Why does transformational leadership matter for employee
turnover? A multi-foci social exchange perspective
Drawing on social exchange theory, the present study investigates the underlying mechanisms
through which transformational leadership influences employee turnover. Leader–member
exchange (LMX) and affective commitment (AC) are proposed as supervisor-based and
organization-based social exchange mechanisms respectively, exemplifying how social
exchange processes occur between an employee and his/her supervisor, and between the
employee and his/her organization as a whole to underpin the effect of transformational
leadership on turnover outcomes. Results of structural equation modeling on a sample
of 490 full-time employees working in a large telecommunication company in the PRC
provided support for the notion that transformational leadership is related to both social
exchange mechanisms – LMX and AC – turnover intention and turnover behavior. Furthermore,
the results revealed that AC rather than LMXmediated the link between transformational leadership
and turnover intention. Turnover intention also only mediated the relationship between AC and
turnover behavior over time.