When Does Employee Turnover Matter? Dynamic Member Configurations, Productive Capacity, and Collective Performance

John P. Hausknecht () and Jacob A. Holwerda ()
Additional contact information
John P. Hausknecht: Department of Human Resource Studies, ILR School, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Jacob A. Holwerda: Department of Human Resource Studies, ILR School, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853

Organization Science, 2013, vol. 24, issue 1, 210-225

Abstract: In theory, employee turnover has important consequences for groups, work units, and organizations. However, past research has not revealed consistent empirical support for a relationship between aggregate levels of turnover and performance outcomes. In this paper, we present a novel conceptualization of turnover to explain when, why, and how it affects important outcomes. We suggest that greater attention to five characteristics—leaver proficiencies, time dispersion, positional distribution, remaining member proficiencies, and newcomer proficiencies—will reveal dynamic member configurations that predictably influence productive capacity and collective performance. We describe and illustrate the five properties, explain how particular member configurations exacerbate or diminish turnover's effects, and present a new measurement approach that captures these characteristics in a collective context and over time.

Keywords: turnover; performance; organizational learning; groups; time; retention; human resources (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1110.0720 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:24:y:2013:i:1:p:210-225

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().