Work Adaptability and Turnover Intentions Among University Graduates: Insights From Romania and Zanzibar

Today’s work market presents candidates with increasing demands and unaddressed challenges that underscore the importance of adaptability, understood as one’s capacity to adjust behaviors, thoughts, and emotions to respond effectively to changing work demands, environments, or situations. Although numerous studies have examined graduates’ intentions to leave a job or even a profession, there remains a significant knowledge gap. Drawing on social exchange theory and job embeddedness theory, the present study aims to examine how graduates from Romania and Zanzibar perceive their ability to adapt to workplace demands and their intentions for turnover. To meet this end, the authors conducted an empirical study using the survey technique, with a questionnaire as the research instrument, targeting graduates from the University of Oradea, Romania, and The State University of Zanzibar. Furthermore, it seeks to investigate the differences in adaptability to work and turnover intentions between Romanian and Zanzibaris respondents. Our findings reveal that Zanzibaris graduates scored lower than Romanian graduates in individual adaptability to work, both overall and in specific aspects, as well as in turnover intentions. Additionally, the variability of the investigated variables was lowest among Zanzibaris compared to Romanians. Specifically, respondents from both countries attributed the lowest score to the “Embracing continuous learning” component of individual adaptability to work and the highest score to the individual adaptability to work component, namely “Coping with Work Stress.” The paper contributes to a better understanding of how individual adaptability to work, combined with turnover intentions, is perceived by university graduates from Romania and Zanzibar, providing some explanations and opening new avenues for research.