Intervening Mechanisms Between Personality and Turnover: Mediator and Suppressor Effects

PurposeThe goal of this study was to examine the nature of the relationship between personality (conscientiousness and emotional stability) and voluntary turnover. We posited that two intervening factors (absenteeism as a mediator and job complexity as a suppressor) would provide a better understanding of this tenuous relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesized relationships were tested using a sample of 5,621 employees at a large hospital in the southern United States. The study variables were derived from their original job application assessment as well as personnel records.FindingsPartially consistent with expectations, the results revealed that both absenteeism and job complexity acted as suppressors. Including these factors in the equation strengthened the relationship between personality and turnover because they removed aspects of conscientiousness and emotional stability that were unrelated to the outcome.ImplicationsBased on these results, we recommend that organizations should hire employees higher in emotional stability and conscientiousness to avoid the high costs associated with voluntary turnover. Further, the significant suppression effects suggest that certain facets of these traits may be more effective when used for employee selection than others.Originality/valueAlthough many researchers have posited why certain personality traits predispose individuals to quit their jobs, few have empirically tested these mechanisms. This study provides evidence that taking intervening factors into consideration can help to strengthen the relationship between individual differences and turnover

The effect of service excellence training: Examining providers\u27 patient experience scores

Previous research and applied work has shown that communication-based training has the potential to impact important outcomes for healthcare organizations. Our institution developed and deployed Service Excellence, a communications-focused training, in our large academic cancer-focused healthcare system. In this study, we investigated whether patient experience improved for those with care providers who completed Service Excellence, as measured by Press Ganey Provider Experience surveys, and whether the effect of Service Excellence training depends on employee engagement. Results indicated that participating in Service Excellence training positively impacts perceptions of patient experience, and that the impact of the training is stronger for providers with low engagement as compared to providers with high engagement. Findings suggest that communications-based training can be an effective mitigation strategy to assist even those low engaged physicians with displaying the expected behaviors for positive patient interactions. Implications for healthcare organizations are discussed, including the rationale for motivating providers to attend such training. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Policy & Measurement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework). Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

An evaluation of diversity training: Effects of trainer characteristics and training focus

Reports of discrimination in employment practices are filed with the courts on a frequent basis (e.g., Labor Law Reports, 2004). Organizations manage the benefits and costs of diversity by implementing diversity training for employee participation. The present study takes a step toward building the area of diversity training research to support the practices in place within organizations. An integrated model for training evaluation was used based upon work by Kirkpatrick (1976), Alliger and colleagues (1997), and Kraiger and colleagues (1993). The results of the evaluation showed that trainees attending diversity training reacted with less backlash toward the training, exhibited greater behavioral and cognitive learning, and used race and gender to a lesser degree in a hiring decision task than trainees in a control training condition. There was no difference between these individuals in terms of their self-efficacy, attitudes toward diversity, perceptions of team processes, or conflict situational judgment test (SJT) scores. In addition to the training evaluation, design features (trainer race and gender, focus of training) were examined. The results showed that reactions toward the trainer were dependent on the trainer's race and gender as well as the content of the training course. Furthermore, those trainees attending diversity training who reacted more favorably toward the trainer exhibited greater affective and cognitive learning. These trainees also perceived more favorable group processes in a simulated diverse team and relied on qualifications in addition to race and sex of the applicant in a hiring task. There was no difference between trainees with low and high reactions toward their trainer in terms of conflict SJT scores. Finally, trainees who focused on similarities scored higher on a conflict SJT than trainees who focused on differences. The use of applicants' race or gender in the hiring task was dependent on the trainees' focus during training; however, there was no difference between these trainees in their perceptions of a simulated team's processes. This study shows that diversity training can be effective in terms of modifying trainees' reactions, learning, and transfer outcomes and can be further enhanced by the design features, such as trainer characteristics and the training focus

An Examination of Burnout Predictors: Understanding the Influence of Job Attitudes and Environment

Burnout amongst healthcare employees is considered an epidemic; prior research indicates a host of associated negative consequences, though more research is needed to understand the predictors of burnout across healthcare employees. All employees in a cancer-focused academic healthcare institution were invited to participate in a bi-annual online confidential employee survey. A 72% response rate yielded 9979 complete responses. Participants completed demographic items, a validated single-item measure of burnout, and items measuring eight employee job attitudes toward their jobs and organization (agility, development, alignment, leadership, trust, resources, safety, and teamwork). Department-level characteristics, turnover, and vacancy were calculated for group level analyses. A univariate F test revealed differences in burnout level by department type (F (3, 9827) = 54.35, p < 0.05) and post hoc Scheffe’s tests showed employees in clinical departments reported more burnout than other departments. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that employee demographic and job-related variables (including department type) explained 8% of the variance of burnout (F (19, 7880) = 37.95, p < 0.001), and employee job attitudes explained an additional 27% of the variance of burnout (F (8, 7872) = 393.18, p < 0.001). Relative weights analysis at the group level showed that, of the constructs measured, alignment is the strongest predictor of burnout, followed by trust and leadership. The relationships are inverse in nature, such that more alignment is related to less burnout. Turnover and vacancy rates did not predict group level burnout. The results reported here provide evidence supporting a shift in the focus of research and practice from detection to prevention of employee burnout and from individual-focused interventions to organization-wide interventions to prevent burnout