“I as Part of We”: A Time-Lagged Study of Turnover Intentions From Combat Units as a Function of Organizational Identification and Emotional Exhaustion in the Military

Turnover is a great challenge to many organizations and is considered very costly. This time-lagged research focuses on mapping the potential predictors of turnover intentions among newly recruited soldiers in the military. The study explores whether organizational identification in the first 2 weeks of training may impact soldiers’ turnover intentions at the end of the training. Furthermore, the study examines whether emotional exhaustion mediates the associations between organizational identification and turnover intentions from combat units. Using a double-edged moderated-mediation model, the study explored whether family support moderates the relationship between organizational identification and emotional exhaustion and the emotional exhaustion–turnover intentions from combat units link. Data were collected from 402 newly recruited male soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces who served in the same unit and were exposed to the same training program. The moderated-mediation model revealed that organizational identification at T1 (the first 2 weeks of training) predicted lower emotional exhaustion, leading to lower turnover intentions at T2 (2 months later) at the end of the training. In addition, the moderated-mediation model indicated that when the family offered more support, the indirect link between organizational identification and turnover intentions via emotional exhaustion was significant compared to lower levels of family support (first-stage moderation). However, the second-stage moderation did not reach significance. The social identity theory and the conservation of resources theory were simultaneously integrated with the model. Practically, practitioners could promote employee resiliency against emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions by enhancing organizational factors such as organizational identification and external factors such as family support.