Turnover rates and organizational performance: A meta-analysis

The authors conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between turnover rates and organizational performance to (a) determine the magnitude of the relationship; (b) test organization-, context-, and methods-related moderators of the relationship; and (c) suggest future directions for the turnover literature on the basis of the findings. The results from 300 total correlations (N 309,245) and 110 independent correlations (N 120,066) show that the relationship between total turnover rates and organizational performance is significant and negative ( –.15). In addition, the relationship is more negative for voluntary ( –.15) and reduction-in-force turnover ( –.17) than for involuntary turnover ( –.01). Moreover, the meta-analytic correlation differs significantly across several organization- and context-related factors (e.g., types of employment system, dimensions of organiza-tional performance, region, and entity size). Finally, in sample-level regressions, the strength of the turnover rates–organizational performance relationship significantly varies across different average levels of total and voluntary turnover rates, which suggests a potential curvilinear relationship. The authors outline the practical magnitude of the findings and discuss implications for future organizational-level turnover research