Religiosity and turnover intention: the mediating role of work engagement

Abstract

Guided by job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, this paper aims to explore the relationship between religiosity and turnover intention through the mediating role of work engagement. Using a survey questionnaire, data were collected from 338 employees working in the telecom sector in Jordan. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The findings show that religiosity is positively related to work engagement, while work engagement is negatively related to turnover intention. While not specifically hypothesized, we found a negative relationship between religiosity and turnover intention. Furthermore, our findings show that work engagement mediates the relationship between religiosity and turnover intention. This study contributes to JD-R theory and relevant literature by investigating the association between religiosity (an important yet neglected personal resource), work engagement and turnover intentions. This highlights the contextual relevance and extension of JD-R theory by incorporating religiosity of employees in a Middle Eastern context.