the work-related stress as physical and
psycho-social job demands, role in the organization, relationships at work, career
 56

development and organizational climate and these may lead to high absenteeism,
high staff turnover, poor morale, reduced safety, and reduced operational
capability.

2.10 TRAINING AND ATTRITION

Training is considered to be one of the effective tools making an

employee organization fit. The effectiveness of training makes an employee to
decide himself to stay on or to leave the organization. Few related reviews have
been presented below:

Naresh Khatri & Pawan Budhwar (1998) in their study entitled

“Employee Turnover: Bad Attitude or Poor Management” have distinguished
between job- hopping and turnover intention. Most of the studies on turnover
were conducted in the western organizational contexts considering the effects of
demographic variables namely age & gender and correlating with uncontrollable
variables namely perceived ease of movement and job-hopping and controllable
variables namely satisfaction with pay and organizational commitments on
turnover intention. The data were collected through a questionnaire that
contained measures of job satisfaction (satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with
nature of job, and satisfaction with supervision), organizational commitment,
organizational justices (distributive and procedural), job hopping, perceived
alternative employment opportunities, and turnover intention. Food and beverage
industry and employees of retail industries were consulted and t-tests were used
by the researcher to measure their objective. Their findings and suggestions
revealed that the extent of controllable turnover is much greater than
uncontrollable turnover and that poor management practices are the major source
of employee turnover.

Capelli (2001) has suggested that training appears to have an

interesting impact on attrition. Acquisition of new skills through training
 57

enhances their attraction in the market and they become targets for poaching by
competitors. Consequently, many companies resort to the strategy of acquiring
necessary skills that are required directly from the market rather than imparting
these skills through training. On the other hand, software professionals, like any
other knowledge workers, prefer career development and challenging job over
monetary compensation. Meares & Sargeant (1999) as cited in Nagadevara &
Srinivasan (2007).

Lori Long et al. (2009) have examined the utilization of online

training course in Midwest-based landscaping companies in the United States.
Their finding revealed that the attrition was not due to dissatisfaction with course
design, technology, or content. Lack of time available both at work and at home
was the principal factor that contributed to course attrition, course enrollment
procedures, and low employee motivation and employee turnover. A mention for
implementation of online training in organizational settings is offered.

2.11 ATTRITION DUE TO SUPERVISION

Aziz Mehdi & Madhusudana (2012) have analyzed “Abusive

supervision and Employee Attrition: an Study of Executives in the Indian High
Technology Sector”. The purpose of the study was the impact of human resource
policies on attrition, the relationship between supervisor behavior and attrition,
and the mediating effect of organizational culture. They revealed that one of the
most significant HR antecedents in employee attrition is the role of the
immediate supervisors, their leadership style, and their attitude, behavior and
value that can seriously impact an employee‟s commitment to the organization,
their performance, their work life balance and their intentions to quit. Abusive
supervision results in employee aggression, withdrawal from work related
activities, health issues, loss of moral values and other negative psychological
consequences and pathologies, ultimately forcing the employee to quit in spite of
 58

other overwhelming positive factors such as remuneration, career growth, etc., as

the reasons for employee attrition.

Vishnuprasad Nagadevara (2012), he examined “prediction of

employee attrition using work-place related variables”. The objective of the
study was to develop a predictive model for employee attrition based on
workplace related variables, to evaluate the effectiveness of different
classification models based on their predictive accuracy and to identify the
influence of workplace related factors on employee attrition. Data was collected
from a large Information Technology Multinational Company. The data were
collected to see if the attrition of the boss of the employee has an impact on the
employee‟s attrition by using Artificial Neural Networks. His findings are an
influence on workplace-related factors on employee attrition and ANN models.
The result was the attrition levels of the bosses of the employees influence the
employee‟s decision to a significant extent. He suggested the work place related
variables‟ impact the predicted attrition model can help the organization to
evolve appropriate policies to retain employees for long period.

2.12 HACKMAN AND OLDHAM‟S (1976) JOB

CHARACTERISTICS MODEL

Since this study aims to propose a model based on Hackman &

Oldham‟s (1976) job characteristics model, the personal characteristics and job
characteristics are also reviewed. Personal characteristics such as age, gender,
marital status, education and tenure are included in job satisfaction studies to
establish relationship among the variables.

2.12.1 Age

Herzberg (1959) and his team discussed age and satisfaction

described with a U shaped function and the relationship, the age and job
satisfaction. Huline (1965) states the age and job satisfaction increase in a
 59

negative linear fashion. Quinn (1974) states that old workers are more satisfied.
Spector (1997) suggested two reasons regarding why job satisfaction might
increase. Because of monetary benefits, people adapt to the job by adjusting their
expectations to be more realistic, so that they are happier with less as they get
older.

2.12.2 Gender

The relationship between gender and job satisfaction revealed three

possibilities (Hoppock 1935). One possibility is women are more satisfied than
men and the second possibility is men are more satisfied than women Huline &
Smith (1964) and Looke et al. (1983). The third possibility is no differences
exists between men and women in respect to job satisfaction (Liacqua et al.
1995; D‟Aracy & Siddique 1984; Golding et al. 1979).

2.12.3 Education

The relationship between education and job satisfaction can be either

positive or negative. The negative one directly affects the younger workers, who
have a higher level of formal education. They maybe dissatisfied with
performing the routine tasks required in most jobs (Carrel & Elbert 1974).

Quinn and Baldide Mandilovitch analyzed data from 11 studies of

American workers and this analysis recognized a positive relationship between
the workers education level and overall job satisfaction (Quinn & Baladi 1980).

2.12.4 Tenure and Work Situation

Tenure is defined as the length of service Bedeicn et al. (1992). The

length of services and job satisfaction are positively related to job satisfaction. It
can be influenced by the work situation and identified challenging work,
equitable rewards, good working conditions and good co-operation from the
 60

fellow workers as main determinants of job satisfaction (Bruce & Blackburn

1992; Robines 1982; Vroom 1982).

2.12.5 Nature of Work and Equitable Rewards

The work itself is the factor that correlates most with the job
satisfaction. Work should be balanced and should not be more challenging and
boring.

Pay and promotion lead to work / job satisfaction when they are
perceived as being fair and equal promotional decisions should be taken on the
basis of fair policies and processes (Desatis & Durst 1996).

2.12.6 Working Conditions and Relationship with Immediate

Supervisor, Peers and Boss

Good relationship with immediate supervisor, peers and boss are

essential factors for the employee attrition. People want to be comfortable and
safe while they work such as lighting, temperature, noise level and tangibles
such as computers, phone, copiers, fax machines, cleanliness and ergonomically
designed chairs etc (Vroom 1983).

2.13 FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYEE RETENTION

Though a discussion on important factors and various models have

already been presented in the previous sections, few other factors have also been
discussed below in an integrated perspective for clear understandings.
 61

Table 2.1 Pay & Compensation

Authors Dimensions Findings
Branham (1957) Wage and salary Wage and salary schedules,
schedules, training, training, promotion And
promotion transfers, working hours,
And transfers, etc. holidays, annual leave or
vacation, and Other techniques
lead to satisfaction and
retention.
Smith et al.(1969) Pay, supervision, co- To increase retention; pay,
workers, opportunity supervision, co-workers,
for promotion, work opportunity for promotion, and
itself, satisfaction and work itself are to be
retention. satisfied.
Locke (1976) Work, pay, promotions, Work, pay, promotions,
recognition, recognition, benefits, working
benefits, working conditions, supervision,
conditions, etc. coworkers, company and
management creates job
satisfaction which may impact
on employee behavior like
absenteeism, complaints and
grievances, frequent labor unrest
and termination of employment.
Chan (2000) Inadequacy of staffing, Inadequacy of staffing, poor
poor salary and salary and welfare as primary
welfare, intention to influences on their intention to
leave, retention. leave.
Taylor (2000) Pensions, staff turnover, There is a relationship between
retention. employee retention and the
provision by employers of
occupational pension schemes.
Kochanski (2001) Job content, direct Types of rewards that affect
financial (cash), turnover: job content, direct
benefits,careers, and financial (cash), benefits,
affiliation, turnover, careers, and affiliation.
retention.
Renger (2002) Wages, on the job Wages, on‐ the‐ job training,
training, training experience leads to job
,experience, job satisfaction.
satisfaction.
 62

Table 2.1 continued

Mulvey (2002) Pay, loyalty, Pay leads loyalty which
effectiveness of the contributes to effectiveness of
organization, retention. the organization and retention.
Subcommittee Direct compensation Compensation leads to
(2003) (base pay, merit pay, satisfaction and retention.
incentive pay, and
deferred pay), indirect
compensation (protection
programs such as health
and other insurance, pay
for time not worked, and
other services)
Dovlo (2003) Incentives and Incentives and motivation
motivation systems, systems, salary level creates
salary level, retention. retention.
Huang (2006) Marriage, gender, Individual ‐ based, firm ‐
honored employee status, based, and market factors
relative pay (both effects job retention.
inter‐ firm and intrafirm
wages), etc.
Kim (2007) Mission attachment, Role of mission attachment as a
employee retention, pay factor in nonprofit employee
and career advancement. retention by reducing
dissatisfaction with pay and
career advancement.
Davidson et al., Better pay, working Better pay, working conditions,
(2010) conditions, training, training, career prospects,
career prospects, generational change, emotional
generational change, etc labor, burnout, organizational
culture, climate and
commitment drive
turnout.
Anis (2011) Compensation packages, Increasing compensation
employee training packages after employee
and development training and development
practices, retention. practices increases retention.
 63

Table 2.1 continued

Nawab (2011) Employee compensation, The impact of employee
job satisfaction, compensation on their job
employee‟s satisfaction and employee‟s
organizational organizational commitment that
commitment eventually result in higher
employee commitment, employee commitment,
retention. enhancing retention.
Singh (2013) Monetary strategies such Monetary and non-monetary
as performance strategies lead to retention.
linked incentives,
rewards, increment in
salary; yet good number
of innovative
nonmonetary
practices, etc
Ahsana (2013) Compensation, career Compensation, career
opportunity, training opportunity, training and
and development, development, supervisor
supervisor support, job support, job autonomy, work life
autonomy, work life policies and skill varieties leads
policies and skill affective organizational
varieties, affective commitment which effects
organizational retention.
commitment, retention.
 64

Table 2.2 Training & Development

Authors Dimensions Findings
Mccrensky Training, recognition, Training, recognition,
(1964) supervisor supervisor employee relations,
employee relations, etc personal satisfaction,
individual sense of attainment
and realizing long term
personal goals are the factors
of satisfaction which enhances
employee retention.
Garavan (1997) Education, employee Education, employee
development, development, learning,
learning, training, retention. training leads to retention.
Al- khayyat Development, training, Development, training leads to
(1998) retention retention.
Hocquet (1999) Vocational training Vocational training creates
satisfaction
Shoaib et al. Career and development Career and development
(2009) opportunities, supervisor opportunities,
support, supervisor support, working
working environment, environment, rewards, work-
rewards, work-life policies, life policies leads to retention.
retention.
Samuel (2009) Training and development, Intrinsic and extrinsic
challenging/interesting work, motivational variables
etc. influence employees‟ retention
and turnover.
Chee (2012) Employee empowerment, Employee empowerment,
training and training and
development, appraisal development, appraisal system
system, compensation are the main
compensation, employee factor for the success of a firm
retention. on employee retention.
Hassan (2013) Job training, rewards, Supervisory support and
supervisory rewards are the key variables
support, retention, job that lead to job satisfaction
satisfaction. and employee retention.
Paillia (2013) Perceived job alternatives, Perceived job alternatives
intention to provided a better account of
search, intention to leave and ocb towards the organization
organizational citizenship (sportsmanship and civic
behavior, virtue) than OCB towards
retention. individuals (helping and
altruism).
 65

Table 2.2 continued

Farooq (2013) Intrinsic motivational Intrinsic and extrinsic

variables (need motivational factors influence
for achievement, need for employee retention
affiliation,
need for power and training
and
development), etc.
Beynon et al. Training, satisfaction, loyalty, Satisfaction with training
(2014) turnover, retention. impact retention and employee
loyalty.

Table 2.3 Job Embeddedness

Authors Dimensions Findings
Mitchell (2001) Perceived organization Perceived organization
support, longterm support, long-term career
career development, high development, high
involvement and job involvement and job
satisfaction, job satisfaction, job
embeddedness (link, fit & embeddedness (link, fit &
sacrifice) sacrifice) increases employee
retention and
burn out, unscheduled
working and job stress
disrupt the required work life
balance negatively affects
retention.
Young (2013) Job-embeddedness links, fit, Job-embeddedness links, fit,
and and sacrifice, job
sacrifice, intent to stay, job satisfaction, employee
satisfaction, employee engagement, and
engagement, organization commitment
and organization leads to retention.
commitment.
Zhang (2013) Job embeddedness, retention, Jo embeddedness leads to
and retention.
turnover.
 66

Table 2.4 Job Satisfaction

Authors Dimensions Findings
Proctor et al. Job satisfaction, retention. Job satisfaction leads to
(1976) retention
Schneider (1992) Employee satisfaction Employee satisfaction leads
to retention.

Cranny et al. Employee satisfaction Employee satisfaction leads

(1992) to retention.

Rust et al. ( 1996) Employees as customers, job The metaphor of employee

satisfaction, job retention, as customer
turnover increases satisfaction and
thereby retention.
Goodson (2002) Loyalty, customer A loyalty link that ensures
satisfaction and customer
retention, employee service, satisfaction and retention
satisfaction and retention. through employee service,
satisfaction and retention.
Mcguire (2003) Job satisfaction, money, Job satisfaction is not all
benefits, about money, or even
respect, recognition, and benefits. Respect,
organizational commitment, recognition, and
retention. organizational commitment
are what employees want in
their jobs and that
satisfaction leads to
retention.
Mackintosh Push and pull factors, job Push and pull factors and job
(2003) satisfaction, and retention. satisfaction leads to
retention.
Ahmad et al. Personal, push, pull factors, Personal, push and pull
(2010) turnover, factors influences job
satisfaction, retention satisfaction and ultimately
retention and turnover.
 67

Table 2.5 Flexible Work Arrangements

Authors Dimensions Findings
Aryee (1998) Satisfaction, work schedule Satisfaction with work
flexibility and supervisor work- schedule flexibility and
family support, retention. supervisor work-family support
is related to retention-relevant
outcomes.
Thompson et al. Flexible time policies, work- Flexible time policies, reduce
(2003) family conflict, retention. work-family conflict leads to
retention.
Ling (2006) Family-friendly employment Work-life balance, flexibility,
policies, flexibility to work, friendly
work-life balance, job policies lead to job satisfaction.
satisfaction.
Goud (2014) Trust, transparency, flexibility, Trust, transparency, flexibility,
feedback, talent transformation, feedback, talent transformation
employee engagement, job leads to retention & job
satisfaction, retention engagement leads to job
satisfaction and retention.

Table 2.6 Organization Support & Work-Life Balance

Authors Dimensions Findings
Hackman (1980) Redesign of jobs and work The redesign of jobs and work
systems, systems is frequently carried
organizational productivity, out to increase
quality of organizational productivity
the work experiences, and/or to improve the quality
satisfaction. of the work experiences of
organization members and
hence satisfaction.
Kinnunen (1998) Work family conflict, Work-life balance leads to
occupational satisfaction and retention.
wellbeing, satisfaction,
turnover,
retention.
Parasuraman Work life balance, autonomy, Work life balance, autonomy
(2001) schedule flexibility at work, and schedule flexibility at
job work, job involvement and job
involvement, job satisfaction, satisfaction leads to retention.
retention
 68

Table 2.6 Continued

Eisenberger (2002) Perceived organization PSS leads to pos and,
support, ultimately, to job
perceived supervisor support, retention
employee turnover & retention
Boxall (2003) Employee turnover, employee Work–life balance, employee
retention, work–life balance, commitment, employee
employee commitment, expectation, pay, career
employee development, promotion,
expectation, pay, career security, relationships with co-
development, workers and supervisors leads
promotion, security, to retention.
relationships
with co-workers and
supervisors.
Hammer et al. Work to family and family to Work to family and family to
(2003) work work conflict leads turnover,
conflict, turnover. balance creates retention.
Bhatnagar (2007) Employee engagement, Employee engagement,
loyalty, loyalty,
organizational culture, career organizational culture, career
planning, incentives, planning,
organization incentives, organization
support, etc support, employee satisfaction,
employee commitment and
employee involvement leads to
retention.
Aslam (2011) Work-family conflict (wfc), Positive but insignificant
family work relationship
conflict (fwc)), turnover between work-family conflict
intention, retention. (wfc), family work conflict
(fwc) and turnover intention of
employees.
Irshad (2011) Organization fit (employee Organization fit (employee
personal personal value match),
value match), organization organization culture, family
culture, support and flex time culture,
family support and flex time compensation, reward and
culture, recognition, training and career
etc. development, promotion
opportunities, work
environment, organizational
justice (distributive justice and
procedural justice) leads to
motivation then retention.
 69

Table 2.7 Job Involvement

Authors Dimensions Findings
Zeithaml et al. Employee involvement, Employee involvement
(1985) satisfaction creates satisfaction
Bowen (1988) Employee involvement, Employee involvement
satisfaction creates satisfaction
Caillier (2011) Motivation, participation in Motivation is positively
decision making, mission- associated with employee
contribution, and a turnover intentions. On the
fair reward system, turnover other hand, participation in
intentions, retention. decision making, mission-
contribution, and a fair
reward system are not
associated with employee
leave intentions.

Table 2.8 Job Content

Authors Dimensions Findings
Heskett (1994) Internal quality of a working Internal quality of a working
environment, loyalty, environment contributes
productivity, satisfaction, most to employee
retention. satisfaction. Employee
satisfaction drives loyalty
and retention. Employee
loyalty drives
productivity.
Ramlall (2003) Location of the company, Location of the company,
job itself, compensation, job itself, compensation,
reputation, career reputation, career
development, job security, development, job security,
organization culture, organization culture,
challenge, t&d, challenge, T&D,
empowerment, attractive empowerment, rewards and
benefits, rewards and recognition and attractive
recognition, job satisfaction, benefits leads to job
retention satisfaction which creates
retention.
 70

Table 2.8 continued

Kim (2005) Job characteristics, work Job characteristics, work

environment, and human environment, and human
resource management resource management
practices, participatory practices, participatory
management, and management, and
opportunities for opportunities for
advancement, salary, advancement, salary
turnover intentions and satisfaction influences their
retention. turnover intentions and
retention.
Vos (2009) Career opportunities, Career opportunities,
financial rewards, social financial rewards,
atmosphere, job content, social atmosphere, job
work-life balance, employee content, work-life balance
loyalty, turnover, retention. impact on employee loyalty
that leads to retention.
Khan (2011) Hr strategies, work place Hr strategies, work place
environment, training and environment, training and
development, compensation, development, and
turnover, employee compensation are more
retention. effective in employee
retention.
Bigdeli (2013) Organization retention, Internal environmental
motivational factors, internal factors, external
environmental factors, environmental factors, and
external environmental finally motivational factors
factors. influence the employee‟s
retention in the decreasing
order.
 71

Table 2.9 Organization Commitment

Authors Dimensions Findings
Feris (1976) Organization commitment, Individual's length of service
personnel retention, job and the perception of the
satisfaction, organization command's concern for
climate Degrees of human resources are more
commitment are successful powerful predictors than the
predictors of retention and concern for salary, status,
motivation. and educational
opportunities.
Etheridge (1989) Degree of organizational Awareness of the existence
commitment, satisfaction, of community programs,
retention, family support family support, degree of
organizational commitment,
and satisfaction are related
to retention.
Sutherland High levels of High levels of ndividualism,
(2004) individualism, need for need for challenge and focus
challenge and focus on on personal development,
personal development, job job satisfaction and
satisfaction and organizational commitment
organizational commitment, leads to retention.
turnover, retention.
Kotze (2005) Organizational commitment, Employee well-being,
retention, employee well- employer of choice and
being, employer of choice organization climate leads to
and organization climate, job satisfaction which
job satisfaction. eventually leads to
commitment. Organizational
commitment leads to
retention.
Bashir (2008) Career opportunities, work- Career opportunities, work-
life policies, job life policies, job
characteristics, characteristics will lead to
organizational commitment, organizational commitment
retention. which ultimately influences
retention.
 72

Table 2.9 continued

Brown (2013) Job satisfaction, Job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, organizational commitment,
organizational culture and organizational culture and
values, feelings of being values, feelings of being
valued and lack of time to valued and lack of time to
complete tasks, work/life complete tasks leading to
balance, retention. work/life imbalance impacts
retention.

Table 2.10 Relation with Supervisor

Authors Dimensions Findings
Nimir (1992) Working conditions, pay, Working conditions, pay,
supervision, promotion, co- supervision, promotion, co-
worker, social environment, worker, social environment
job satisfaction, retention leads to job satisfaction
which drives retention.
Dipietro (2004) Employment characteristics Employment characteristics
such as nice people to work such as nice people to work
with, humane approach to with, humane approach to
employees, and hourly employees, and hourly
wages, turnover, retention. wages lead to retention.
Brown (2004) Organizational mission, Organizational mission,
communications and the role communications and the role
of supervisors and managers, of supervisors and managers,
pay, job satisfaction and pay increase job satisfaction
employee retention, and employee retention.
turnover.
 73

Table 2.11 Organization Values, Beliefs & Culture

Authors Dimensions Findings
Schneider (1987) Organizational climate and Organizational climate and
culture, retention culture creates retention.
Chatman (1989) Person-organization fit, Organizational and
organizational and individual values, leads to
individual values, job job satisfaction.
satisfaction.
Chatman (1991) Person-organization fit, Person-organization fit,
organizational and leads to Job Satisfaction.
individual values, job
satisfaction.
Sheridan (1992) Organization climate and Organization climate and
culture, satisfaction, culture leads to satisfaction
retention. and then retention.

Table 2.12 Organization Justice and Prestige

Authors Dimensions Findings
Mitchell (1971) Intrinsic outcomes (self- Satisfaction and retention
esteem, independent thought estimates seem to be related
and action, etc.) and more strongly to intrinsic
Extrinsic outcomes outcomes than extrinsic
(authority, prestige, security, ones.
opportunity to develop close
friendships, etc.
Hausknecht Job satisfaction, Job satisfaction, extrinsic
(2009) advancement rewards, constituent
opportunities, organizational attachments, organizational
prestige, and retention. commitment, advancement
opportunities and
organizational prestige are
reasons for retention.
 74

Shakeel Nausheen & Sahar but, 2015, Factors Influencing Employee

Retention: An Integrated Perspective, Journal of Resources Development and
Management www.iiste.org
ISSN 2422-8397 An International Peer-reviewed Journal, vol. 6, pp. 32-50.

2.14 CHAPTER SUMMARY

The above reviews clearly proceeded to evolve the concept for this
research study. Even though this study was designed to have the base of
Hackman and Oldham‟s (1976) Job Characteristics Model, few predictor
variables that were relevant to the demographic situation incorporated in the
questionnaire. Further, a detailed discussion of the Hackman and Oldham‟s
(1976) job characteristics model for employee retention and model have been
presented in the Chapter IV.