When it rains, it pours: A triple-pathway model of collective turnover based on causal mapping analysis

As modern organizations become increasingly knowledge intensive, collective turnover, a phenomenon of knowledge spillover or transfer, is gradually receiving greater attention from scholars. Given that most studies have focused on the detrimental organizational consequences of collective turnover, this paper proposes a relational perspective to explore three distinct process models of dispersed, translocated, and entrepreneurial collective turnover. Based on a causal mapping analysis conducted in China of 25 collective turnover events that can demonstrate complex turnover processes over time, this study found that dispersed collective turnover, in which a group of members quit and scatter, is more likely to be triggered by shared job dissatisfaction. While translocated collective turnover, in which organizational members collectively mobilize in the same organization, is highly associated with attractive external lures. In contrast, entrepreneurial collective turnover, in which a group of members leave to start a new business together, is developed through a group process of entrepreneurial passion contagion. The ensuing triple-pathway model helps to enrich the theoretical understanding of collective turnover by clarifying the contextual differences regarding the effects of turnover destination on the important process of collective turnover.