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Perceived organisational support, job involvement and turnover intention in lean production in Sri Lanka

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Abstract

The literature suggests that the bottom-line changes often cited in lean implementation success stories, such as reduced inventories and faster flow times, are not the only results that should be considered. The potential detrimental effects on employees should be considered as well, or turnover and morale problems may sabotage the effectiveness of such implementations. However, the ways in which lean production environment influence employee behaviour has received scant empirical attention. The aim of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of job involvement on the relationship between perceived organisational support and turnover intention in the lean production in Sri Lanka. A random sample of 616 shop-floor employees engaged full-time in export-apparel manufacturing firms that have implemented a formal lean production system in the whole manufacturing function and it has become the standard of operation for at least 1 year in Sri Lanka responded. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. It was found that job involvement partially mediates the relationship between perceived organisational support and turnover intention. The findings provide useful information to better understand employee perceptions toward lean production environment and the findings will be a source of general guidance in stimulating future research in this area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Textile and Clothing Technology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda, Moratuwa, 10400, Sri Lanka

    Dharmasri Wickramasinghe

  2. Department of Management of Technology, Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Katubedda, Moratuwa, 10400, Sri Lanka

    Vathsala Wickramasinghe

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  1. Dharmasri Wickramasinghe
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  2. Vathsala Wickramasinghe
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Wickramasinghe, D., Wickramasinghe, V. Perceived organisational support, job involvement and turnover intention in lean production in Sri Lanka. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 55, 817–830 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-010-3099-z

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