The Impact Of Meaningful Work On Turnover Intention And Its Mechanism

Work is the most important and meaningful action skill operation process since human evolution.It creates valuable products for individuals and society,and is an indispensable substance for social development and the process of accumulation of wealth and spiritual wealth.With the changes in the economy,culture and society,work is a way to achieve personal interest,the value of life,the contribution to society.More and more people regard work meaningfulness as the core pursuit and value choice of life.In 2017,Journal of Management Studies organized a special issue of "Meaningful Work:Prospects for the 21st Century",work meaningfulness has become the focus of research at home and abroad.However,the literature found that domestic scholars have not distinguished the difference between work meaningfulness and meaning of work.Work meaningfulness points to the individual's contribution to others and society,and the meaning of work points to the individual,for example,work provides individuals with social status and economic support.This study distinguishes between these two concepts.When employees are unable to achieve self-worth through their work,they will have negative emotions and job burnout until they have a tendency to leave.The study of the impact of work meaningfulness on turnover in China is often based on the dimensions of a variable(for example,psychological empowerment).There is currently no research to separately explore the impact of meaningful work experience on employee turnover.Barak,Nisslly,and Levin(2001)proposed three reasons for leaving:personal characteristics,professional perceptions,and organizational environment.On this basis,the study selected three variables:core self-evaluation,organizational nostalgia and job burnout,as a representative of the above three reasons,to explore the impact of meaningful work on turnover intention and its mechanism of action.This study used two parallel studies to explore the impact of work meaningfulness on turnover intention.Study 1,a chained mediated model with meaningful work as the independent variable,turnover intention as the dependent variable,core self-evaluation and job burnout as the mediator variable was established.Study 2 established a moderated mediation model in which work meaningfulness as the independent variable,turnover intention as the dependent variable,job burnout as a mediator variable,and organization nostalgia as a moderator variables.This study revised the Organizational Nostalgia Scale developed by Leunissen et al.(2018)and selected The Work and Meaning Inventory(WAMI),The Turnover Intention Scale,The Core Self-Evaluation Scale(CSES),and The Job Burnout Scale to make investigations for 860 employees from different organizations.Data was analyzed by SPSS 19.0 and AMOS23.0,and the following findings were obtained:(1)The revised Organization Nostalgia Scale has good reliability and validity in the Chinese context.(2)Work meaningfulness is negatively related to turnover intention,and work meaningfulness can negatively predict turnover intention.(3)Job burnout plays a partial mediated role in the relationship between work meaningfulness and turnover intention.(4)Work meaningfulness can influence turnover intention through the chain mediation of core self-evaluation and job burnout.(5)Organizational nostalgia can moderate the mediate effect of job burnout in the relationship between work meaningfulness and turnover intention.The research on the impact of work meaningfulness on turnover intention and its mechanism of action shows that in today's society,individuals are increasingly pursuing the realization of self-value,and work is not only a guarantee of life,but also a means for individuals to realize self-worth.Individuals want to engage in meaningful work that can make a difference in their ability to contribute to others and society.Experience of work meaningfulness can enhance an individual's evaluation of himself,ease job burnout,and increase the willingness of employees to stay in the organization.The rapid development of China's economy has increased the possibility of individuals re-employment.Organizations can enhance their experience of work meaningfulness by retaining talents.They can also build a harmonious organizational relationship and build a harmonious and loving relationship with colleagues to enhance nostalgic emotions.Both can be very good to alleviate the job burnout caused by stress and reduce the tendency to leave.