Who wants to leave when facing mass lay-off: A regulatory focus perspective on turnover intentions and mobility-oriented behavior

Melvyn R.W. Hamstra, Bert Schreurs, L. Maxim Laurijssen and Elise Marescaux
Additional contact information
Melvyn R.W. Hamstra: LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Bert Schreurs: VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel [Bruxelles]
L. Maxim Laurijssen: University of Groningen [Groningen]
Elise Marescaux: LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Purpose Mass lay-offs tremendously impact employees and companies. Helping people toward new employment could help organizations manage costs and reputation. The authors sought to test a model, based on regulatory focus theory, predicting which employees are more likely to consider leaving the company during this uncertain time (turnover intentions) and indirectly to engage in behavior to strengthen their external labor market position (mobility-oriented behavior). Design/methodology/approach With a mass lay-off impending, the authors studied employees ( N = 326) in a financial services organization. The authors reasoned that employees' perception that they have higher (vs lower) qualifications than their job requires, may be able to spur turnover intentions for some because it enhances perception that movement to another job is desirable and feasible. The authors proposed perceptions of being overqualified vs perceptions of being underqualified only affect the turnover intentions and mobility-oriented behavior of promotion-focused employees. Findings Supporting the expectations, promotion-focused employees (but not prevention-focused employees) who perceived themselves to be overqualified, compared with promotion-focused employees who perceived themselves to be underqualified, showed higher turnover intentions and, indirectly, mobility-oriented behavior. Originality/value This research is one of few studies that have examined intentions and behavior of employees who are facing impending mass lay-off, as most lay-off research has studied survivors or victims post lay-off. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to apply a regulatory focus perspective on overqualification/underqualification, as well as to turnover intention and mobility behavior.

Date: 2023-04-03
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Career Development International, 2023, 28 (2), pp.145-159. ⟨10.1108/CDI-11-2022-0315⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:hal:journl:hal-03978801

DOI: 10.1108/CDI-11-2022-0315

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().