Predicting Turnover Intent: Examining the Effects of Employee Engagement, Compensation Fairness, Job Satisfaction, and Age.

The current study assessed the moderating effects of Age and the mediating effects of Job Satisfaction on the relationship between antecedents Employee Engagement and Compensation Fairness and the outcome variable Turnover Intent. The theory of reasoned action and a theoretical framework for examining age-effects on employee attitudes were used as the theoretical underpinnings for the study. The study utilized a secondary data set with surveyed population including faculty (n = 1,229) from a land-grant institution holding the doctoral/research-extensive classification from the Carnegie Classification and serving about 42,000 students each year with graduates totaling more than 9,000 per year. Findings confirmed that 11 of the 12 items of the Gallup Workplace Audit loaded on the Employee Engagement factor. Findings also confirmed a 3-item solution for the Compensation Fairness factor. Both Employee Engagement and Compensation Fairness demonstrated an inverse relationship with Turnover Intent as expected. Job Satisfaction was found not to mediate the relationship between both Employee Engagement and Compensation Fairness with the outcome variable Turnover Intent. Finally, Age was not found to moderate the relationship between antecedent variables and Turnover Intent. Recommendations for research and practice were made.