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The Relationship Between Dysfunctional Interpersonal Tendencies, Derailment Potential Behavior, and Turnover

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Abstract

Managerial derailment, which includes failure in the form organizational exit, poses costly consequences for organizations. We investigated the relationship between dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies, derailment potential behaviors, and actual managerial derailment in the form of voluntary and involuntary turnover. Data were from an archival database of high-level managers working for a global retail organization, including self-report interpersonal tendencies, 360-degree feedback data, and personnel history (N = 1,796). Managers who exhibit the dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies associated with “moving against people” were more likely to enact derailment potential behaviors. As a result, these managers were more likely to be fired or quit. This study advances our understanding of the managerial derailment process by providing evidence of the positive relationship between derailment potential behaviors and both voluntary and involuntary turnover as well as the potential for “moving against” people to result in derailment. Our results may help to inform the selection, promotion, and training strategies employed by practitioners and potentially reduce the costs associated with losing high-potential executives. This is one of the first studies to provide evidence of the relationship between derailment potential behaviors and turnover, and in a rarely obtained sample of high-level managers. Additionally, derailment potential ratings were collected before managers’ exit from the organization, thus helping to overcome retrospective bias evident in prior studies; managers who ultimately derail were perceived as having exhibited behaviors consistent with the potential to derail before organizational exit.

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Notes

  1. Given the large sample size in our study, we used the more conservative Sobel test as opposed to bootstrapping (e.g., Preacher and Hayes 2004). Bootstrapping is recommended as an alternative to the Sobel test for samples under N = 400 to help overcome potential violations of the assumption of multivariate normality for the indirect effect (Shrout and Bolger 2002).

  2. Griffeth et al. (2000) found a weighted mean correlation of −.14 between performance and turnover in their meta-analysis of 14 studies (N = 8,288), suggesting that low performers are more likely to quit than high performers. The effect size and direction of this finding are consistent with present correlations between derailment behaviors (i.e., poor performance) and both voluntary (r = .09) and involuntary (r = .19) turnover.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Strategic Management Decisions, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Marisa Adelman Carson

  2. University of North Carolina–Charlotte, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA

    Linda Rhoades Shanock & Eric D. Heggestad

  3. Bank of America , Charlotte, NC, USA

    Ashley M. Andrew

  4. Virginia Commonwealth University, Snead Hall, 301 W. Main Street, Box 844000, Richmond, VA, 23284-4000, USA

    S. Douglas Pugh

  5. Leadership Development for Global Banking and Markets, Bank of America, New York, USA

    Matthew Walter

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  1. Marisa Adelman Carson
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  2. Linda Rhoades Shanock
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  3. Eric D. Heggestad
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  4. Ashley M. Andrew
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  5. S. Douglas Pugh
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Correspondence to Marisa Adelman Carson.

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Carson, M.A., Shanock, L.R., Heggestad, E.D. et al. The Relationship Between Dysfunctional Interpersonal Tendencies, Derailment Potential Behavior, and Turnover. J Bus Psychol 27, 291–304 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-011-9239-0

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