Employee Turnover in the Public Sector

In this title, first published in 1996, the author uses the locus of control personality construct to show how workers who believe they can influence life events (internals) perceive and evaluate work conditions differently than workers who believe that life events are beyond their control (externals). The author also develops a social exchange model of quitting which takes advantage of the positive (job reward) and negative (job cost) qualities inherent in work conditions. Workers tend to quit their jobs when job costs outweigh job rewards when better alternatives exist. Moreover, personality interacts with employees’ evaluation of job costs and rewards and quitting behaviour. This book will be of interest to students of business studies and human resource management.