Differences in Mechanisms Linking Motivation and Turnover Intention for Public and Private Employees: Evidence From China

Drawing on motivated information processing theory, this study examined and compared the mechanism of prosocial motivation and intrinsic motivation on turnover intention among public and private employees. A valid sample of 328 public and private respondents was selected from the responses to the module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in the 2015 Chinese General Survey. The t-test was used to examine the differences in prosocial motivation, intrinsic motivation, and turnover intention through SPSS, and the methods of multigroup structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were adopted to examine and compare the mediation effects through AMOS. The results indicated that there were significant differences in prosocial motivation, intrinsic motivation, and turnover intention between public and private employees. Additionally, the indirect effects of prosocial motivation and intrinsic motivation on turnover intention were significantly mediated by affective commitment and then job satisfaction. There were significant public-private differences in the mediation mechanism. The findings suggest the chain mediation mechanism that prosocial motivation and intrinsic motivation are critical in facilitating organizational commitment, enhancing job satisfaction, and reducing turnover intention. This research contributes to a better understanding of the motivational mechanisms impacting turnover intention in the Chinese indigenous context, and suggests that so-called “good soldiers” and “good aspirants” are more likely to emerge in the public sector and remain in the public sector organizations.