A Study of the Impact of Workplace Relationships on Turnover Intentions

Abstract

Workplace relationships are the binding force which can combine all employees with emotional thread to work towards organizational goals. The strength of workplace relationships (measured in terms of superior- subordinate relationships and coworker cohesion) and its influence on employee turnover intensions was investigated in this research. Workplace relationships were hypothesized to be non-linear. Hypotheses were tested on two samples of employees in supervisory (n = 22) and non-supervisory (n = 58) roles. In sample one of supervisory employees, hypothesis for superior-subordinate relationships was supported. In sample two of non-supervisory employees, hypothesis for superior-subordinate relationship was not supported. However the relationship between superior and- subordinate relationships and turnover intentions were found to be inverse and linear. Hypotheses for coworkers in both the samples were not supported i.e. we could not find any support for the relationship between coworker cohesion and turnover intentions. Limitations and directions for future research have been discussed.