The influence of human resource management practices on turnover intention: The mediating role of organizational commitment

Abstract

Managing human capital is growing into one of the most complex tasks that are set before the managers of the modern age. The reason for this lies in the fact that the 21st century workforce consists of several diametrically opposed generations' representatives who are expected to ignore their differences, adopt common values, and while standing "side by side", as a team, assist an organization whose part they are in its quest to climb high on the market ladder and achieve the set goals. The working attitudes and behavior of the currently dominant staff in the labor market - the millennials, are a factor that can establish or shake organizational stability. Prone to sudden retirement, not overly loyal, and to a certain extent uninterested in the future of the organization that provides them with employment, the millennials can pose a "threat" to its sustainability. Previous research indicates that the work on establishing the organizational commitment of this age cohort can be seen as a tool of neutralizing the risk of the aforementioned unwanted behaviors, and an activity to which human resource managers must be fully committed. The aim of the research is to determine the influence of human resource management (HRM) practices on the intention of employed millennials to leave the organization, and to examine the mediating role of organizational commitment in this relationship. The theoretical research was performed by content analysis of available national and foreign scientific-professional literature. The empirical research was conducted using a survey method in the first half of 2021, covering a sample of 99 millennials employed in the Republic of Serbia. Statistical software SmartPLS and SPSS were used to process the collected data. The results of the research indicated that the HRM practices have a negative statistically significant impact on the millennials' turnover intention, and that organizational commitment mediates and strengthens the aforementioned relationship.