IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i14p8434-d859663.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Paradoxical Effects of COVID-19 Event Strength on Employee Turnover Intention

Author

Listed:
  • Hui Deng

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Wenbing Wu

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Yihua Zhang

    (Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA)

  • Xiaoyan Zhang

    (School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China)

  • Jing Ni

    (School of Business, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China)

Abstract

As a global pandemic, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought enormous challenges to employees and organizations. Although numerous existing studies have highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic is a stressful event and empirically proved its detrimental effect on employee turnover intention, few scholars have noted that this pandemic can deteriorate the external economic and employment environment simultaneously, which may further complicate employees’ intentions to leave or stay in the current organization. Drawing on event system theory and social cognitive theory, this study aims to uncover two potential cognitive mechanisms of the complex impact of COVID-19 event strength on employee turnover intention. To examine the proposed model, this study employed a three-wave and time-lagged research design and collected data from a sample of 432 employees of four Chinese companies from different industries. The findings indicated that COVID-19 event strength was negatively related to perceived external employability, and ultimately curbed employee turnover intention. Yet, COVID-19 event strength also negatively predicted perceived organizational growth, thus influencing employees to exhibit intentions to quit. Moreover, organizational identification not only attenuated the positive effect of perceived external employability on turnover intention but also amplified the negative impact of perceived organizational growth on turnover intention. Further, organizational identification moderated the indirect effects of COVID-19 event strength on turnover intention through perceived external employability and perceived organizational growth. This study provided a comprehensive insight into scholars’ understanding of the COVID-19 downstream outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Hui Deng & Wenbing Wu & Yihua Zhang & Xiaoyan Zhang & Jing Ni, 2022. "The Paradoxical Effects of COVID-19 Event Strength on Employee Turnover Intention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-17, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8434-:d:859663
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8434/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8434/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Boon & Jan Wynen & Bjorn Kleizen, 2021. "What happens when the going gets tough? Linking change scepticism, organizational identification, and turnover intentions," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7), pages 1056-1080, July.
    2. Jaana-Piia Mäkiniemi & Atte Oksanen & Anne Mäkikangas, 2021. "Loneliness and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Roles of Personal, Social and Organizational Resources on Perceived Stress and Exhaustion among Finnish University Employees," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Rodríguez-Sánchez, Alma & Guinot, Jacob & Chiva, Ricardo & López-Cabrales, Álvaro, 2021. "How to emerge stronger: Antecedents and consequences of organizational resilience," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(3), pages 442-459, May.
    4. Her-Ting Huang & Chieh-Peng Lin, 2019. "Assessing ethical efficacy, workplace incivility, and turnover intention: a moderated-mediation model," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 33-56, February.
    5. Isabel Lourenço & Manuel Branco & José Curto & Teresa Eugénio, 2012. "How Does the Market Value Corporate Sustainability Performance?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(4), pages 417-428, July.
    6. Siddharth Shankar Rai & Shivam Rai & Nitin Kumar Singh, 2021. "Organizational resilience and social-economic sustainability: COVID-19 perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 12006-12023, August.
    7. Baranchenko, Yevhen & Xie, Yizhong & Lin, Zhibin & Lau, Marco Chi Keung & Ma, Jie, 2020. "Relationship between employability and turnover intention: The moderating effects of organizational support and career orientation," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 26(2), pages 241-262, March.
    8. Ruixin Su & Bojan Obrenovic & Jianguo Du & Danijela Godinic & Akmal Khudaykulov, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Corporate Sustainability and Society: A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-23, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lavinia Denisia Cuc & Andrea Feher & Paul Nichita Cuc & Silviu Gabriel Szentesi & Dana Rad & Gavril Rad & Mioara Florina Pantea & Cosmin Silviu Raul Joldes, 2022. "A Parallel Mediation Analysis on the Effects of Pandemic Accentuated Occupational Stress on Hospitality Industry Staff Turnover Intentions in COVID-19 Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-20, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin Liang & Yan Li, 2023. "The double‐edged sword effect of organizational resilience on ESG performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 2852-2872, November.
    2. Nurlan Orazalin & Mady Baydauletov, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility strategy and corporate environmental and social performance: The moderating role of board gender diversity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1664-1676, July.
    3. Franck Brulhart & Sandrine Gherra & Bertrand V. Quelin, 2019. "Do Stakeholder Orientation and Environmental Proactivity Impact Firm Profitability?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 25-46, August.
    4. Rafael Martínez-Peláez & Alberto Ochoa-Brust & Solange Rivera & Vanessa G. Félix & Rodolfo Ostos & Héctor Brito & Ramón A. Félix & Luis J. Mena, 2023. "Role of Digital Transformation for Achieving Sustainability: Mediated Role of Stakeholders, Key Capabilities, and Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-27, July.
    5. I. Girerd-Potin & S. Jimenez-Garces & Pascal Louvet, 2014. "Which Dimensions of Social Responsibility Concern Financial Investors?," Post-Print halshs-01337706, HAL.
    6. Martín-Rojas, Rodrigo & Garrido-Moreno, Aurora & García-Morales, Víctor J., 2023. "Social media use, corporate entrepreneurship and organizational resilience: A recipe for SMEs success in a post-Covid scenario," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    7. Munshi Muhammad Abdul Kader Jilani & Luo Fan & Mohammad Tazul Islam & Md. Aftab Uddin, 2020. "The Influence of Knowledge Sharing on Sustainable Performance: A Moderated Mediation Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, January.
    8. Thomas Kaspereit & Kerstin Lopatta, 2013. "The Value Relevance of SAM's Corporate Sustainability Ranking and GRI Sustainability Reporting in the European Stock Markets," ZenTra Working Papers in Transnational Studies 19 / 2013, ZenTra - Center for Transnational Studies, revised Oct 2013.
    9. Michał Błaszczyk & Milan Popović & Karolina Zajdel & Radosław Zajdel, 2023. "Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Organization of Remote Work in IT Companies: The Managers’ Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-17, August.
    10. Guandong Song & Chengli Tang & Sheng Zhong & Liuguang Song, 2024. "Multiscale study on differences in regional economic resilience in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(11), pages 29021-29055, November.
    11. Michał Błaszczyk & Milan Popović & Karolina Zajdel & Radosław Zajdel, 2022. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Organisation of Remote Work in IT Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-14, October.
    12. Saurabh Mishra & Sachin Modi, 2013. "Positive and Negative Corporate Social Responsibility, Financial Leverage, and Idiosyncratic Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 431-448, October.
    13. Zhaoyang Guo & Siyu Hou & Qingchang Li, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Value: The Moderating Effects of Financial Flexibility and R&D Investment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    14. Julia Eichholz & Nicole Hoffmann & Anja Schwering, 2024. "The role of risk management orientation and the planning function of budgeting in enhancing organizational resilience and its effect on competitive advantages during times of crises," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 17-58, March.
    15. João M. Lopes & Sofia Gomes & Rosselyn Pacheco & Elizabete Monteiro & Carolina Santos, 2022. "Drivers of Sustainable Innovation Strategies for Increased Competition among Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, May.
    16. Nurlan Orazalin, 2020. "Do board sustainability committees contribute to corporate environmental and social performance? The mediating role of corporate social responsibility strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 140-153, January.
    17. Zaheer Alam & Yasir Bin Tariq, 2023. "Corporate Sustainability Performance Evaluation and Firm Financial Performance: Evidence from Pakistan," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    18. Carmelo Reverte, 2021. "Do investors value the voluntary assurance of sustainability information? Evidence from the Spanish stock market," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 793-809, September.
    19. Ana Maria Corrales-Estrada & Loyda Lily Gómez-Santos & Cesar Augusto Bernal-Torres & Jaime Eric Rodriguez-López, 2021. "Sustainability and Resilience Organizational Capabilities to Enhance Business Continuity Management: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-25, July.
    20. Adil Garohe & Rachid Zammar, 2023. "Adaptation of Companies to the Reality of COVID: Criteria Impact and Measures," Post-Print hal-04272996, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:14:p:8434-:d:859663. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.