Turnover intention of new graduates in Japan : a cross-cultural study on the effects of person-job fit, the mediating effect of employee wellbeing and the moderating effect of recruitment systems..

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, Japan’s three-year turnover rate for new graduate employees has never dropped below 30%. Analysing Japan’s societal context reveals the possibility that the country’s unique simultaneous recruitment system, which fails to foster person-job fit, may be responsible for its high turnover. Thus, following the theory of met expectations, the current study investigated whether differing recruitment systems moderated the direct and indirect relationship between person-job fit and turnover intention via workplace wellbeing in Japanese and New Zealand new graduate employees. This cross-cultural study analysed cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative data from 157 Japanese and 142 New Zealand new graduate employees to conduct mediation, moderated mediation and content analyses. Mediation analyses supported the negative indirect effect of person-job fit on turnover intention via workplace wellbeing in Japanese new graduates, suggesting the importance of facilitating person-job fit to minimise Japanese new graduates’ workplace wellbeing and subsequent turnover intentions. However, this indirect effect was not found among New Zealand new graduates. Moderated mediation analyses supported the moderating role of recruitment systems, where the indirect effect of person-job fit on turnover intention via workplace wellbeing was stronger in Japanese new graduates than in New Zealand new graduates. This study makes vital contributions to the limited literature by establishing the importance of person-job fit in influencing Japanese new graduates’ workplace wellbeing and subsequent turnover intention and revealing the exacerbating role of the simultaneous recruitment system on this negative indirect relationship that amplifies Japanese new graduates’ expectations to enter a job that aligns with their knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). Thus, these results suggest the need for Japanese organisations to rethink their approach to recruitment to ensure that new graduates’ person-job fit is facilitated