Withdrawal and restraining factors in teachers' turnover intentions

Abstract This study examines how work‐related withdrawal‐inducing and restraining factors affect the intention to leave work of male and female teachers. It is assumed that while these intentions are induced by the employee's affective reaction to the work environment, they are also restrained by those personal gains and advantages provided by the present job that cannot be transferred to another. A path analysis performed on data collected from 239 high school teachers in Israel indicates some differences between the male and female groups. Some restraining effects on the intentions to resign were found among both, but the prevailing assumption that affective work reactions mediate between work environment and the intent to leave, was found among male teachers only. This and other observed differences in the predictors of male and female teachers' intentions to resign question the generality of prevailing assumptions of the psychological process of withdrawal. The need for gender adjustments in withdrawal models is proposed.