Flourishing-at-work and turnover intentions: does trust in management moderate the relationship?

Abstract

Purpose

Based on the theoretical underpinnings of the theory of work adjustment and social exchange framework, the authors contend that an employee's trust in management (TIM) will interact with the flourishing-at-work (FAW) to predict turnover intentions (TIs). Specifically, the authors assumed that FAW will have a stronger negative effect on TIs, given the greater degree of TIM.

Design/methodology/approach

Leveraging a cross-sectional survey design and data gathered from 587 IT professionals working in India, the findings revealed that FAW negatively predicted TIs. More importantly, TIM accentuates or moderates the negative relationship between FAW and TIs.

Findings

Specifically, TIM was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between (1) psychological well-being (PWB) and TIs, (2) social well-being and TIs. Interestingly, a nonsignificant moderating effect was observed on the relationship between emotional well-being (EWB) and TIs.

Research limitations/implications

The research findings of this study might be context-specific as the IT industry in India generally has high attrition, so obviously, a higher TIs is expected from IT professionals. Therefore, future studies should explore a different industry may be manufacturing and so on, to test the current study's research framework.

Practical implications

These are highly important contributions to the extant scholarship on FAW, as the study offers new wisdom into how FAW influences TIs under the contingent effect of TIM.

Originality/value

This is the first of its kind study to explore the moderating role of TIM on the link between FAW and employees' TIs.

Citation

Naim, M.F. and Ozyilmaz, A. (2023), "Flourishing-at-work and turnover intentions: does trust in management moderate the relationship?", Personnel Review, Vol. 52 No. 7, pp. 1878-1899. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-09-2020-0715