Abstract:

Turnover is a very important topic in management research. Taking the position of organization, most literature focused on how to reduce turnover by influencing employees’ attitude and thus minimize the negative impact on organizations. However, the nature of leaving an organization is an individual decision of employees. Therefore, under the background of boundaryless career, turnover research should shift its focus back to the employees as decision makers. This paper suggests: firstly, discussing the influential factors on turnover with a focus on the decision-maker; secondly, exploring the inner process of turnover decision-making; thirdly, paying more attention to the actual quitting behavior and the subsequent behavior.

Key words: turnover, decision-maker, boundaryless career, evolutionary search model, profiles in quitting