2023
Cairn
Wassila Merkouche et al., « Towards a multilevel integrative theoretical model of organizational withdrawal », @GRH, ID : 10670/1.9nh10b
Organizational withdrawal (OW) is a phenomenon of concern to organizations because of its negative effects on individual and organizational performance. Our systematic review of the theories and explanatory models of OW, starting with Hanisch’s (1995) foundational work, reveals that OW has been approached in a fragmented way and that its components have been studied in silos. The literature on OW is characterized by semantic confusion and a lack of consensus on explanatory factors despite the evolution and greater frequency of this phenomenon in organizations. The manifestations of OW have become increasingly complex due to organizational and socio-demographic changes that make their detection and prevention more difficult. We designed an original integrative theoretical model of OW that positions the individual at the intersection of multilevel factors, focuses on the individual’s stage of assessment and adaptation, and combines two theoretical concepts: psychological contract, which reflects the social exchange context of the attitudinal and behavioral responses of individuals; and job embeddedness, which explains employees’ decisions to maintain the employment link in the presence of strong connections with the organization and its members. We put forward five theoretical propositions to verify the direct and indirect effects of the psychological contract and the degree of job embeddedness on decisions to withdraw from work (e.g., absenteeism) and to withdraw from the job (e.g., voluntary leaving). In line with Berry, Lelchook and Clark’s (2012) research on the relationships between withdrawal behaviors, we also test the spillover effect of the interaction between the two components of OW, work withdrawal (WW) and job withdrawal (JW), as they relate to continuing weak job embeddedness. Our research advances knowledge on OW by offering a new definition and a new typology of OW; verifying empirically and simultaneously two phenomena related to work and employment according to a hierarchical data structure; and providing managers with a practical, comprehensive, and integrated approach to accurately diagnose and prevent OW.