Turnover functionality versus turnover frequency: A note on work attitudes and organizational effectiveness.

Recent arguments by Dalton, Todor, and Krackhardt (1982) have highlighted the need to distinguish between turnover frequency (i.e., the number of separations) and turnover functionality (i.e., the nature of separations).Turnover functionality, which considers both turnover frequency and the performance level of leaven and stayers, is more critical to organizational effectiveness than is turnover frequency.We test whether work attitudes, widely praised as predictors of turnover frequency, are also useful predictors of turnover functionality.The results of our study, using a sample of 112 retail salespersons, indicate that (a) the traditional measure of turnover frequency overstates the detrimental effects of turnover on organizational effectiveness, in that 53% of the turnover was, in fact, functional, and (b) turnover functionality, which emphasizes the performance levels of stayers and leaven, is unrelated to work attitudes.The practical implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.