How Lack of Job Significance Contributes to Employee Turnover

How Lack of Job Significance Contributes to Employee Turnover

Section 1: Prospectus

Statement of the Problem

The problem to be addressed in this study is how lack of job significance contributes to employee turnover in different organizations (Zhenjing et al., 2022). When employees feel that their jobs do not reflect their aspirations, they are likely to get demotivated and may leave for jobs that reflect their motivation. By doing jobs that lack significance, employees feel they are not making a positive impact on people and society (Zhenjing et al., 2022). Employees who feel that they are not doing significant jobs are likely to pursue alternative opportunities elsewhere.

Lack of job significance has a substantial influence on employee turnover since it directly impacts motivation and engagement. When personnel regard their positions as meaningless or distant from the company’s objectives, their perception of purpose suffers, resulting in lower job satisfaction (Basalamah & As’ad, 2021). Employees do not understand how their efforts matter, and feel devalued and disengaged, leading them to seek more satisfying opportunities elsewhere. This perception of insignificance may erode loyalty and raise turnover rates, as staff are more likely to depart for employment with clearer, more significant jobs and have a greater link to their personal beliefs and ambitions.

According to Ángeles López-Cabarcos et al. (2022), job significance impacts an employee’s ability to perform and continue working for the organization. However, most employers do not view job significance the same way employees see it. Most organizations treat job significance as having a job aligning with an employee’s skills and capacity to perform the job (Abd-Ellatif et al., 2021). However, employees’ perception of job significance differs (Juliani & Purba, 2019). For employees, a significant job benefits society and improves the population’s welfare and the environment in which a business operates (Juliani & Purba, 2019). Therefore, employers are unable to incorporate job significance, potentially leading to some employees leaving and seeking alternative job opportunities elsewhere.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to explore how the perceived lack of job significance leads to employee turnover. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of job significance on different job variables, including self-concept, attitude toward work, performance, and positive behavior. The study will expand research on the psychological meaningfulness of a task, contributing to employers’ understanding of job significance. Once employers understand the meaning of job significance from employees’ perspective, they can design their jobs in a way that makes employees view the job as significant to discourage them from leaving the organization (Jeong Sik Kim, 2023).

A survey targeting employees (50) will be conducted for companies across the USKim, 2023). To ensure the study is objective, the employees’ supervisors were initially asked to write about their employees’ performance and proactive behavior. The study was conducted over four weeks, targeting employees from 5 companies, with each contributing ten employees. Information about an employee’s performance and proactive behavior provided by supervisors and employees’ responses were combined to form a data set. There were 50 responses, and 39 out of these were valid. When the survey was distributed, it was made clear that confidentiality would be guaranteed and that it would only be used for research. Besides, written consent was obtained from the respective employees as permission to be used as subjects in the study.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) software was used to analyze the results. Specifically, the analysis of moment structures (AMOS), which is part of the SEM software, was used. The SEM software conducted a significance analysis to determine how each of the job variables tested relates to psychological meaningfulness. A 5-point Likert scale was used to measure the study’s variables, and participants had to select any number between 1 and 5 for each one. The scale was applied to self-efficacy, proactive behavior, job involvement, and performance variables.

The importance of conducting the study is to highlight the impact of psychological meaningfulness on job involvement, self-efficacy, performance, and proactive behavior. The results will help managers fit employees to the jobs they desire (Zhenjing et al., 2022). Also, the study will help supervisors and managers monitor employees to identify where improvements are required to enhance their job involvement. As shown by Abd-Ellatif et al. (2021), employee involvement contributes to job satisfaction, which will help reduce attrition.

Introduction to the Theoretical Research Framework

The research is based on the job characteristics model (JCM). The theoretical framework investigates how lack of job significance affects different employee attributes, leading to employee turnover. The theoretical framework relies on existing theories on job significance as a roadmap to determine how employees react when their tasks seem not to be significant. Based on the job significance theories, the research will connect survey results with existing theories to determine the impact of lack of job significance on employee turnover.

According to Han et al. (2020), job significance refers to how pursuing something is valuable to one’s life and work. In other words, job significance emanates from something that motivates anyone to go to work every day. Another personal implication of job significance is that it should enable one to feel a sense of accomplishment and purpose. Once organizational members are convinced that their work is useful in helping them attain personal fulfillment, they will likely show up promptly every day.

Another theoretical aspect connectingsignificance with reduced attrition and motivation is the knowledge that their job helps others. Employees obtain psychological significance from seeing their jobs as essential and valuable to society and others (Khan et al., 2023). This point of view produces a strong feeling of purpose and fulfillment, solidifying their dedication and involvement. Recognizing the effect of their efforts beyond ordinary duties lifts their job from functional to meaningful, giving everyday obligations tangible value (Youn & Kim, 2022). This theoretical aspect is relevant to this study because if employees feel that their jobs are not just for profit making but also benefit society, they will stay at the organization longer (Al-Ghazali & Sohail, 2021). A perfect example is the medical profession, in which hospital staff will stay longer at the organization and be motivated, knowing that they save lives.

Moreover, a collaborative atmosphere emerges as another factor that contributes to reduced attrition. When organizational members collaborate to achieve common goals, they experience psychological significance. This teamwork produces a sense of unity and purpose, with each individual’s contributions connected with the overall success (Ylitörmänen, 2021). Colleagues’ mutual respect and acknowledgment make employees feel valued not only for their performance but also as important members of the organization. As individuals see their ideas and efforts transform into results, a self-sustaining cycle of fulfillment occurs, solidifying their attachment to their job and the organization’s greater objective (Oteshova et al., 2021). This theoretical viewpoint is crucial to the current research since it shows how a collaborative spirit in the workplace facilitates increased commitment to the organization.

The theoretical framework played a key role in deriving the problem statement by identifying gaps in theoretical and empirical studies, hence building the problem statement. In the current study, one of the research gaps identified revolves around how organizations view job significance. Whereas employees have psychological motivations, organizations only prioritize what will help them create more profits. On the purpose statement, the theoretical framework helped identify the relevant concepts in the study, including collaboration and the realization that a job helps others and society. When developing research questions, the theoretical framework will be crucial in ensuring research questions are aligned with job significance theories.

Introduction to Research Methodology and Design

The research will utilize a mixed-methods approach to determine the impact of lack of job significance on employee turnover. Quantitative data for the research will be collected through a randomly distributed survey to employees across different companies. The survey will explore employees’ perceptions of job significance and turnover intentions based on a validated scale. Secondary research, on the other hand, will involve a review of existing literature on job significance and turnover trends. Subsequently, data analysis will involve statistical and thematic analysis to identify the correlation between job significance and employee turnover.

According to Gilgun (2014), qualitative research includes collecting and analyzing non-statistical data. The qualitative research design has been selected because the research questions require insights from the research participants on several aspects on the work environment and turnover. Qualitative research is also appropriate for this study because the study includes understanding the experiences of employees to determine how the lack of job significance and meaningfulness contributes to reduced employee morale. Qualitative research design also aligns with the research problem and the purpose statement because it will allow the researcher to gather insights from the research participants to understand the factors that contribute to employee turnover. Qualitative research design will also enable the researcher to get different opinions from the research participants based on their different experiences in the workplace. The study will use primary data to address the research questions. The data will be collected using questionnaires that will be distributed online. Questionnaires have been selected as the data collection tool because they will enable the researcher to collect data from many participants and get different opinions from the research participants to address the research questions.

This study will use a descriptive research design. According to Miksza & Elpus (2018), descriptive research focuses on identifying the characteristics of a group, trends, and correlations. The descriptive design has been selected for this study because the study will explore the correlation between employee turnover and the work environment by observing and measuring the behavior of employees. The descriptive research design also aligns with the problem statement and purpose of the research because it will describe the behaviors of employees which create job significance and meaningfulness. The data collected from the participants will be analyzed using exploratory and causal analysis. Exploratory analysis is appropriate for this study because the study involves finding the relationship between variables. Exploratory analysis also aligns with the research problem and purpose statement because it focuses on establishing the cause-effect relationship between the work environment and employee morale. Causal analysis on the other hand has been selected because the study focuses on determining the cause and effect of the relationship between employee turnover, job significance and meaningfulness, and employee morale. Causal analysis also aligns with the research problem and purpose statement because the problem and purpose statement involve establishing how job significance and meaningfulness reduce employee morale.

The sample size for the current study will be fifty participants. The participants will be selected using random sampling. Saunders et al. (2015) define random sampling as a type of probability sampling that involves randomly selecting a group of participants from the study population. The researcher has selected fifty participants because a large number of participants increases the chance of gathering information that can address all research questions. study. Therefore, the number of participants in a study relies on the number required to fully inform all important elements of the phenomenon being explored in the study. Therefore,50 participants are ideal because each participant will offer information that can be used to fully inform the elements in the research questions such as job meaningfulness, employee morale, job significance, and employee turnover.

Research Questions

RQ1

How does a perceived lack of job significance influence employees’ intentions to abandon their current job postings?

RQ2

What aspects of employee significance are strongly linked with employees’ intention to leave?

RQ3

What role does the perceived lack of job significance play in the development of turnover intentions among employees across different organizational levels and job functions?

Hypotheses

H1₀

Employees’ perceived lack of job significance does not influence employees’ intentions to abandon their current job postings.

H1_a

Employees’ perceived lack of job significance influences employees’ intentions to abandon their current job postings.

H2₀

There are no aspects of job significance that are strongly linked with employees’ intention to leave.

H2_a

Some aspects of job significance are strongly linked with employees’ intention to leave,

H3₀

 Perceived lack of job significance does not play a role in the development of turnover intentions among employees across different organizational levels and job functions.

H3_a

Perceived lack of job significance does not play a role in the development of turnover intentions among employees across different organizational levels and job functions.

Summary

This study will focus on determining the impact of job significance on different job variables, including self-concept, attitude toward work, performance, and positive behavior, and the impact of job significance on different job variables, including self-concept, attitude toward work, performance, and positive behavior. The study will use a qualitative research method. Primary data will be collected from 100 participants through questionnaires. The data primary data will then be analyzed using explanatory and causal analysis.

Section 2: Literature Review

Framework

The concept of lack of job significance and its impact on turnover intentions will be explored through the job characteristics model (JCM), initially proposed by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham in 1986. The model describes that employees’ motivation suffers negatively if they handle boring jobs, but their motivation thrives if they are involved in jobs that fulfill their desires and are challenging (Muku, 2013). Based on the job characteristics model, Oldham and Hackman define job significance as one that has a meaningful impact on people inside and outside the organization. To that end, they emphasize that a significant job affects people outside and inside an organization. Based on this, employees find their job significant if it positively impacts the emotional, psychological, and physical well-being of employees and, most importantly, other people outside the organization (Muku, 2013). Further, Oldham and Hackman imply that once employees realize that their jobs are significant to those within and outside the organization, they get internal motivation that leads to higher performance and better work outcomes.

On the contrary, the lack of job significance greatly contributes to high employee turnover. With limited or no job significance, employees will be bored and likely to seek alternative opportunities, leading to high employee turnover. Besides, without job significance, employees are likely to miss the appreciation that accompanies job significance. Employees who feel underappreciated in their current workplace will likely seek alternative opportunities elsewhere. Based on the job characteristics model (JCM), a lack of job significance negatively affects other work outcomes, including employee satisfaction, engagement, and commitment (Muku, 2013). Without job significance, the job outcomes mentioned above are negatively impacted, leading to high turnover.

Empirical Evidence

Job Significance and Job Satisfaction

Research indicates that employees who perceive their jobs to be significant are likely to experience high levels of job satisfaction. Wartenberg et al. (2023) relate job satisfaction to successful completion of job tasks. To that end, if employees feel that their jobs are significant and that they positively impact others inside and outside the organization, they are likely to dedicate more effort toward ensuring that their jobs are significant. The positive work outcomes emanating from a perception of job significance go a long way to boost their purpose and sense of engagement, which are vital for improving happiness at the workplace. Wartenberg et al. (2023) base their argument on teachers’ performance in a classroom environment. For instance, the student-teacher interaction determines the perception of job significance. If teachers feel that there is no healthy student-teacher interaction, that indicates a perception of lacking job significance. These teachers will likely invest minimal efforts in improving their student’s performance, including implementing lesson plans. Eventually, absenteeism will increase, and ultimately, turnover intentions set in.

Furthermore, Wartenberg et al. (2023) further indicate job aspects that determine employees’ judgment of job significance and how they are likely to lead to high turnover intentions among organizational employees. Firstly, for teachers, student accomplishment is a great determinant of whether teachers will continue staying in their current stations. If students fail to attain targeted academic accomplishments, teachers will increasingly feel that their jobs are not significant, hence the desire to leave. Also, lack of organizational support and cooperation, especially from the managerial level, increases job dissatisfaction, which may contribute to increased intentions to leave. Also, rewards matter since they impact employees’ welfare. A poor reward system will increase employees’ intentions to leave since job significance depends on how a job impacts employees’ welfare.

Job Significance and Job Engagement

Further, there is a close correlation between job significance and job engagement, which is a significant determinant of retention or turnover intentions. Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model shows a positive correlation between job significance and job engagement (Muwanguzi et al., 2022). Employees who know that their jobs positively impact others are likely to put more effort toward realizing their objectives. Even in the face of difficult working conditions, which is inevitable in an organizational setting, an understanding that their job positively impacts others will push employees to give their best (Shantz et al., 2013). For instance, lifeguards in swimming pools play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of swimmers. Regardless of the conditions, they will give their best toward serving their clients since their job partly involves saving clients from potential life/death situations.

Employees who receive positive reports/reviews about their jobs are likely to report higher levels of engagement. The knowledge of results from their jobs bolsters a sense of pride and enthusiasm on their part. However, if there is a lack of positive feedback, employees may feel that their roles are not meaningful, get disengaged, and eventually, intentions to leave set in (Shantz et al., 2013). In particular, in the face of challenging working circumstances, a lack of engagement may eventually push employees to leave the organization since they feel that their contribution does not matter anymore.

Job Significance and Organizational Commitment

According to Fernández-Mesa et al. (2019), job significance also affects the level of commitment an employee dedicates to their organization. In this case, commitment is based on commitment to organizational mission and vision, willingness to exert considerable effort toward attaining organizational goals, and the desire to maintain membership with an organization. Without a strong emotional commitment to the organization, employees are unlikely to exert the requisite effort to attain affective commitment. Affective commitment is the emotional alignment with the organization’s goals. To that end, employees without emotional attachment to their organization are likely to lack openness to experience, which is crucial for their continued stay and productivity. Such employees will exhibit job instability and increased turnover intentions.

Summary

The study’s framework is pegged on Hockman and Oldham’s job characteristics model (JCM). JCM model lists characteristics fundamental to making a task/job satisfying, motivating, and engaging for employees. The five fundamental characteristics identified include skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and employee feedback. This study focuses on job significance and how it affects job satisfaction, motivation, and engagement. Since satisfaction, motivation, and engagement mediate employee turnover, the study shows how lack of job significance kills employee morale, leading to increased turnover intentions.

Firstly, it has been determined that employee satisfaction depends on work outcomes and the nature of the working environment. If employees feel that there is no conducive working environment, they perceive their jobs as insignificant, leading to high turnover intentions. In the same breath, if employees are convinced that they are not accomplishing set objectives, then they may deem their jobs insignificant, leading to high turnover intentions.

Consistently, employee engagement is another measure employees use to determine the meaningfulness of their tasks. If these employees are not appreciated through positive feedback, they may perceive that as a lack of job significance, hence increased intentions to leave. Job commitment, which is the emotional attachment to an organization, also depends on job significance. If the organization is not committed to fostering positive emotional connections, the perception of job insignificance sets in, leading to absenteeism and, eventually, increased turnover intentions.

References

Al-Ghazali, B. M., & Sohail, M. S. (2021). The impact of employees’ perceptions of CSR on career satisfaction: Evidence from Saudi Arabia. Sustainability, 13(9), 5235. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095235

Fernández-Mesa, A., Llopis, O., García-Granero, A., & Olmos-Peñuela, J. (2019). Enhancing organisational commitment through task significance: the moderating role of openness to experience. European Management Journal, 38(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2019.12.010

Gilgun, J. F. (2014). Writing up qualitative research. The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research, 657-676. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199811755.013.032

Han, S.-H., Sung, M., & Suh, B. (2020). Linking meaningfulness to work outcomes through job characteristics and work engagement. Human Resource Development International, 24(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2020.1744999

Jeong Sik Kim. (2023). Effect of psychological meaningfulness on job involvement, proactive behavior, and performance: Focusing on the mediating effect of self-efficacy. Sustainability, 15(13), 10208–10208. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310208

Khan, S., Alonazi, W. B., Malik, A., & Zainol, N. R. (2023). Does corporate social responsibility moderate the nexus of organizational culture and job satisfaction? Sustainability, 15(11), 8810. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118810

Miksza, P., & Elpus, K. (2018). Descriptive research design. Oxford Scholarship Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199391905.003.0003

Muku, A. Z. A. (2013). Job Characteristics Model of Hackman and Oldham in Garment Sector in Bangladesh: A Case Study in Savar Area in Dhaka District. International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences, 1(4), 188. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijefm.20130104.12

Muwanguzi, E., Ezati, E., & Mugimu, C. B. (2022). Job Satisfaction among Employees: A review of theories. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 10(3), 78-84.

Oteshova, A. K., Niyazbayeva, A. A., Prodanova, N. A., Sabirova, R. K., & Zayed, N. M. (2021). The effect of teamwork on employee productivity. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 20, 1-8.

Saunders, M. N., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2015). Research methods for business students PDF eBook. Pearson Higher Ed.

Shantz, A., Alfes, K., Truss, C., & Soane, E. (2013). The role of employee engagement in the relationship between job design and task performance, citizenship and deviant behaviours. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(13), 2608–2627. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2012.744334

Wartenberg, G., Aldrup, K., Grund, S., & Klusmann, U. (2023). Satisfied and High Performing? A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of the Correlates of Teachers’ Job Satisfaction. Educational Psychology Review, 35(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09831-4

Ylitörmänen, T. (2021). Nurse-nurse collaboration and job satisfaction: a mixed method study of Finnish and Norwegian nurses’ perceptions (Doctoral dissertation, Itä-Suomen yliopisto).

Youn, H., & Kim, J.-H. (2022). Corporate social responsibility and hotel employees’ organizational citizenship behavior: The roles of organizational pride and meaningfulness of work. Sustainability, 14(4), 2428. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042428

Zhenjing, G., Chupradit, S., Ku, K. Y., Nassani, A. A., & Haffar, M. (2022). Impact of employees’ workplace environment on employees’ performance: A multi-mediation model. Frontiers in public health, 10, 890400. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.890400

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

---

This week, you will write (or revise, if you’ve previously written) a literature review. The literature review should:

Include definitions of concepts relating to the topic of the research.
Add an expanded discussion of the framework identified in Week 4 and discuss the origin of the theory or model used as your framework. How was the framework used originally? How is the framework applied in current studies. Add 3-4 pages.
Include historically relevant information.
Contain critical analysis (strong and weak arguments).
Integrate sources to produce sound arguments and discuss issues related to the topic.
Include comparing and contrasting arguments and discussions.
Include a summary of the key discussions in the literature. Add a 1-page summary.