An exploratory investigation into the relationships between promotion and turnover: a quasi-experimental longitudinal study

Journal of Management, Spring, 1993 by Mark W. Johnston, Rodger W. Griffeth, Scot Burton, Paula Phillips Carson

Figure 2 presents the effect of the group by time interaction on propensity to leave the organization. As anticipated, the greatest increase in propensity to leave occurred for the non-promoted leavers and the promoted leavers. Interactions were significant for the promoted stayer and non-promoted leaver groups (F = 10.5, p* |is less than~ .05) and promoted stayers and promoted leavers (F = 7.0, p* |is less than~ .10).

Results followed a similar pattern for interactions pertaining to satisfaction with promotion. As shown in Figure 3, satisfaction with promotion increased for the promoted stayers, but decreased for the other three groups. Significant interaction effects were found for the promoted stayers and non-promoted leavers (F = 11.2, p* |is less than~ .05) and the promoted stayers and promoted leavers (F = 10.4, p* |is less than~ .05). Interestingly, there appeared to be a greater decline in promotion satisfaction for promoted leavers than for the non-promoted stayers, although this effect was not statistically significant. None of the other two group interaction contrasts were significant.

The graphical display of the effect of the group by time interaction on salary is shown in Figure 4. As expected, the promoted stayers had the greatest increase in salary from time 1 to time 2. Interaction effects between the promoted stayers and the non-promoted stayers and non-promoted leavers were both statistically significant (p* |is less than~ .05), but the interaction for the promoted stayers and promoted leavers did not reach significance (F = 5.07, p* |is greater than~ .10). Also, although not significant after the conservative adjustment for the familywise error rate, the graphical display suggests some interaction effect for the groups of non-promoted stayers and non-promoted leavers (F = 4.7, p* |is greater than~ .10). The graph in Figure 4, taken in sum, hints at the potential importance of the extrinsic reward of salary.

Univariate main effects are of interest for cases in which the interact ions are not significant. A significant main effect of the criterion group was found only for supervisor satisfaction. Given that supervisors had important input concerning promotions in this organization, greater supervisor satisfaction might be anticipated for promoted employees than for non-promoted employees. Two group contrasts supported this supposition for the promoted stayers and non-promoted leavers (F = 6.5, p* |is less than~ .10).

The main effect of time was significant for all dependent variables except job anxiety. There were significant decreases in the level of intrinsic motivation, job involvement and the facets of job satisfaction across time. These significant decreases indicate increasing problems with the attitudes and perceptions of the salesforce toward this organization.

The results of the study can be summarized as follows. Multivariate findings showed significant main effects for both time and criterion group as well as a significant interaction effect for group by time. Follow-up univariate results indicate an interaction between internal/external movement groups and time on several key job related attitudes (organizational commitment, propensity to leave, promotion satisfaction), and salary. There were also significant differences between groups (promoted stayers and non-promoted leavers) on satisfaction with supervision. Finally, time had a significant negative effect on all dependent variables except job anxiety.