Turnover rates and organizational performance: A meta-analysis.
verifiedrich profile · Journal of Applied Psychology · 2013
Park, Tae-Youn; Shaw, Jason D.
How this was studied
A meta-analytic synthesis — it pools many primary studies rather than running a single design, so there is no single-study diagram.
What this article reports
The findings we extracted from this work, normalized into Principia’s relationship form (X → Y). Each feeds the synthesized models below.
collective turnover → organizational performance
employee turnover → customer satisfaction
involuntary turnover → organizational performance
voluntary turnover → organizational performance
Models this article informs
The meta-analytic priors this article contributes evidence to — its place in the broader synthesis.
collective turnover predicts organizational performance
employee turnover predicts customer satisfaction
employee turnover predicts labor productivity
involuntary turnover predicts organizational performance
voluntary turnover predicts organizational performance
In the authors’ words
The article’s own abstract.
The authors conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between turnover rates and organizational performance to (a) determine the magnitude of the relationship; (b) test organization-, context-, and methods-related moderators of the relationship; and (c) suggest future directions for the turnover literature on the basis of the findings. The results from 300 total correlations (N = 309,245) and 110 independent correlations (N = 120,066) show that the relationship between total turnover rates and organizational performance is significant and negative (ρ = -.15). In addition, the relationship is more negative for voluntary (ρ = -.15) and reduction-in-force turnover (ρ = -.17) than for involuntary turnover (ρ = -.01). Moreover, the meta-analytic correlation differs significantly across several organization- and context-related factors (e.g., types of employment system, dimensions of organizational performance, region, and entity size). Finally, in sample-level regressions, the strength of the turnover rates-organizational performance relationship significantly varies across different average levels of total and voluntary turnover rates, which suggests a potential curvilinear relationship. The authors outline the practical magnitude of the findings and discuss implications for future organizational-level turnover research.
What the literature says about it
Attributed, open-access quotes from other works that cite this article, plus the citation-graph verdict tally. Corroborations and disputes, in one place — the honest-broker view.
supports “Both human capital (i.e., the knowledge and skills of experienced employees) and social capital (i.e., the social bonds and collective organizational goals) are negatively affected by voluntary turnover (Park & Shaw, 2013; Shaw et al., 2005; Strober, 1990).”
supports “…show a relatively stronger negative relationship between voluntary turnover rates and organizational performance in industries with higher human capital emphasis (e.g., service industries) compared with industries with lower human capital emphasis (e.g., manufacturing)” (Park & Shaw, 2013, p. 282).”
supports “Previous meta-analytic reviews confirmed that as voluntary turnover rates increased, employee work attitudes, work productivity, customer satisfaction, and the organization’s financial performance decreased (Heavey et al., 2013; Park & Shaw, 2013).”
supports “Previous meta-analytic reviews confirmed that as voluntary turnover rates increased, employee work attitudes, work productivity, customer satisfaction, and the organization’s financial performance decreased (Heavey et al., 2013; Park & Shaw, 2013).”
supports “…performance and reduced voluntary turnover, lowering costs associated with recruiting, training, and onboarding new employees (Hancock et al., 2013; Park & shaw, 2013). this cost reduction, combined with increased productivity, serves as a strategic financial lever for the company, directly…”
Ancillary research
Neighbouring works in the citation graph around this article.
- 10.1177/2158244020931847
- 10.9790/487x-1901030119
- 10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.07.005
- 10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i7-44
- 10.1037/a0032380
- 10.1080/23311975.2025.2475983
- 10.31234/osf.io/gkwme
Assembled from Principia’s registry — bibliographic record, extracted effect sizes, the models they inform, and open-access citing literature.