Dissertation- David F. Smith, Ph.D. – 2016 A Quantitative Study of Relations-oriented Leader Behaviors Related to Voluntary Turnover Intention as Mediated by Leader-member Exchange

Abstract

Voluntary turnover of valuable employees is costly in many ways to organizations. Organizational leaders should consider human resource development (HRD) practices to mitigate these expenses. Even the intention to quit without actual departure can be costly. The problem considered here was that there lacked research regarding the use of a specific set of leader behaviors to lower voluntary turnover intention (VTI) which in turn could reduce costs both pre-departure and post-departure. Leaders can learn effective use of appropriate behaviors, empowering the leader to actively participate in producing the desired goal of lower VTI. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the direct relationships between five transformational leadership theory-based relations-oriented behaviors and VTI and whether leader-member exchange quality (LMX) mediated this correlation. Leader…. MORE