Part-time Employees Were Not Created Equal: Exploring How Part-time Groups Differ on Measures That Can Predict Employee Turnover Intention

Abstract

This study built upon research by Martin and Sinclair (2007) who found the part-time employee group is made up of distinct groups that differ in their responses across a range of attitudinal variables (e.g. measures of job satisfaction and commitment). Part-time employees typically have higher employee turnover rates than full-time employees and this study investigated this issue by collecting data on attitudinal variables known to predict employee turnover intentions. The 311 participants of this study were from different branches across a large retail organisation in New Zealand. The results show that the high-school and tertiary student part-time groups often responded to scales similar to each other, while the 'PT (other)' and full-time employee groups were more similar in their responses. These results show a pattern of responses for the part-time group called 'PT (other)' that suggests they are less likely to quit compared to the two student part-time groups. Work status (part-time or full-time) was found to moderate the relationship between fulfilment of psychological contract with both turnover intentions (job search behaviours) and overall satisfaction. This study also developed and tested two new measures expected to relate to employee turnover. The first was pre-planned intention to quit, which successfully predicted differences between groups and had correlations with other scales. The second measure was social network strength, but this did not predict differences between groups or have correlations with other variables. The main implication was that retail organisations should be aware that the student part-time groups are more likely to have a higher turnover rate than other groups. This information might be useful when recruiting for positions where an employee quit has significant negative effect on the operation of the organisation.