Why do aged care employees leave? Two explanations compared.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to compare the explanatory power of the dissatisfaction-based account of aged care employee turnover against that of Lee and Mitchell's (1994) unfolding theory of turnover.

Design/methodology/approach: Mixed method prospective cohort study with three waves of employee survey data and an exit interview drawn from employees of a large Australian not-for-profit aged care provider. Independent t tests and mediated logistic regression analyses were conducted. Final sample: nStayers at Wave 3 = 138; nLeavers by Wave 3 = 42).

Findings: The classic dissatisfaction-based theory accounts for 19% of actual leavers. The five unfolding theory exit pathways accounted for 73.8% of all leavers. Stayers had the same dissatisfaction as leavers. Shock-based turnover (40.5% of all leavers) was more common than dissatisfaction-based turnover (33.5%). An additional 11.9% of leavers resigned to retire from paid work.

Research limitations/implications: Dissatisfaction-based theory provided a relatively weak explanation of aged care turnover in this organisation. The unfolding theory provided a better and more nuanced account of employee leaving.

Practical implications: Unfolding theory exit interviews will assist aged care employers to better identify organizationally specific exit patterns and assist in finding appropriate organizational solutions to employee turnover.

Originality/value: This paper provides the first direct comparison of two explanations of aged care employee turnover and provides guidance to better retention at a time of labour shortage.