“Stay” or “Leave”: Influence of employee-oriented social responsibility on the turnover intention of new-generation employees

With the new-generation employees gradually becoming the main force in various industries, it becomes the core issue of organizational research that how to reduce the turnover rate of new-generation employees to obtain key talents, develop sustainable business strategies, and stabilize the organizational system environment. Existing research focuses on the field of the turnover intention (TI) of new-generation employees. However, systematic discussions on TI influencing factors and processes are few. From the perspective of employee-oriented social responsibility (ESR), combining the Price–Mueller turnover model, 243 valid responses to questionnaire surveys of new-generation employees from 17 electronics industry enterprises in northern China are collected to explore the mechanism of ESR on the TI of new-generation employees, mediating effect of organizational commitment, and moderating effect of perceived organizational support (POS). Results show that when the ESR level is high, new-generation employees tend to follow the logic of the "stay" mentality to reduce the tendency to leave firms. In addition, the three dimensions of organizational commitment: affective commitment (AC), normative commitment (NC), and continuance commitment (CC) have significant mediating effects on the relationship between ESR and TI. POS moderates the relationship between ESR and AC and that between ESR and NC, but this moderating effect does not exist between ESR and CC. This study provides empirical evidence in the Chinese context for the literature on the factors affecting the turnover of new-generation employees in enterprises. It also presents policy implications for enterprise managers and social decision-making departments to optimize enterprise human resource strategies and adapt to a dynamic external environment.