The Impact of Basic Needs Satisfaction on Work Engagement and Turnover Intentions

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the research was to determine how basic needs satisfaction (BNS) impacted work engagement (WE) and turnover intentions (TI) of employees at the mine.

Methodology: The author used positivist research philosophy and survey research design and collected data from 100 employees through a well-structured questionnaire comprising scales for BNS, WE, and TI. The questionnaires were delivered to 100 employees based on stratified random sampling after receiving listing of 300 eligible research participants. Data was analysed using SPSS. Cronbach’s alpha for the scales was 0.793, 0.872, and 0.702 respectively for BNS, WE, and TI. Qualitative research was conducted to get views regarding turnover intentions and what should be done to retain employees.

Results: The three variables in the study were strongly correlated and significant at p < .01. The correlation between BNS and WE was .544, between WE and TI it was -.519, and between BNS and TI, it was -.459. With WE controlled, impact of BNS on TI was insignificant at p < .01. Regression coefficient for BNS decreased from -.710 to -.388, indicating reduction in influence of BNS on TI when WE was controlled. According to Baron and Kenny (1986), reduction in regression coefficient for BNS and the insignificant regression result confirmed that WE was a mediator between BNS and TI. However, partial, and not full mediation was achieved since the direct path of BNS to TI was non-zero. Using BNS and WE as independent variables and TI as dependent variable, Pearson correlation coefficient (R) was .560, giving coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.314, indicating that BNS and WE contributed 31.4% towards variance in TI.

Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study has provided empirical evidence that TI can be studied through BNS and WE and that WE works as a generative mechanism (mediating variable) through which BNS operates to impact TI. Management at the mine must promote BNS and WE through improvement in compensation, supervisor-subordinate relationship, training and development opportunities, and recognition of competent employees to reduce TI.