Understanding employees' efforts to seek change or quit: a longitudinal study of human and social service workers' cognitive and behavioral responses to their work experiences

UnrestrictedWell-trained and highly qualified workers are invaluable assets to human service organizations; yet, these workers face a host of challenges in doing their jobs. Prior studies have gauged organizational commitment, job satisfaction, intention to leave, and turnover (Mor Barak, Nissly et al., 2001). This study forges new ground in its focus on the relationships among organizational factors and employees' responses to undesirable work experiences in a human service setting. Specifically, this study examined the following responses: (1) efforts toward of quitting (exit), (2) efforts that reflect one's disengagement from work-related tasks or organizational activities (neglect), and (3) efforts to improve dissatisfying work conditions or promote organizational change (voice) (Farrell, 1983; Rusbult et al., 1988). To encourage well-functioning organizations and positive client outcomes, greater understanding is warranted in this regard. The study's purpose is three-fold: (1) to test a theory-driven conceptual model that depicts the relationships among employee diversity characteristics, perceptions of work climate, job stress, psychological wellbeing, and exit/neglect/voice responses as outcome variables; (2) to examine the relationship among exit, neglect, and voice; (3) to test the model longitudinally with respect to the outcome variables.; The model was developed from social work, organizational psychology, management, and communication theories to offer a comprehensive multidisciplinary perspective. Through a longitudinal study of 359 child welfare workers, the hypothesized model was tested in four phases using path analysis (Amos 6.0). Both the cross-sectional and longitudinal path analytic models did fit the data well and provides evidence that diversity characteristics, perceptions of work climate, job stress, and psychological wellbeing are important determinants of employees' exit/neglect/voice responses to undesirable work experiences. Theoretically, this study's findings suggest that inclusion should be conceptually distinguished from supervisory and organizational support and that role conflict is distinguishably role ambiguity. Additionally, voice and neglect should be refined and reconceptualized in accordance with the challenges and demands of a human service settng. At the practice-level, these findings provide guidance to organizational leaders on how to target interventions to retain employees and keep them fuly engaged