Abstract
Keeping or losing the best workers can be critical to whether an organization can maintain a competitive advantage and whether operations in the organization run smoothly and efficiently. Simply stated, if the best workers are not retained, an organization can be negatively affected from the operational to the strategic level. This article focuses on employee retention from the perspective of a customer-based model. This approach considers employees as internal customers of management and the model provides organizations ways to influence whether employees decide to stay or go. Additionally, the model distinguishes retention practices based upon the value of employees to the organization. Measurement and application issues are identified along with directions for future research.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, D. G., Mahto, R., & Otondo, R. F. (2007). Web-based recruitment: Effects of information, organizational brand, and attitudes toward a web site on applicant attraction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1696–1708.
Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (l989). Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Journal, 14, 20–39.
Balmer, J., & Gray, E. R. (2003). Corporate brands: What are they? What of them? European Journal of Marketing, 37, 972–997.
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17, 99–120.
Black, J. S., & Ashford, S. J. (1995). Fitting in or making jobs fit: Factors affecting mode of adjustment for new hires. Human Relations, 48, 421–437.
Broniarczyk, S. M., & Alba, J. W. (1994). Importance of the brand in brand extension. Journal of Marketing Research, 31, 214–228.
Cardy, R. L., & Lengnick-Hall, M. L. (2008, October). Employee retention: An exploratory field investigation of the employee equity model. Paper presented at the Southern Management Association Meeting, St. Petersburg, Florida.
Cardy, R. L., Miller, J. S., & Ellis, A. D. (2007). Employee equity as an HRM framework. Human Resource Management Review, 17, 140–151.
Dalton, D. R., Todor, W. D., & Krackhardt, D. M. (1982). Turnover overstated: The functional taxonomy. Academy of Management Review, 7, 117–123.
Greenberg, J. (1987). A taxonomy of organizational justice theories. Academy of Management Review, 12, 9–22.
Hall, R. (1993). A framework for linking intangible resources and capabilities to sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 14, 607–618.
Harman, W. S., Lee, T. W., Mitchell, T. R., Felps, W., & Owens, B. P. (2007). The psychology of voluntary employee turnover. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 51–54.
Holtom, B. C., & Inderrieden, E. (2006). Integrating the unfolding model and job embeddedness to better understand voluntary turnover. Journal of Managerial Issues, 18, 435–452.
Holtom, B. C., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W., & Eberly, M. B. (2008). Turnover and retention research: A glance at the past, a closer review of the present, and a venture into the future. The Academy of Management Annals, 2, 231–274.
Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57, 1–30.
Lee, T. W., Mitchell, T. R., Sablynski, C. J., Burton, J. P., & Holtom, B. C. (2004). The effects of job embeddedness on organizational citizenship, job performance, volitional absences, and voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 711–722.
Lepak, D. P., & Snell, S. A. (1999). The human resource architecture: Toward a theory of human capital allocation and development. Academy of Management Review, 24, 31–48.
Lepak, D. P., & Snell, S. A. (2002). Examining the human resource architecture: The relationships among human capital, employment, and human resource configurations. Journal of Management, 28, 517–543.
Mitchell, T. R., Holtom, B. C., Lee, T. W., Sablynski, C., & Erez, M. (2001). Why people stay: Using job embeddedness to predict voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 1102–1121.
Park, C. S., & Srinivasan, V. (1994). A survey-based method for measuring and understanding brand equity and its extendibility. Journal of Marketing Research, 31, 271–288.
Rust, R. T., Zeithaml, V. A., & Lemon, K. N. (2000). Driving customer equity: How customer lifetime value is reshaping corporate strategy. New York: Free Press.
Schwab, D. P. (1980). Construct validity in organizational behavior. In L. L. Cummings & B. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational Behavior, 12 (pp. 3–43). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Shore, L., Tetrick, L., Taylor, S., Coyle-Shapiro, J., Liden, R., McLean Parks, J., et al. (2004). The employee-organization relationship: A timely concept in a period of transition. Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, 23, 291–370.
Townsend, A. K. (2006). Green business: A five-part model for creating an environmentally responsible company. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. Science, 211, 453–458.
Verbos, A. K., Gerard, J. A., Forshey, P. R., Harding, C. S., & Miller, J. S. (2007). The positive ethical organization: Enacting a living code of ethics and ethical organizational identity. Journal of Business Ethics, 76, 17–33.
Whitener, E. M., Brodt, S. E., Korsgaard, M. A., & Werner, J. M. (1998). Managers as initiators of trust: An exchange relationship framework for understanding trustworthy managerial behavior. Academy of Management Review, 23, 513–530.
Wright, P. M., McMahan, G. D., & McWilliams, A. (1994). Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: A resource-based perspective. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5, 301–326.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cardy, R.L., Lengnick-Hall, M.L. Will They Stay or Will They Go? Exploring a Customer-Oriented Approach To Employee Retention. J Bus Psychol 26, 213–217 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-011-9223-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-011-9223-8