A study on voluntary turnover and love of money

Abstract

In the recent years, there has been a relatively high turnover rate of the frontline managers in the local construction industry. The high turnover rate of employees has brought negative effects to the concerned construction companies and the construction industry as a whole. The problem must be addressed.

In most of the previous studies conducted in foreign countries, the findings supported that work-to-life issues are the main reason for voluntary turnover. In one of the studies performed by City University of Hong Kong in 2009, however, suggested that “pay related issue” was the most important single factor triggering voluntary turnover of local frontline managers. The aims of this study are to find out: 1. if the findings of the study in 2009 are still valid; 2. and if item (1) is affirmative, why the local frontline managers have a high love level in money.

The study comprises an extensive literature review, a questionnaire survey to the local construction frontline managers, a follow-up interview with some of the respondents who had participated in the named questionnaire survey, and interviewing with two identified senior practitioners of the local construction firms for result validation as well as clarification of some irregularities identified.

The questionnaire survey confirmed the findings of the CityU’s study in 2009. Based on the findings of the questionnaire survey and that of the literature review, three hypotheses were set up. Then the named following-up interviews were conducted with semi-structured questions centering on the three hypotheses. The research results of the interviews indicated that the local frontline managers had a high love level in money because the money was required to meet their physiological needs or that of their family members. Most of the local frontline managers had a low contribution to household duties and they spent little time in leisure activities compared to their counterparts in other advanced countries; yet, they did not feel any problem with the same. However, they did complain about the stress and tension caused by their heavy workload. The major findings of the interviews were discussed with the two identified senior practitioners of the local construction firms. Having completed all the studies, the following important findings have been concluded: 1. “Pay related issue” is still the most important contributing factor to voluntary turnover of local construction frontline managers. 2. The local frontline managers had a high love level of money because the money was required to meet their physiological needs or that of their family members. 3. The frontline managers have a big jump of salary as they move their jobs voluntarily. 4. The frontline managers frequently feel being exhausted and even fatigue but they do not consider it as a contributing factor for their voluntary turnover.