Economic, organizational and psychological determinants of early turnover: evidence from a pharmaceutical company in China

Purpose: Early turnover is a worldwide problem that occurs frequently during the first three years of employment. From a multidisciplinary perspective, this study attempts to find the economic, organizational and psychological factors that account for turnover at the early stage of employment. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used turnover records provided by the human resources division of a US pharmaceutical company operating in China of 222 Medical Representatives (MR). The method of Firth's logistic regression for analyzing was employed. Findings: As an economic factor, the favorable labor conditions (i.e. high ratio of job vacancies) at the time of recruitment were inversely associated with MR subsequent retention. For organizational factors, unsatisfactory supervision and disappointment of intra-organizational career were the major predictors, and job ranks showed a U-shaped relationship to early resignation. Moreover, working pressure was a psychological factor of early exit. Originality/value: This study provides organizations with empirical implications to devise retention plans for newcomers at risk of attrition, which prevent them from early turnover in the industry facing a talent shortage. Studies based on the company exit records have little been done in turnover literature.