Korean Academic Society of Business Administration
[ Article ]
korean management review - Vol. 54, No. 1, pp.27-54
ISSN: 1226-1874 (Print)
Print publication date 28 Feb 2025
Received 25 Mar 2024 Revised 31 Aug 2024 Accepted 12 Sep 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17287/kmr.2025.54.1.27

Multiple Reputation Effects on Employee Turnover Intention under Uncertainty: A Signaling Theory Explanation

Jeong Won Lee ; Bo Kyung Kim ; Soobin Lim ; Eunmi Chang
(First Author)Kyonggi University jwlee419@kyonggi.ac.kr
(Corresponding Author)Yonsei Shool of Business, Yonsei University kimb@yonsei.ac.kr
(Co-Author)Yonsei Shool of Business, Yonsei University bean1205@yonsei.ac.kr
(Co-Author)Yonsei Shool of Business, Yonsei University emchang@yonsei.ac.kr
불확실성 하에서 구성원의 이직 의도에 미치는 다중 명성 효과: 시그날링 이론의 적용
이정원 ; 김보경 ; 임수빈 ; 장은미
(주저자)경기대학교 조교수
(교신저자)연세대학교 교수
(공저자)연세대학교 석박통합과정
(공저자)연세대학교 교수


Copyright 2025 THE KOREAN ACADEMIC SOCIETY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly ited.

Abstract

This paper concentrates on a period characterized by uncertainty and explores how diverse organizational reputations for different behaviors, under such circumstances, display varying levels of signal effectiveness, resulting in diverse effects on employees’ behaviors. Drawing upon signaling theory, we examined independent and interaction effects of two organizational reputation signals―business group affiliation rating and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) rating―on employees’ turnover intention. We further examined the moderation effect of employees’ perception of organizational resilience on the business group affiliation and ESG effect, respectively. Employing a multilevel and multisource approach, we gathered survey data from 980 employees within 51 Korean organizations during the pandemic. We subsequently aligned this information with organizational reputation signals sourced from secondary sources. We employed a multilevel hierarchical modeling to test our hypotheses, and found a significant effect of the structural reputation signal, business group affiliation rating, on employees’ turnover intention. However, the effect of the behavioral signal, the ESG rating, was not found to be significant. We further found a significant interaction effect of the two reputation signals. In addition, the moderation effect of employees’ perception of organizational resilience was significant only for the ESG rating. Theoretical and practical insights are discussed.

Keywords:

Organizational Reputation, Business Group Affiliation, ESG Rating, Organizational Resilience, Turnover Intention

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∙The author Jeong Won Lee is an assistant professor of Kyonggi University in Kyonggi, Korea. Her current research interests include workplace participation & innovation, human resource management, business-society relationship, social identity, and social entrepreneurship.

∙The author Bo Kyung Kim is a professor of management at the Yonsei School of Business, Yonsei University in Korea. Her research interests are concerned with how the status and market identity of organizations shape organizational actions and how, in turn, organizations attempt to change their status and market identity.

∙The author Soobin Lim is a Ph.D. student at the Yonsei School of Business, Yonsei University in Korea. She studies the dynamics of organizations in turbulent business environments in the fields of organizational theory and strategy, especially neo-institutional theory and organizational status. She primarily conducts research in the hotel and automotive industries.

∙The author Eunmi Chang is a professor of management at the Yonsei School of Business, Yonsei University, in Korea. She received her PhD. from the University of Maryland, and her recent research interest includes employee motivation, commitment HR practices, pro-environmental behavior, and comparative management.