1. INTRODUCTION:

The question of employee turnover has come to gain greater attention especially in this new century. Organizations all over the world, in various industries, have faced this problem at some stage of their evolution. Companies now take a deep interest in their employee turnover rate because it is a costly part of doing business. In order for an organization to be successful they must continuously ensure the satisfaction of their employees. Volatile economic conditions, highly competitive recruitment practices and a diminishing pool of skilled candidates create further problems in the process of retention (Capelli, 2000; Saratoga Institute, 1997).

In 1980, there were nineteen universities and two degree awarding institutes in Pakistan. Today, there are ninety universities and twenty seven degree awarding institutions in the country. This phenomenal change has been caused due to regulatory and statutory changes at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) level. Along with the increase in number there has been a major change in the nature of the business of education. The education has been commercialized to an extent. A number of education parameters have now been related to the revenue. The single most important factor in the increase in the institutions and the universities is due to the increase in the number of projected students.

This paradigm shift has resulted in high turnover among teachers as many opportunities have become available to them. Not only that these changes have influenced how faculty performs their jobs and their perceptions about empowerment, organizational commitment and job satisfaction. They now, can switch jobs and have the choice to select or reject institutions on the basis of factors they consider most important to their job.

Departments of Business and Management (referred to as business schools) are particularly affected by the problem of turnover as there is growing pressure on business schools to produce graduates in order to meet the needs of the country’s dynamically changing business environment. Also, there is limited skilled business faculty available. Business schools, therefore, have no choice but to accommodate these changes and address the issue of turnover. This study will, thus, explore the nature of turnover intentions, to develop a better understanding of the underlying issues of turnover and serve as a guide for university administrators to address this problem.

Retention of employees has been termed as one of the most significant challenges of the 21st century (Drucker, 1999). Studies have differentiated between actual turnover and turnover intent, with more focus on turnover intent. Actual turnover is more difficult to predict because it involves the study of those individuals who have left their organizations. It is difficult to trace such individuals and to retrieve data from them. However, turnover intent is termed to be the most predictive precursor of actual turnover in an organization (Bluedorn, 1982).

Over the past few decades, there have been a large number of researches done on job satisfaction, and the antecedents of turnover. However, there are very few studies that have concentrated on finding out the path that leads from job dissatisfaction to turnover intentions, which in turn leads to actual employee turnover. Mobley, Horner and Hollingsworth (1978) suggested that there are a number of cognitive and behavioral phenomena that occur between the emotional experience of job and the action of quitting. Recent models suggest that a number of individual and organizational factors affect a person’s job satisfaction and commitment, which influence the intentions to quit, and initiate the process of looking for another job and then finally quitting in actual (Michaels & Spector, 1982). ). In comparison, one such model that has received significant attention and describes this relationship, is that job dissatisfaction arouses thoughts of quitting among employees which in turn lead to looking for another job, evaluating the findings and then intentions of quitting and finally to the action of quitting (Locke, 1976; Mobley, 1977).

The most commonly studied antecedents to turnover identified in literature are factors that lead to turnover intentions, and intention to leave, organizational commitment, job search behavior, and economic factors (Locke, 1976; Mobley et al, 1979). However, the antecedent that has received most attention is job satisfaction (Locke, 1976; Michaels & Spector, 1982; Mobley et al, 1979). There are a variety of factors that can influence a person’s level of job satisfaction; some of these factors include the level of pay and benefits, the perceived fairness of the promotion system within a company, the quality of the working conditions, leadership and social relationships, and the job itself (the variety of tasks involved, the interest and challenge the job generates, and the clarity of the job description/requirements)

Study of the issue of turnover revealed that huge concern to most companies, employee turnover is a costly expense especially in lower paying job roles, for which the employee turnover rate is highest. Many factors play a role in the employee turnover rate of any company, and these can stem from both the employer and the employees. Wages, company benefits, employee attendance, and job performance are all factors that play a significant role in employee turnover.

Companies take a deep interest in their employee turnover rate because it is a costly part of doing business. When a company must replace a worker, the company incurs direct and indirect expenses. These expenses include the cost of advertising, headhunting fees, human resource costs, loss of productivity, and new hire training, all of which can add up to anywhere from 30 to 200 percent of a single employee’s annual wages or salary, depending on the industry and the job role being filled .

While lower paying job roles experience an overall higher average of employee turnover, they tend to cost companies less per replacement employee than do higher paying job roles. However, they incur the cost more often. For these reasons, most institutes focus on employee retention strategies regardless of pay levels. Most companies find that employee turnover is reduced when they address issues that affect overall institute morale. By offering employees benefits such as reasonable flexibility with work and family balance, performance reviews, and performance based incentives, along with traditional benefits such as paid holidays or sick days, institutes are better able to manage their employee turnover rates. The extent institutes will go to in order to retain employees depends not only on employee replacement costs, but also on overall company performance. If institutes are not getting the performance it is paying for, replacement cost is a small price to pay in the long run.

Moreover, there are a number of gaps between the relationship of voluntary employeeturnover and employee turnover intentions. Unfortunately, there has been almost no research conducted in Pakistan on issues relating to faculty job turnover intentions.

This study is inspired by the complex and multifaceted nature of turnover intentions in the education industry in Pakistan, particularly in relation to different factors that lead to turnover intentions of the faculty members of business schools of Peshawar. This study could help administrators and educators understand the evolving perceptions of these factors and turnover intentions and improve the work related factors that can lead to more committed, satisfied and empowered faculty members.

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Employee retention is becoming an important issue for organizations world over. The costs of employee turnover and replacement are huge and becoming less bearable in the fast paced economy. The higher educational industry, especially the business schools of Pakistan are facing the problem of high turnover as more choices have become available to a limited pool of faculty.

Preliminary findings from other industries have focused on turnover intentions and ultimately voluntary turnover. However, without further investigation, the same cannot be claimed for the education industry of Pakistan. This study will explore the relationship of the identified factors that is remuneration, job hopping, work life policies, recognition, and supervisory support with turnover intentions.

OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH:

The objectives of this research are:

• To study the relationship of turnover intentions with the factors that are remuneration, job hopping, work life policies, recognition, and supervisory support of faculty of business institutes.
• To disclose the impact of these factors on turnover intentions among faculty members of business institutes of Peshawar.
• To recommend solutions to the adverse effects of turnover.

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

This study will contribute to the literature on defined factors and turnover intention in many ways.

Firstly, it will use a survey to better understand the turnover intentions among faculty members of business schools of Peshawar.

Secondly, after doing survey it will give a fair idea about the problem of voluntary turnover within business schools.

Thirdly, the relationship of these factors of turnover intentions will be examined to reach any conclusions about how strongly factors are related with turnover intentions. This study will provide a basis to make amendments to improve the working conditions of faculty in order to retain them.

The result of the study can be extrapolated across the higher education sector in the rest of the areas in Pakistan and quality standard of education can therefore be raised by having satisfied and committed faculty.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW:

This chapter gives the detail about turnover intentions and the factors that determine the turnover intentions. Firstly, this chapter describes the issues pertaining to turnover, both in general and in academia. Secondly, it discusses the work done on the most powerful factors of turnover intentions. Thirdly, researches conducted on faculty turnover intentions are discussed to understand the nature of turnover in university faculty.

2.1 TURNOVER:

Turnover becomes a serious but intractable issue. Unfortunately, despite employee turnover being such a serious problem in Asia, there is a dearth of studies investigating it; in particular studies using a comprehensive set of variables are rare