A Social Embeddedness Perspective on Turnover Intention: The Role of Informal Networks and Social Identity Evidence From South Korea

• Date: 01 September 2017
• DOI: 10.1177/0091026017717459
• Author: Hyang Won Kwon
• Published date: 01 September 2017
• Subject Matter: Articles

717459PPMXXX10.1177/0091026017717459Public Personnel ManagementKwon
research-article2017
Article
Public Personnel Management
2017, Vol. 46(3) 263 –287
A Social Embeddedness
© The Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permissions:
Perspective on Turnover
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026017717459
DOI: 10.1177/0091026017717459
journals.sagepub.com/home/ppm
Intention: The Role of
Informal Networks and Social
Identity Evidence From South
Korea
Hyang Won Kwon1
Abstract
This study examines turnover intention through a social embeddedness perspective
proposing that turnover intention may be a function of the degree to which an
organization’s members are attached to one another in terms of relational ties
and emotional bonds. Drawing on network theory and social identity theory, it
was hypothesized that peripheral positions in informal networks (solidarity ties
and instrumental ties) and marginal identity in the workplace may influence higher
turnover intention. Sequential mixed methods design was utilized to explore the
context-specific bases upon which informal networks and social identities can form
and to test the generality of the link between the explored bases and turnover
intention against larger samples using Ordered Logistic Model. The results showed
that (a) peripherally positioned individuals in informal networks will likely have high
turnover intention and (b) individuals with marginal identity in the workplace will
likely have high turnover intention. The study results suggest that the social factors
accrued from informal networks and social identities deserve enhanced attention in
both theorization and personnel management.
Keywords
turnover intention, social embeddedness, informal networks, social identity, mixed
methods design
1Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea
Corresponding Author:
Hyang won kwon, Sungkyunkwan University, Suseonkwan #901, Myeongnyun 3-ga, Jonno-gu, Seoul, 110-
745, South Korea.
Email: 99blackmonday@hanmail.net

---

264
Public Personnel Management 46(3)
Introduction
The topic of voluntary turnover (departure from an organization even though one
has the opportunity to stay) has received considerable attention in public manage-
ment for the following reasons: First, an organization’s high turnover rate might be
a sign of ineffective managerial or grievance settlement practices (Cohen, Blake, &
Goodman, 2016; cf. Meier & Hicklin, 2008). Second, the recruitment and training of
new employees have associated costs and are capable of disrupting shared “tacit
knowledge” within an organization (Bertelli, 2007; Moynihan & Landuyt, 2008).
Third, high turnover makes long-term human capital planning in an organization
difficult (Condrey, 2005). Fourth, the turnover issue has greater significance in man-
agement in the context of growing concerns over low birthrates and the resulting
retirement wave of the current workforce, which organizations are facing in many
countries (Cho & Lewis, 2012; Lewis & Cho, 2011). Previous studies have thus
sought to contribute to exploring the determinants of voluntary turnover in their
practical importance.
Nevertheless, our knowledge about the determinants of turnover intention is far
from complete. This is partly because previous research on turnover in public man-
agement has somewhat neglected opportunities to include the social embeddedness
perspective, which views organizations as social contexts where members are
attached to one another in terms of relational ties and emotional bonds, and these
would be the basis upon which individuals choose their course of action, including
their intent to leave or stay (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001;
Moynihan & Pandey, 2008). Especially with the current trend of increased team-
based operations and workplace diversity in management (Choi, 2009), the social
embeddedness perspective is likely to gain more importance because, under such
contexts, the role of relational ties and emotional bonds in terms of coworker sup-
port or emotional affection among colleagues, and thereby in motivating or demoti-
vating employees from attachments to the organization, will likely be more salient
(Cole & Bruch, 2006; Oh, Chung, & Labianca, 2004). Nevertheless, while the foci
of turnover research have been polarized either into formal factors (e.g., market
approaches) or personal factors (e.g., psychological approaches) with regard to
behavioral predictors of turnover intention, the fact that humans are essentially
social beings whose actions are embedded and guided by their social embeddedness
has been afforded insufficient attention thus far, as evidenced by Soltis, Agneessens,
Sasovova, and Labianca (2013).
The current study seeks to address this insufficiency, through the lens of the social
embeddedness perspective, by investigating how one’s structural position in informal
networks and marginal identity in the workplace may influence turnover intention.
More specifically, two types of informal networks, “solidarity ties” (e.g., friendship
networks) and “instrumental ties” (e.g., advice networks), are considered (Gibbons,
2004), and how peripheral positions in informal networks affect turnover intention is
examined using relational network data (cf. Feeley, 2000; Mitchell et al., 2001) draw-
ing on Feeley’s (2000) Erosion Model (EM) and Mitchell et al.’s (2001) Job

---

Kwon
265
Embeddedness Model. In addition, this study investigates how marginal and under-
represented individuals have a greater intention to leave when they are likely to expe-
rience exclusionary pressures drawing on social identity theory (SIT) and
self-categorization theory (Hogg & Terry, 2000). In addition, because informal net-
works and social identity are characterized by their hidden and implicit nature, there
were potential analytical challenges and difficulties (Cross, Nohria, & Parker, 2002).
To negotiate such issues, this study utilizes sequential mixed methods design, where
the preceding exploratory qualitative phase enables the exploration and building of
more context-specific constructs, such as the basis upon which informal networks
and marginal identity can form, and a following explanatory quantitative phase vali-
dates the generality of the constructs against a larger sample, as suggested by
Cresswell and Clark (2007).
Social Embeddedness and Turnover Intention
The “social embeddedness” perspective views organizations as social contexts in which
members are attached to one another in terms of “relational ties” and “emotional
bonds,” and these ties and bonds are the basis upon which individuals decide courses of
action (Mitchell et al., 2001; cf. Polanyi, 1957). As Bourdieu (1984) insightfully sug-
gested, humans are essentially social beings who define their attitudes and actions on
their social location in relation to others. Likewise, Granovetter (1985) used the concept
of embeddedness to account for how social relations influence human actions.
Looking at turnover through a social embeddedness perspective, it would be a func-
tion of the quality of one’s social relationships with others within a workplace. The
literature building on this idea tends to link turnover intention to an array of social
factors within the workplace such as social cohesion, social integration, social support,
and social capital (O’Reilly, Caldwell, & Barnett, 1989). The rationale is that such
social factors work as a sort of “social glue” that binds members together, and such
social forces can influence ones’ psychological states, such as happiness, satisfaction,
and even performance, which may be associated with their intention to leave or stay
(Gibbons, 2004, p. 238; Mossholder et al., 2005).
Although the idea of social embeddedness is not entirely novel, the literature,
particularly in public management, that empirically links turnover and embeddedness
has not received sufficient attention (a notable exception is found in Mitchell et al.’s
[2001] Job Embeddedness Model [JEM]). It is partly because most previous research
on turnover tended to be polarized to either a “market approach” or a “psychological
approach” (Tanova & Holtom, 2008, pp. 1554-1555). As an illustration, the market
approach focuses on deterministic external influences as “pulling factors” such as job
market conditions, promotion opportunities, job mobility, market information, and
managerial programs (e.g., family-friendly policies or New Public Management
(NPM) -inspired practices; Bae & Goodman, 2014; Choi, 2009; Kim, 2005; Moynihan
& Landuyt, 2008; Selden & Moynihan, 2000). In contrast, the “psychological
approach” focuses on personal satisfaction, stress, burnout, personality, and so forth
as predictors of “motivation factors” (Steel & Lounsbury, 2009, for a review). These

---

266
Public Personnel Management 46(3)
then remind us of Granovetter’s (1985) well-known conceptual distinction between
the “over-socialized approach” and “under-socialized approach,” where he suggested
that explaining human actions as either obedient to external conditions or personal
decisions in isolation might not suffice as they neglect the social ties and bonds that
guide human action (Mitchell et al., 2001; Moynihan & Pandey, 2008).
Two theoretical traditions should be examined to operationalize social
embeddedness:
1. First, the structuralist tradition that views embeddedness in terms of informal
social networks behind formal organizational charts where members exchange
...