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 (ρ = -.15). In addition, the relationship is more negative for voluntary (ρ = -.15) and reduction-in-force turnover (ρ = -.17) than for involuntary turnover (ρ = -.01). Moreover, the meta-analytic correlation differs significantly across several organization- and context-related factors (e.g., types of employment system, dimensions of organizational 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.