A long-run equilibrium theory of turnover is presented and is shown to explain the important regularities that have been observed by empirical investigators. A worker's productivity in a particular job is not known ex ante and becomes known more precisely as the worker's job tenure increases. Turnover is generated by the existence of a nondegenerate distribution of the worker's productivity across different. The nondegeneracy is caused by the assumed variation in the quality of the worker-employer match.

An Analysis of the Quit Rate in American Manufacturing Industry

Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover

This paper empirically tests and rejects classical competitive theories of wage determination by examining differences in wages for equally skilled workers across industries. Human capital earnings functions are estimated using cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the CPS and QES. The major finding is that the dispersion in wages across industries as measured by the standard deviation in industry wage differentials is substantial. Furthermore, F tests of the joint significance of industry dummy variables are decisively rejected. These differences are very difficult to link to unobserved differences in ability or to compensating differentials for working conditions. Fixed effects models are estimated using two longitudinal data sets to control for constant, unmeasured worker characteristics that might bias cross-sectional estimates. Because measurement error is a serious problem in looking at workers who report changing industries, we use estimates of industry classification error rates to adjust the longitudinal results. In the fixed effects analysis, the industry wage differentials are sizable and are very similar to the cross-sectional estimates. In addition, the fixed effects estimates are robust under a variety of assumptions about classification errors and are similar using both data sets. These findings cast doubt on explanations of industry wage differentials based on unmeasured ability. Additional analysis finds that the industry wage structure is highly correlated for workers in small and large firms, in different regions of the U.S., and with varying job tenures. Finally, evidence is presented demonstrating that turnover has a negative relationship with industry wage differentials. These findings suggest that workers in high wage industries receive noncompetitive rents.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1911072.pdf

Efficiency wages and the inter-industry wage structure

Studies of employee turnover are reviewed using meta-analytic techniques. The findings indicate that almost all of the 26 variables studied relate to turnover. The findings also indicate that study variables including population, nationality, and industry moderate relationships between many of the variables and turnover. It is suggested that future research on employee turnover: (1) report study variables, (2) continue model testing rather than simply correlating variables with turnover, and (3) incorporate study variables into future models.

Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research

Addresses the standardization of the measurements and the labels for concepts commonly used in the study of work organizations. As a reference handbook and research tool, seeks to improve measurement in the study of work organizations and to facilitate the teaching of introductory courses in this subject. Focuses solely on work organizations, that is, social systems in which members work for money. Defines measurement and distinguishes four levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Selects specific measures on the basis of quality, diversity, simplicity and availability and evaluates each measure for its validity and reliability. Employs a set of 38 concepts ‐ ranging from “absenteeism” to “turnover” as the handbook’s frame of reference. Concludes by reviewing organizational measurement over the past 30 years and recommending future measurement reseach.

background

/pdf/handbook-of-organizational-measurement-3fvmwvt3ww.pdf

An Analysis of the Quit Rate in American Manufacturing Industry

Citations

Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover

Efficiency wages and the inter-industry wage structure

Employee Turnover: A Meta-Analysis and Review with Implications for Research

Handbook of organizational measurement

The Challenge of Segmented Labor Market Theories to Orthodox Theory: A Survey

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