Impact of Job Embeddedness on Turnover Intention: A Study of Frontline Production Leaders

Abstract

Retaining frontline production leaders in the manufacturing industry is of concern because frontline production leaders influence job satisfaction and performance of frontline production employees. Therefore, understanding factors impacting the turnover of manufacturing frontline production leaders is critical to creating more productive workplaces (Priestland & Hanig, 2005). Manufacturing frontline production leaders have not been the subject of many research studies, even though their role in manufacturing is critical. There are no studies on Job Embeddedness (JE) of production leaders in manufacturing and its impact on their turnover. In this study, I used multiple regression analysis to determine the relationship between components of Job Embeddedness (JE) and Turnover Intention (TI) amongst this population. Conceptualization of Job Embeddedness (JE) by Mitchell et al. (2001), as consisting of Organizational Embeddedness (OE) and Community Embeddedness (CE), was adopted for this study. A 40-item survey was used to collect data from manufacturing frontline production leaders across the United States. 727 completed responses were used for analysis. Multiple regression and moderation analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 29) and PROCESS Macro version 4.2 (Hayes, 2022) . In summary, the results confirmed Organizational Embeddedness (OE) was negatively related to turnover intention and significant. Community Embeddedness (CE) did not have a significant relationship with Turnover Intention (TI). However, Community Embeddedness (CE) moderated the relationship between Organizational Embeddedness (OE) and Turnover Intention (TI) where high levels of both Community and Organizational Embeddedness created the least risk for employee turnover. The study’s results reflect the importance of companies adopting policies that embed employees within their organization and collaborating with community organizations to find ways to increase Community Embeddedness (CE). These strategies at organizational, community, and local government levels and policies that emanate from an appreciation of these findings can have an impact in strengthening the manufacturing industry in the United States.