Perceived Supervisor Support and Employee Turnover Intention: The Moderating Effect of Employment Tenure

The influence of supervisory behavior on employee turnover intention has long been discussed by HR scholars. Yet, moderating and mediating relationships of this setting have been addressed seldomly. The central focus of this study was to test the moderating effect of employment tenure on to the relationship between perceived supervisory support and employment turnover intention. The quantitative inquiry adopts the survey method. Perceived supervisory support was the independent variable and the employee turnover intention was the dependent variable. Employment tenure (short vs. long) was assumed to be the moderating variable of the said relationship. The twenty-itemed survey instrument recorded 0.7 -0.71 reliability score. The answers were ranked against a seven point Likert scale where 1 denotes strongly disagree and 7 denotes strongly agree. Data from the respondents (n = 135) was analyzed using mainly the ANOVA, correlation and multiple regression analysis. Results point out a significant negative relationship between perceived supervisory support and employee turnover intention. Importantly, it is revealed that there is a significant moderating effect by employment tenure on the association between main variables concerned. The theoretical implication of moderating role of employment tenure and the practical implication of offering extended support for short tenured employees concluded the study.