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Who's the Boss? The effect of strong leadership on employee turnover

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  • Carter, Susan Payne
  • Dudley, Whitney
  • Lyle, David S.
  • Smith, John Z.

Abstract

Despite the importance placed on supervision in the workplace, little is known about the effects of a boss' leadership quality on labor market outcomes such as employee job retention. Using plausibly exogenous assignment of junior officers to bosses in the U.S. Army, we find positive retention effects for those assigned to immediate and senior bosses who are strong leaders. These effects are strongest for officers with high SAT scores. Junior officers who share the same undergraduate institution as their bosses also retain at higher rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Carter, Susan Payne & Dudley, Whitney & Lyle, David S. & Smith, John Z., 2019. "Who's the Boss? The effect of strong leadership on employee turnover," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 323-343.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:159:y:2019:i:c:p:323-343
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2018.12.028
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    Cited by:

    1. Ahmed S. Rahman, 2020. "Officer retention and military spending: the rise of the military‐industrial complex during the Second World War," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(4), pages 1074-1096, November.
    2. Carter, Susan Payne & Swisher, Ryan D., 2020. "The effect of moving away from home on employee retention: Evidence among U.S. army soldiers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Boss; Manager; Retention; Turnover;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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