“The question of employee turnover has come to gain greater attention especially in the 21st century where organisations all over the world, in various industries, have faced this problem at some stages of their evolution” (Zahra et al, 2013:78). Turnover intentions have further become a vital study for organisations and researchers as research has found that once an employee has actually implemented the behaviour to quit, it is highly unlikely that an employer will be able to “gain access to them to understand their prior situation” (Darroux, Johnathan & Thibeli, 2013:78). Several studies have been devoted to examine the impact of various factors such as organisational commitment, work engagement, age, gender and tenure on turnover intentions in an attempt to assist organisations in alleviating the challenges associated with turnover (Darroux, Johnathan & Thibeli, 2013). The results of these studies have continually shown that both work engagement and organisational commitment have a significant effect on turnover intentions (Yin & Yang, 2002; Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch & Topolnytsky, 2002 and Tett & Meyer, 1993).

This study focused on establishing the impact of job satisfaction (JS) and organisational commitment (OC) on turnover intentions of high school teachers in Fort Beaufort. Quantitative research methodology was used to gather data with the use of the short version of the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire; the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire measuring three facets of commitment (affective, continuance, and normative); and Turnover Intention Questionnaire consisting of three items. Validity and reliability of each instrument was presented and explained. Data analysis was facilitated by the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results indicated that teachers’ level of satisfaction was high with many aspects of their job and it was low with some aspects with pay and the amount of work being the lowest. A negative relationship between job satisfaction and turnover was established, and organisational commitment was found to influence turnover intention.

Adhesion complexes (ACs) are large macromolecular complexes of integrins and associated proteins that connect the actin cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. In migrating cells, ACs are highly dynamic -- forming and maturing at the cell front and disassembling at the cell rear. The turnover of ACs enables and localises the necessary traction forces required for cell migration. There is evidence for the spatiotemporal recruitment of specific proteins during AC maturation or disassembly; however, a holistic understanding of the compositional changes to ACs during these states is lacking. To this end, we sought to characterise the dynamic changes that occur at ACs during turnover using a mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics approach. A major challenge in studying AC turnover is the desynchronised nature of AC formation, maturation and disassembly within a population of cells. Therefore a nocodazole-washout assay was used to synchronise microtubule-induced AC maturation and disassembly. To study the dynamics of AC turnover by MS, an AC isolation method was optimised for use with the nocodazole-washout assay. Subsequently, the maturation of ACs by the loss of microtubules was studied by MS-based proteomics, and it was found that this resulted in the overall accumulation of adhesion proteins, and also the conversion of fibrillar adhesions to focal adhesions. Studying the dynamic process of AC disassembly requires a sensitive MS quantification method; as such, label-free quantitative methods were compared, and it was found that LC-MS peak ion intensity quantification performed better than spectral counting. Using optimised methodologies for isolation of ACs and MS quantification, the dynamics of AC disassembly was analysed over the course of the nocodazole-washout assay. It was found that in general, microtubules were enriched around ACs, whereas many structural AC proteins decreased over time. In summary, we have optimised methods for the study of ACs by MS-based proteomics, and applied these methods to the study of AC turnover.

The purpose of this study is to gather information related to some factors which are considered to be characteristic of science teaching; to attempt to identify some elements of permanency in science teaching; and to analyze some relationships between the results of the above two criteria with the view of establishing some factors which may be useful as predictors of permanency, or indicative of patterns of permanency, in science teaching.

archives@tulane.edu / The dissertation includes three chapters analyzing the effects of divided tax policy changes in China. Specifically, this study discusses how firms responded to dividend policy changes, answers the question of whether such policy changes helped the government achieve its goal of lowering stocks’ turnover rates/trading volumes to increase financial market stability and explores the relationship between dividend taxation and firms’ value. The data shows that firms reacted quickly after the 2005 dividend tax cut. The total cash values of dividend distributions, distribution activities, and the number of firms that initiated/increased dividend payouts all increased after the announcement of this policy change. The paper finds that firms’ behaviors, in this case, were tax-driven. By conducting difference-in-differences method and propensity score matching with a variety of matching algorithms, I find that, after the 2005 policy change, lowering the dividend tax decreased the turnover rate and the number of trading volumes by over 18% and 68 million shares, respectively. However, when I extend this analysis to the 2012 dividend tax policy change, I find that the differentiated dividend tax has nearly opposite effects. Moreover, by using a logit model and price variation model, I find that firms’ value went up after the 2005 policy change. There is no evidence showing that the 2012 policy change had such effects. / 1 / Ziqi Xie

Employee turnovers have been challenging and costly for most organizations. Organization leaders are concerned with employee turnover due to the high cost of training replacements. Grounded in Burns's model of transformational leadership, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to identify strategies hospital managers used to reduce Environmental Services (EVS) employee turnover. The participants consisted of 5 EVS managers with recruiting and hiring responsibilities from the Piedmont Triad and Research Triangle Park of North Carolina who experienced EVS turnover, yet implemented effective leadership strategies to retain workers. Yin's 5 stages of data analysis were used to analyze data collected through semistructured interviews, company documents, and note taking. Four themes emerged from the analysis: communication, leadership, training and development, and employee engagement and productivity. The implications for positive social change include the potential for stakeholders to effectively use strategies to improve retention and turnover, decrease the unemployment rate, increase the growth of the organization, and increase employee productivity and patient safety. Positive social change may lead to better opportunities for employees and provide prosperity for families and communities.

Employee turnover is a complex problem with many intertwining contributors. In general newly hired employees at an organization have a higher risk of injury. However, few studies have explored occupational injury as a predictor of employment duration. In this study we hypothesized that employees who sustained an injury during the early stages of employment were prone to higher turnover rates. All employees hired from 2012-2016 were identified using a large Midwestern manufacturing facilities human resources database (n=3765). Corresponding occupational injury information from the same time period was extracted from the onsite occupational health center. Employment duration was the dependent variable which was dichotomized as (i) working < 60 days or (ii) working ≥60 days. The 60-day threshold was based on the employer’s internal estimation of the duration of employment required to recover training costs. The primary independent variable was a first-time visit to the occupational health center within the first 60 days of employment, categorized as (i) no visit, (ii) a visit within 1-20 days, or (iii) a visit within 21-60 days. A secondary independent variable incorporated the nature of injury, classified as repetitive strain, acute sprain/strain, or other occupational injury types. Covariates included demographics (e.g., age, gender, and race/ethnicity), shift placement (e.g. first, second, third), and nature of assigned job (e.g., assembly, fabrication, maintenance). Incidence rates of first-time visits were calculated (i) across the full study period and (ii) for a reduced period that included only the first 60 days of employment. Logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted associations between the primary/secondary independent variables and the dependent variable. Of the 3765 employees, 1184 (31.5%) worked less than 60 days. About two-thirds were male, about half were white/Caucasian, and the overall mean age was 33.8±10.8 years. Between 2012 and 2016, 1105 first-time visits to the occupational health center were recorded for all new hires with an overall incidence rate (IR) of 47/100 person-years (PY). The IR for repetitive strain was 18/100PY. Of the 1105 first-time visits, 408 occurred within the first 60 days of employment with an overall IR of 85/100PY and an IR for repetitive strain of 36/100PY. Employees who visited the occupational health center in the first 20 days of employment were more likely to terminate prior to the 60-day threshold (adjusted odds ratio: 1.7; 95% confidence interval: 1.3-2.4). Elevated associations were seen for all nature of injury categories which occurred within 20 days when compared to non-injured employees. Overall, the results suggest that experiencing an occupational injury (in particular, a repetitive strain injury) within the first 20 days of employment is associated with termination before 60 days. Our results may not be generalizable to all manufacturing enterprises, and we do not make a distinction between voluntary and involuntary termination. However, the results indicate that employers should examine policies and practices to minimize the burden of injury among new employees and reduce turnover. In the case of the study facility, an extended or modified work hardening program could maximize new employees’ adaptation to the physical demands of manufacturing work.

Caseworker turnover in child welfare agencies has been a problem for many years. The turnover negatively impacts the agency, and the staff left behind by their departing peers, and continuity of services provided to clients. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore parental experiences with child welfare staff turnover to determine how clients perceived that turnover impacted their child welfare case. The research questions for this study focused on (a) how clients perceived that child welfare turnover impacted their case and (b) how the turnover impacted their case plan and (c) recommendations for child welfare to enhance services. Conceptually, ecological and general systems theories provided the framework for understanding perceptions of child welfare clients’ experiences. Data were collected using semistructured questions administered to the 8 former child welfare clients in individual interviews. The participants were recruited through purposeful and snowball sampling. The selection criteria for participants were previous clients who had experienced the loss of their caseworker at least 3 times due to turnover. The collected data were transcribed verbatim from an audio recording. Codes were assigned to the data and reliability checks were conducted. The themes that emerged from analysis of the data included (a) effect of turnover on the outcome of the case, (b) loss that comes with turnover, (c) different perspectives, (d) frustration with notification of change, (e) case plan changes, and (f) advice for child welfare agencies. The knowledge gained from this study can help child welfare agencies learn how clients are affected by turnover and what families need from the child welfare agency when facing turnover. The findings of this study could potentially contribute to positive social change by providing guidance for practice and a greater opportunity to help families who experience staff turnover in child welfare agencies.

<p>This study examined job satisfaction factors and teacher demographics in relation to a teacher’s likelihood of returning to an urban teaching setting the following school year. The researcher specifically examined factors relating to teachers’ job satisfaction, utilizing Paul Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey (1999). Four hundred fifty-nine Indiana urban schoolteachers whose districts are members of Indiana Urban School Association (IUSA) participated in this study. Participants’ demographic and job satisfaction data was analyzed by point biserial correlations and binary logistic regressions. A significant correlation was found between the total JSS score and teachers’ decision to return teaching in urban school setting. Additionally, an increased number of years of teaching, promotion, and nature of work were associated with an increased likelihood of returning to teach. In contrast, an increase in age was associated with a reduced probability of teaching or returning by 0.746. An increase in the number of teaching years was related to an increased probability of returning to teaching by 3.204. There is an increased chance of returning to teaching by 4.066 as promotion increases. A reduced probability of returning to teaching by .313 was correlated with relationships with colleagues. Finally, increasing levels of nature of work was associated with an increased likelihood or returning to work by 3.103. Based on the findings from this study, the researcher concluded administrators in urban school settings should focus on factors that will enhance teacher experience and overall job satisfaction to discourage attrition. </p>

My thesis provides evidence supporting a theory asserting that the high level of competition that exists between motor carriers operating within long-haul trucking is the most significant factor contributing to the continuously high driver turnover rates affecting the entire logistics industry. I explore how long-haul truck drivers internalize the conflict between their identity and the aggressively competitive environment within which they work. Social science authors, industry reports, and truck driver feedback from my own ethnographic study are analyzed for contexts in order to explore the current operating definition of success for motor carriers in both monetary and human terms.