급변하는 경영환경 속에서 기업성과에 영향을 미치는 요인으로 인적자원관리의 중요성이 부각되고 있으며, 특히 고성과자의 확보, 유지 및 이직은 기업의 성과에 중요한 영향을 미칠 수 있는 것으로 나타나고 있다. 하지만, 기존의 개인의 성과와 이직 및 이직의도와의 관계를 살펴본 몇몇 논문들은 성과와 이직의 관계가 긍정적이라고 주장하는 한편, 몇몇 연구들은 이 관계가 부정적 또는 비선형적인 관계를 가진다고 주장한다. 이러한 개인의 성과와 이직의도 간의 관계의 복잡성과 불명확한 결과는 고성과자와 저성과자의 관리에 대한 기업들의 전략적인 대응을 어렵게 하고 있을 뿐만 아니라 성과와 이직에 관한 연구들을 이해하는데 어려움을 주고 있다. 이러한 상황에서 본 연구는 직원의 성과와 이직의 관계를 살펴보고 연구결과를 바탕으로 이론적이고 실무적 시사점을 제공하고자 한다. 이를 위하여, 본 연구는, 첫째, 고성과자와 저성과의 이직에 영향을 미치는 중요한 예측변수인 이직의도의 차이에 관하여 기존의 이직의도와 이직에 관련된 연구모델들을 바탕으로 살펴본다. 둘째, 고성과자와 저성과자의 이직의도가 전반적 조직공정성 지각에 의하여 영향을 받을 것이라는 것을 사회교환이론을 이용하여 설명하고, 셋째, 고성과자와 저성과자의 이직의도가 전반적 조직공정성에 의하여 영향을 받지만 그 영향의 정도는 고성과자에게 더 강하게 나타날 것이라는 가설을 도출한다. 가설검정은 6개 기업의 202명의 종업원들로부터 수집된 자료를 바탕으로 실증 분석을 실시하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 고성과자의 이직의도는 저성과자의 이직의도와 비교하여 낮게 나타났으며, 이들의 이직의도는 전반적 조직공정성 지각에 의하여 영향을 받는다는 것을 보여주었다. 또한, 고성과자의 경우 전반적 조직공정성이 이직의도에 미치는 영향이 저성과자와 비교하여 더 강하게 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과는 격화되는 시장경쟁에서 기업성과 향상을 위한 고성과자들의 유지관리에 관한 실무적인 시사점을 제공한다.
In a knowledge driven economy, organizations have recognized human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage. In particular, retaining employees significantly influences organizations’ growth and profitability. Research in human resource management and organizational behavior have paid much attention to explaining employees’ retention and turnover processes. However, there are several limitations in this stream of research. First, although employee turnover could negatively influence firm performance, studies suggest that high performers’ turnover relative to low performers’ has differing impacts on firm performance. In addition, a recent study shows that although high performers’ turnover is negatively related to firm performance, low performers’ turnover are not significantly associated with firm performance. Nevertheless, most studies on employee’s turnover have not explicitly explored if high performers are more likely to leave their firm than low performers.
Second, there are, in fact, a few theoretical and empirical studies on the relationship between employee performance and turnover intention or actual turnover. However, empirical results of this relationship are not unequivocal. For example, while studies indicates the negative relationship between employee performance and turnover, other studies show no relationship or positive relationship between employee performance and turnover.
Third, as studies argue, there could be a direct relationship, either positive or negative, between employee performance and turnover behavior. However, scholars also suggest that this relationship may depend on the degree to which organizations recognize and reward employee performance using human resource practices such as performance-based compensation and promotion. Empirical studies support the moderating roles of such financial incentives on the relationship between employee performance and turnover. Although these studies help understand the employee performance-turnover relationship, there is lack of studies that investigate the moderating effects of other diverse factors besides financial incentives such as salary growth or promotion on the relationship between employee performance and turnover.
Thus, this study explores these limitations and questions remained unanswered on the relationship between employee performance and turnover. First, this study examines the difference of turnover intention, which is a strong predictor of employee’s turnover behavior, between high performers and low performers. This study reviews diverse theoretical aspects of employee turnover including a March and Simon(1958)’s turnover model, which is foundation of understanding why and what factors could influence employees’ turnover intention and turnover behavior. Building upon three competing theoretical perspectives, this study develops three competing hypotheses related to turnover intention between high performers and low performers. Second, this study investigates the impacts of overall organizational justice perception on turnover intention of high performers and low performers. This study applies organizational justice theory and social exchange theory to develop hypotheses that turnover intention of high performers and low performers will be negatively influenced by overall organizational justice perception. Third, considering the conditional aspect of social exchange theory, this study predicts that the impacts of overall organizational justice perception on turnover intention will be stronger for high performers than low performer.
The results of this study show that high performers’ turnover intention is lower than low performers’. In addition, the results indicate that while overall organizational justice perception negatively influences the turnover intention of both high performers and low performers, the effect of overall justice perception on turnover intention is stronger for high performers than low performers. This study contributes to better understanding of the relationship between employee performance and turnover intention by addressing the critical roles of overall justice perception based on the theoretical perspective of social exchange theory. In addition, this study discusses the limitations of this study and suggests future research direction. Finally, this study provides practitioners with insights and guidelines regarding managing turnover intention and turnover behavior of high performers as well as low performers.