One Size Does Not Fit All: Organizational Rewards, Managerial Experience, and Employee Retention in Entrepreneurial New Ventures

This study integrates human capital theory and research on organizational rewards to examine how one financial reward (i.e., pay level relative to the market average) and three non-financial rewards (i.e., job autonomy, growth opportunities, and team support) jointly influence employee retention in entrepreneurial new ventures. It also examines the moderating role of managerial experience on these contingent relationships. The findings demonstrate that relative pay level strengthens the positive effect of specific non-financial rewards on employee retention, and that employees with managerial experience and those without this experience can be retained using different reward strategies.