Home to work spillover and turnover intentions: The mediating role of training and development practices

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between home-to-work spillover, measured as positive and negative home–work interference (HWI) and turnover intentions, as well as the mediating role of perceptions concerning training and development practices.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected among 418 respondents who were working at two business schools. A confirmative structural equation modeling analysis was conducted for the analysis.

Findings

As expected, positive HWI showed negative relationships with turnover intentions, while negative HWI related positively to turnover intentions. Training and development practices mediated the relationship between positive HWI and turnover intentions; the mediation effect was stronger for women than it was for men. Training and development practices did not mediate the relationship between negative HWI and turnover intentions, however.

Practical implications

The outcomes suggest that helping employees to balance their work and home lives can be beneficial for employees, as well as for employers in terms of reducing turnover intentions.

Originality/value

As contributions, additional insight into the relationship between positive and negative non-work factors and turnover intentions by examining the ways in which both positive as well as negative HWI are related to turnover intentions. Furthermore, the research considers the mediating role played by perceptions concerning human resource (HR) practices, and particularly training and development practices as perceived by the employee, in the relationship between positive and negative HWI and turnover intentions.

Citation

Sok, J., Blomme, R.J., De Ruiter, M., Tromp, D. and Lub, X.D. (2018), "Home to work spillover and turnover intentions: The mediating role of training and development practices", European Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 42 No. 3/4, pp. 246-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2017-0060