The Service Industries Journal
Vol. 31, No. 8, June 2011, 1327– 1345
Modelling job stress as a mediating role in predicting
turnover intention
Mei-Fang Chena, Chieh-Peng Linbà and Gin-Yen Liena
a
Department of Business Management, Tatung University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China;
b
Institute of Business & Management, National Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan,
Republic of China
(Received 1 April 2009; final version received 28 September 2009)
Turnover intention has been an important issue for decades since management has long
recognized that low turnover intention of employees is helpful for consequently
obtaining high organizational performance and avoiding the potential costs related to
recruiting and training new employees. For that reason, this study proposed a
research model of turnover intention based on Hackman and Oldham’s [(1976).
Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior
and Human Performance, 16(2), 250– 279.] job characteristics theory. The proposed
research model is empirically tested using a survey of 255 employees from
Taiwanese banks. Tests results of structural equation modelling provide evidence
that role conflicts, role ambiguity, and role overload indeed have positive impacts on
job stress. Employees with higher levels of job stress are more likely to think about
leaving, while those perceiving more fairness of rewards are less likely. Implications
for managerial administration and future research are discussed.
Keywords: job stress; turnover intentions; structural equation modelling; retail
banking
Introduction
People’s working lives are becoming increasingly stressful and job stress has become an
important issue. Stressful work environments can lead to serious physical and emotional
detrimental effects on employees (Bohle & Quinlan, 2000; Caplan, Cobb, French,
Harrison, & Pinneau, 1975b; Greenberg & Baron, 2003; Robbins, 2001; Somers, 2009).
When job stress...