Academic Person-Environment Fit towards Sustainable Work-Life Balance and Reduced Turnover Intention Moderated by Job Opportunities

Abstract

Retaining and maintaining adequate academic talents are the primary discourse topic among corporate executives and human resource specialists. Academic institutions are struggling to attract and retain top talents due to the increasing academic turnover in the educational field. Furthermore, lifestyle transformation has impacted the human resource environment, which focuses on developing alternative values, achieving work–life balance, and performing successful retention strategies. To achieve a sustainable work–life balance practice, the current study aims to examine the relationship between the academic human resource strategy and person–environment fit aspects mediated by sustainable work–life balance and moderated by external job opportunities. The theoretical foundations are the theory of work adjustment and social exchange theory. A cross-sectional research methodology was implemented to collect data from 466 participants through an online survey. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was subsequently conducted to analyse the collected data. The study results revealed that person-organisation fit and person-vocational fit significantly influenced employees’ turnover intention. Furthermore, sustainable work–life balance was not only significantly related employees’ turnover intention, but also significantly mediated the relationship between person–environment fit dimensions and employees’ turnover intention. The findings also discovered that job opportunities significantly moderated the association between sustainable work–life balance and turnover intention. Resultantly, the current study’s thorough retention strategy model could be highly beneficial to the human resource industry, decision-makers, and educational management in developing an effective recruitment and retention plan.