To what extent does prosocial motivation prevent employees from leaving an organization? : a moderated mediation analysis of prosocial motivation, job satisfaction, mission breach and turnover in a Norwegian mission-driven company.

Abstract

In this study, my goal was to investigate whether and how employees’ trait-like prosocial motivation affects their decision to leave the organization. I wanted to examine such relationship by considering the effect of other two variables, namely job satisfaction and mission breach. Indeed, by the means of a moderated mediation, I investigated whether the trait-like prosocial motivation affects turnover through the mediation of job satisfaction, being the relationship between prosocial motivation and job satisfaction moderated by mission breach. Therefore, I developed a research model including the association between prosocial motivation and turnover, the mediator and the moderator, that is job satisfaction and mission breach respectively. The model was tested in a mission-driven company characterized by a prosocial mission, which is “helping save lives”. Through the analysis of survey data, I achieved two significant results. First, I found that the relationship between trait-like prosocial motivation and job satisfaction was significant, and it was moderated by the mission breach. Second, I discovered that job satisfaction fully mediates the effect of prosocial motivation on turnover. I concluded that prosocial motivation does not have a direct negative effect on turnover, but it does affect it indirectly through job satisfaction. However, this effect is dependent on whether the company is breaching its mission or is operating in accordance with it.