Dan Farrell

A longitudinal test of the investment model: The impact on job satisfaction, job commitment, and turnover of variations in rewards, costs, alternatives, and investments

A longitudinal study of moderately professionalized technical workers was conducted to test a vanety of investment model (Farrell & Rusbult, 1981) predictions concerning the determinants of job satisfaction, job commitment, and turnover In general, greater job satisfaction resulted from high job rewards and low job costs, whereas strong job commitment was produced by high rewards, low costs, poor alternative quality, and large investment size Whereas the impact of job rewards on satisfaction and commitment remained relatively constant, job costs seemed to exert an increasingly powerful influence over time Investment size, too, was shown to exert greater impact on job commitment with the passage of time Just prior to their leaving, the job commitment of employees who left was best predicted by a combination of rewards, costs, and alternatives Employees who stayed and those who left were shown to differ from one another with regard to changes over time in each investment model factor—those who left expenenced greater decline in rewards, increase in costs, increase in alternative quality, and decrease in investment size than did those who stayed Turnover appeared to be mediated by a decline over time in degree of job commitment

Meta-Analysis of the Correlates of Employee Absence

A quantitative review of employee absence correlates was conducted to address inconsistencies among findings and include the results of studies conducted since the last major review. Correlates were categorized as psychological, demographic work environment, or organization-wide factors and analyzed separately using two operationalizations (total time absent and absence frequency). Occupational status was used as a moderator for correlates with unstable effects. The results of the study indicate that work environment and organization-wide correlates are better predictors of employee absence than psychological or demographic correlates. Both the implications for volitional theories of absence and practical applications of the findings are discussed.

Exploring the exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect typology: The influence of job satisfaction, quality of alternatives, and investment size

The current theory proposes that responses to dissatisfaction differ in constructiveness versus destructiveness and activity versus passivity, defining four categories of response: exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect. The manner in which employees react to job dissatisfaction is determined by three variables: overall job satisfaction; quality of job alternatives, and magnitude of investments in the job. This article presents a meta-analysis of the results of five studies in a program of research designed to test the current theory. Ten of 12 theory predictions received good support: Greater job satisfaction was associated with greater tendencies toward voice and loyalty, and with lesser exit and neglect. Superior alternatives were associated with greater tendencies toward exit and voice, and with lesser neglect. Greater investment size was associated with greater tendencies toward voice and loyalty, and with lesser neglect.

Commitment, Absenteeism, and Turnover of New Employees: A Longitudinal Study

Longitudinal data were collected to explore the relationships among loss of commitment, absenteeism, and employee turnover. Using a median-based approach to investigate the structure of withdrawal among 52 nurses and 36 accountants, it was found that both loss of commitment and increased absenteeism preceded turnover. Decreases in commitment were better predictors of turnover than increases in absenteeism, although stayers in both occupational groups were distinguished by unchanging patterns of zero median days absent. Implications for the progression theory of job withdrawal are discussed.

The Political Consequences of Organizational Cultures: Mergers, Acquisitions, and Joint Ventures

Over the past decade, two major intellectual movements have challenged the traditional manner in which organizations have been conceptualized. The first, the renaissance of interest in organizational power and politics1 was largely initiated and developed by scholars of organizations. The second, the growth of interest in corporate and organizational cultures2, has both popular and scholarly roots. With few exceptions3, the organizational politics and organizational culture literatures have been sharply distinct. This independence is somewhat surprising since both approaches share a good deal of common ground in their critiques of the rational model of organizations. This paper attempts to demonstrate the utility of integrating these approaches by exploring the political consequences of organizational cultures in corporate mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.