Does Compliance to the Prescribed Standards in Readymade Garments Sector Predict Employee Turnover Intention? The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Attraction

Abstract

Compliance to legal requirements and standards prescribed by international certification bodies and/or foreign buyers in the readymade garments (RMG) industry in Bangladesh is a burning issue regarding a safer working environment for employees. The present study examines the mediating effects of job satisfaction and organizational attraction on the relationship between the compliance and turnover intention. Research questions, hypotheses and research objectives are developed from the premises of job demands–resources (JD-R) theory, social exchange theory, social identity theory and prior empirical findings. Data are collected from 444 workers of the RMG industry through a multi-item survey instrument. We analyse the collected data using covariate-based structural equation modelling though AMOS (version 20). Results show that all of the direct influences except that of compliance on turnover intention are significant. The findings confirm that compliance acts as a distal antecedent of employee turnover intention through its mediating influences via job satisfaction and organizational attraction. The study sheds light on the significance of maintaining the provisions of compliance by the RMG in Bangladesh. It makes robust empirical and theoretical contributions to the extant literature. First, it supplements the inadequate documentation in RMG and other clothing industries. Unlike other studies on compliance in the RMG sector, this study measures compliance from the perspective of both the employer and the employees. Second, the study also makes a complementary contribution to the organizational attraction research by focusing on current employees rather than prospective employees. Finally, a little pursuit is evident in using theory and empirical proof together in the RMG industry. Hence, it aims to validate the theoretical account of the JD-R theory, social identity theory and social exchange theory in the context of a developing country.