Solidarity, job satisfaction, and turnover intent in employees

Abstract

Purpose

While the role of solidarity in the workplace has been examined in previous research, it is still an important component of the workplace for Japanese employees. The purpose of this paper is to integrate findings on solidarity at the workplace, job satisfaction and intent to turnover. A moderated mediation model is hypothesized where solidarity predicts intent to turnover via job satisfaction, but the strength of this whole mediation process is moderated by employees’ length of working overtime or working long hours.

Design/methodology/approach

The data analyzed in this study were acquired from the Japanese General Social Survey 2010, which was administered to 527 men and 278 women.

Findings

The results generally supported the assumptions; the proposed mediation model proved to be statistically significant, even when background covariates were introduced into the model to control for pre-existing differences. Also, the proposed moderated mediation model was supported; solidarity strongly increased job satisfaction when working overtime was low.

Research limitations/implications

Because of measurement of solidarity, this study results may limit the generalizability. Researchers should explore the relationship between the dimension of solidarity and job satisfaction.

Practical implications

The paper includes the implications for human resource management, the developing of solidarity at the workplace and for managing the strain of working overtime.

Originality/value

This study was the first to examine the relationship between solidarity at the workplace and job satisfaction and the moderating effects of working overtime.

Citation

Matsumoto, M. and Gopal, B. (2019), "Solidarity, job satisfaction, and turnover intent in employees", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 247-257. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-09-2018-0118