Adam S Equity Theory

A Role for Equity Theory in the Turnover Process:
An Empirical Test1
RODGERw.GRlFFETH2 AND STEFAN GAERTNER
Department of Management
Georgia State Universiw

The purpose o f the present study was to examine the role o f equity theory in the context of the contemporary turnover process. A model was developed and tested with 192 hospital employees using structural equation modeling (SEM), which placed satisfaction and intention to quit as mediators of employee turnover. The results strongly support the present model, but also suggest a role for other mediators, some of which are suggested for future research.

Equity theory (Adams, 1963, 1965) continues to be a major model stimulating considerable research regarding work motivation in recent years (Bretz &
Thomas, 1992; Carr, McLoughlin, Hodgson, & Maclachlan, 1996; Glass &
Wood, 1996; Greenberg, 1990; Harder, 1991, 1992; Huseman, Hatfield, & Miles,
1985, 1987; Johnson & Johnson, 1991; Joshi, 1990; King & Miles, 1994; King,
Miles, & Day, 1993; Miles, Hatfield, & Huseman, 1994; Perry, 1993; Sheehan,
1993; Sweeney, 1990; Van Dierendonck, Schaufeli, & Sixma, 1994). Briefly summarized, equity theory suggests that an employee compares the ratio of his or her outcomes to inputs to the ratio of outcomes to inputs of some referent other.
Employees who perceive themselves in an inequitable situation will be dissatisfied and will try to reduce the inequity. Although Adams (1963,1965) proposed a number of ways that employees might reduce inequity, research concerned with organizations has tended to focus on employee reactions to pay inequity, such as low performance and dissatisfaction (Greenberg, 1990). Leaving the situation
(i.e., voluntary turnover) was also postulated as a tension reaction mode by
Adams ( 1 963, 1965), but only a few studies have examined the impact of inequity perceptions on turnover in the context of contemporary ideas regarding a turnover process (e.g., Horn & Griffeth, 1995; Mobley, 1977). The purpose of

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