A Path Analytic Investigation Of Job Complexity, Psychographics and Demographics As Determinants of Employees' Turnover

A Research Project Submitted to the Lebanese University Abdulrazzak Charbaji, Ph.D Professor of Applied Statistics and Research Methods

General Background

Lebanon as a developing country is not different from other Arab countries. Lebanon is not internationally integrated on the economic, social, technological and political levels with the rest of the world.

According to the UNDP Human Development Report (HDR) According to the UNDP Human Development Report (HDR) Lebanon ranks is 78th of a total number of 175 countries, at the top of the high medium human development category Lebanon ranks is 78th of a total number of 175 countries, at the top of the high medium human development category

The Heritage Foundation categorizes Lebanon as one of the mostly unfree countries of the world.

Lebanon’s rank on the Index of Economic Freedom is 83 rd of a total number of 153 countries is 83 rd of a total number of 153 countries

According to Euromoney Lebanon’s Country Risk Score is 98 th is 98 th of a total number of 185 countries of a total number of 185 countries

According to According to InternetWorld Stats, 2004 Lebanon is just 2.4% of the Internet Users in the Middle East and Lebanon is ranked 8 th among 15 Middle Eastern countries InternetWorld Stats

A big fraction of the Lebanese business is a family business A big fraction of the Lebanese business is a family business

Goffee, believes that: Goffee, believes that: "family“ is itself sufficient "family“ is itself sufficient "to distinguish the use of more traditional/ particularistic, face-to- face forms of authority – paternalistic from more rational/ universalistic and impersonal modes" "to distinguish the use of more traditional/ particularistic, face-to- face forms of authority – paternalistic from more rational/ universalistic and impersonal modes"

Strachan and Burgess believe that "There is a range of overlapping and complex issues that arises from work and family”

According to Cromile and O'Sullivan, 1999 Family involvement in a firm Affects many aspects of organizational behaviour

According to Morris et al, 1996 Family firms violate models of modern organizations, namely the separation of ownership from management"

This leads to a lot of Job Complexities including: 1. Role Conflict 2. Role Ambiguity 3. Dissatisfaction which in turn leads to: Employees Turnover.

Theoretical Model

According to role theory, when an employee experiences role conflict and/or role ambiguity he/she will become stressed and dissatisfied. In order to cope with the stress, employees may resort to a variety of reactions such as quitting their job in order to avoid contact with those causing the stress.

Russ and McNeilly believe that: Role ambiguity and conflict are a crucial reasons for employees’ intention to quit and when good employees leave, then, "the company can suffer from increased costs for hiring and training” Need for the Study

Purpose of the Study This study was conducted to determine the causes of employee intention to quit (turnover) and to examine the "causal" relationships between the independent and dependent variables. Purpose of the Study This study was conducted to determine the causes of employee intention to quit (turnover) and to examine the "causal" relationships between the independent and dependent variables.

Research Problem "What is the direct and indirect effects of role conflict and role ambiguity on employees intention to quit via job satisfaction?”

1. What are the major characteristics of the selected sample of the study? 2. What are the reliability and validity of the questionnaire? 3. What is the relative importance of the independent variables to the proportion of variance accounted for in the dependent variable? Research questions

Research Hypotheses

H 1 : Role ambiguity will negatively affects job satisfaction and increases intention to quit. H 2 : Role conflictwill negatively affects job satisfaction and increases intention to quit

Population of this Study Employees working for different organizations were used as the population for this study

Instrumentation Through a review of literature, this researcher constructed a pilot instrument that was distributed on a trial basis. Since the pilot questionnaire was found to be lengthy, wordy, and inappropriately scaled, the final draft was revised to correct for these problems.

The Dependent Variable Q8 I Like to hunt for a different Job different Job Q9 I am looking for a better opportunity better opportunity Q10 My job is not rewarding rewarding Q12 I am not motivated at work work

The Independent Variables Ten questions in part I of the questionnaire contain items to measure Role Conflict (Q7, Q11), Role ambiguity (Q2, Q3, Q5 ), Tension (Q1), Satisfaction (Q4, Q6), psychographics (Q13, Q14 ) and demographics (Q17, Q18, Q19).

Sample Selection The sample selected is not representative of the population. It is comprised of 520 respondents that the researcher was able to contact and get valid response

 58.2 percent of employees agree and strongly agree that their job is fun,  14 percent agree and strongly agree that their job is sophisticated,  69.5 percent agree and strongly agree that their job is valuable,

Factor Analysis and Construct Validation Two statistical tests were conducted in order to determine the suitability of factor analysis:

 First, the Kaisers-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy score of was well above the recommended level of 0.5. Second, the Bartless test of sphericity was significant ( Chi Square = , P < 0.01), indicating that there are adequate inter-correlations between the items which allow the use of factor analysis.

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Six factors were extracted using Eigenvalue greater than one criterion. The six factor solution accounted for per cent of the total variance.

“Role Ambiguity" has the highest direct effect on "employees turnover" while “Role Conflict" has the second highest direct effect. Age which come fourth in predicting employee's turnover has the least direct effect and comes after "satisfaction" that has a negative direct effect.

For subsequent research, the results of this study is consistent with previous research and suggest that the causal model constructed for this study should be elaborated and tested per industry and per sector.

Thank You Thank You

Any - Questions ?