Linguistic Diversity and Public Servants’ Turnover Intentions: Theory and Analysis From a Multilingual State

Abstract

Although approximately a quarter of the world’s countries are officially bilingual or multilingual, the relationship between linguistic diversity and human resource management has largely been overlooked. This article advances research by theoretically considering, and empirically investigating, whether public servants’ ability to use their official language of choice at work is related to their turnover intentions, and whether this relationship is moderated by one’s linguistic minority status. Analysis of survey data from Canada’s full-time permanent public service shows a statistically significant and substantive relationship between public servants’ ability to use their official language of choice at work and their internal and external turnover intentions. Moreover, the results from various hierarchical sequential multivariate models, which build-up to control for employees’ personal characteristics and work environment, suggest that the relationship language of use has with turnover intention is important regardless of whether one is a linguistic minority or a linguistic majority.