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Employee turnover is a challenge for all organizations, Including higher education. Public universities are losing staff members who are critical to the successful operation of these universities. Past research has shown that leadership style is a key factor that affects voluntary employee turnover. The purpose of this correlational study is to examine leadership effectiveness, leadership adaptability, and employee turnover intentions at a public university in Arizona. The Situational Leadership® model was employed as the framework for successful leadership and formed the basis for the survey questions. The study found a significant relationship between employees' voluntary turnover intentions and their supervisors' leadership effectiveness. This result suggests that as leadership effectiveness increases, employee turnover intentions decrease. The study found no relationship between employees' voluntary turnover intentions and their supervisors' leadership adaptability, or ability to use multiple leadership styles. Several recommendations were made for future research.
Employee turnover forces organizations to select, recruit, induct, and train new employees, incurring economic costs that affect overall organizational performance (Christian and Ellis 2014; Hancock, et al. 2013; Hur 2013). Low employee satisfaction is conducive to higher voluntary turnover and is associated with decreased performance (Lee 2018; Hancock, et al. 2013; Hur 2013; Meier and Hicklin 2008, 2007). Of the myriad factors contributing to employee turnover, research suggests leadership style can significantly affect retention (Amankwaa and Anku-Tsedem 2015; Al-Sharafi 2013; Jo 2008; Slamet, et al. 2013; Wong and Heng 2009).
Public universities in the United States face unique challenges regarding the costs associated with maintaining the administrative employees who support the performance necessary to obtain or maintain funding (Lang 2014). Although all organizations deal with the ramifications of employee turnover, higher education institutions deal with complexities in talent management, such as knowledge-type employees (Hancock, et al. 2013; Gandy, Harrison, and Gold 2018).
For higher education institutions in the United States, the national employment numbers for postsecondary administrators were 138,430 employed in May 2016, with an average salary of $105,770 annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018). Colleges, universities, technical schools, and junior colleges made up 131,060 of the overall postsecondary administrative employees (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018). According to data from the Higher Education Publication, Inc. (2018), the average turnover rate of 124 U.S. administrative positions was 12 percent as of April...