Holding On and Letting Go: The Relationship Between Job Embeddedness and Turnover Among PEM Physicians

Abstract

In 2001 job embeddedness was introduced as a new construct to explain and predict turnover in organizations (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001). The current study tests the job embeddedness construct with a sample of 183 Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) physicians. Results suggest that job embeddedness, a composite variable measuring physician links to other people/the organization, job fit, and the sacrifices inherent in job change, is inversely related to the turnover intentions of PEM physicians. Implications for healthcare managers are discussed which highlight a shift from determining affective reactions to work, to understanding how job embeddedness can explain decisions to stay with, or leave, an organization.