Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2225-8329

The Influence of Personality and Work Stress on Job Turnover among Graduates

Muhammad Rozaidi Ahmad Romil, Fatimah Wati Halim

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARAFMS/v14-i4/24214

Open access

Graduates are a crucial human resource for any organization. They are often seen as a semi-skilled workforce ready to be deployed in organizational operations. Although graduate employability rates are reported to be high, the opposite is true in the field. High job turnover rates persist among graduates. At the same time, graduates must also compete with experienced individuals in the job market since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition for jobs in the current labour market is not easy for graduates. This directly poses challenges for both organizations and graduates. Various factors are seen to influence this occurrence. Among the identified factors are personality factors and job stress. Therefore, this study aims to identify the influence of personality factors and job stress on the intention to turnover among graduates. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used in this study through the distribution of questionnaires. A total of 345 respondents from the Perak region were involved in this study. The results of the study revealed a significant influence between several personality traits, such as conscientiousness and emotional stability on turnover intention among graduates. Job stress factors also showed a significant influence on the intention to turnover among graduates, especially the factor of workload. This study contributes to a clearer understanding of the intention to turnover among graduates. The research findings will provide valuable insights for organizations to develop targeted retention strategies, and graduates can also navigate their early career paths.

Abbasi, S. M., & Hollman, K. W. (2000). Turnover: The real bottom line. Public personnel management, 29(3), 333-342.
Abd Rahman, N. H., Ismail, S., Ridzuan, A. R., & Abd Samad, K. (2020). The issue of graduate unemployment in Malaysia: Post Covid-19. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences. 10(10): 834-841.
Ahmad Saufi, R., Aidara, S., Che Nawi, N. B., Permarupan, P. Y., Zainol, N. R. B., & Kakar, A. S. (2023). Turnover intention and its antecedents: The mediating role of work–life balance and the moderating role of job opportunity. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1137945.
Larasati, A. & Aryanto, D. B. (2020). Job-Hopping and the determinant factors. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research. 395: 54-56.
Albrecht, S. L., & Marty, A. (2020). Personality, self-efficacy and job resources and their associations with employee engagement, affective commitment and turnover intentions. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(5): 657-681.
Azraie, A. & Akmal, N. (2023). Berhenti Bekerja: Bagaimana Membina Potensi Diri Agar Dapat Memilih Karier Yang Diingini. Kajang: Iman Publication Sdn. Bhd.
Petasis, A., Economides, O. (2020). The Big Five personality traits, occupational stress, and job satisfaction. European Journal of Business and Management Research. 5(4): 1-7.
Sijai, A. (2021). The influence of job satisfaction and its effect on employee turnover intention in financial service industry of Malaysia. European Journal of Economic and Financial Research. 5(1).
Balz, A. & Schuller, K. (2021). Always looking for something better? The impact of job insecurity on turnover intentions: Do employables and irreplaceables react differently? Economic and Industrial Democracy. 42(1): 142-159.
Efrial, A. S. & Satrya, A. (2023). The Mediating Effect of Career Adaptability Between Work Social Support, Stress, Satisfaction, And Turnover Intention on Private Sector Employees. Maker: Jurnal Manajemen. 9(2): 196 – 207.
Anon, (2022). Laporan Kajian Pengesanan Graduan 2021: Kebolehpasaran Graduan Pasca Pandemik COVID-19. Putrajaya: Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi.
Aminuddun, A. N. A., Wahab, S. R. A., Azlan, S. N., Arif, L. S. M., & Abd Mkkti, N. H. (2021). Hubungan Iklim Etika dan Niat Pusing Ganti di Syarikat Berkaitan Kerajaan di Kuala Lumpur: The Relationship between Ethical Climate and Turnover Intention at A Government-Linked Company in Kuala Lumpur. Journal of Management and Muamalah. 11(2): 86 – 100.
Ninggal, A. & Abd Rahman, I. (2021). Fenomena Pusing Ganti Kerja: Faktor Luaran yang Mempengaruhi Pekerja Meninggalkan Organisasi. Journal of Human Development and Communication. 10: 55 – 70.
Azimah Ninggal. Ishak Bin Haji Abd Rahman & Azmi bin Aziz. (2021). Fenomena Pusing Ganti: Faktor Penolak Terhadap Keinginan Meninggalkan Organisasi. Journal of Islamic, Social. Economics and Development (JISED). 6(39): 195 – 210.
Bikar, S. S., Talin, R., Rathakrishnan, B., Sharif, S., Nazarudin, M. N., & Rabe, Z. B. (2023). Sustainability of Graduate Employability in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Initiatives by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education and Universities. Sustainability. 15(18): 13536.
Bothma, C. F., & Roodt, G. (2013). The validation of the turnover intention scale. SA journal of human resource management. 11(1): 1-12.
Chegini, Z., Asghari Jafarabadi, M., & Kakemam, E. (2019). Occupational stress, quality of working life and turnover intention amongst nurses. Nursing in critical care. 24(5): 283-289.
Christopher, J. S. & John, O. P. (2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of personality and social psychology. 113(1): 117-143.
Cooper, C. L., & Cartwright, S. (2018). Healthy Mind; Healthy Organization - A Proactive Approach to Occupational Stress 1. Dlm. Managerial. Occupational and Organizational Stress Research. Routledge.
Dewi, R. S., & Nurhayati, M. (2021). The effect of career development on turnover intention with job satisfaction and organizational commitment as mediators, study at PT Control Systems Arena Para Nusa. European Journal of Business and Management Research. 6(4): 11-18.
Dousin, O., Collins, N., & Kler, B. K. (2019). Work-life balance, employee job performance and satisfaction among doctors and nurses in Malaysia. International Journal of Human Resource Studies. 9(4): 306-319.
Duane P. Schultz & Schultz, S. E. (2017). Theories of Personality. Edisi ke-12. USA, Boston: Cengage Learning.
Durai, P. (2012). Human Resource Management. India: Pearson.
Farradinna, S., Halim, F. W., & Sulaiman, W. S. W. (2020). How Does the Impact Of Work-Family Enrichment On Work-Family Conflict And Psychological Well-Being Among Academics’ Female In Indonesia? Test: Engineering & Management, 83, 26874-26900.
Francis, B. R., Ahmad, R., & Abdullah, S. M. (2022). Kesan pengantara sokongan organisasi terhadap hubungan antara persepsi keadilan penilaian prestasi dan niat berhenti kerja dalam kalangan anggota polis. Jurnal Pengurusan. 65: 1-16.
Fukui, S., Rollins, A. L., & Salyers, M. P. (2020). Characteristics and job stressors associated with turnover and turnover intention among community mental health providers. Psychiatric Services, 71(3), 289-292.
Gentrit Berisha & Rrezon Lajçi. (2020). Fit to last? Investigating how person-job fit and person-organization fit affect turnover intention in the retail context. Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies. 11(2): 407-428.
Haenggli, M., & Hirschi, A. (2020). Career adaptability and career success in the context of a broader career resources framework. Journal of vocational behavior. 119:103414.
Hair, Jr. J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J. & Anderson, R.E. 2010. Multivariate Data Analysis: A Global Perspective. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Halama, P., Kohút, M., Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. 2020. Slovak adaptation of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-2): Psychometric properties and initial validation. Studia Psychologica, 62(1): 74-87.
Hashim, I. M., & Tajuddin, N. 2022. Menangani Pengangguran Golongan Belia Era Pasca Pandemik Covid-19. Pasca Pandemik Covid-19: Adaptasi Kebiasaan Baru, 44.
Hashim, S., Hamzah, S. R. A., & Abd Rahim, N. A. 2023. Meneroka Faktor-Faktor Niat Pusing Ganti dan Pengekalan dalam Kalangan Pengasuh Taska.9 (3): 1-11
Hosen, M. E. 2022. Factors affecting employee turnover in multinational companies in Malaysia. Malaysian Management Journal. 26: 31-54.
Hu, H., Wang, C., Lan, Y., & Wu, X. 2022. Nurses’ turnover intention, hope and career identity: the mediating role of job satisfaction. BMC nursing. 21(1): 43.
Islam, M. A., Jantan, A. H., Yusoff, Y. M., Chong, C. W., & Hossain, M. S. 2023. Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) practices and millennial employees’ turnover intentions in tourism industry in malaysia: Moderating role of work environment. Global Business Review. 24(4): 642-662.
Jean M. Phillips & Stanley M. Gully. 2015. Strategic Staffing, Edisi ke-3. England: Pearson Education.
Kadir, M. J., Ridzuan, A. A., & Zainol, N. A. M. 2021. Hubungan Kecerdasan Emosi Dengan Tekanan Kerja Dan Kepuasan Kerja Dalam Kalangan Anggota Tentera Darat Malaysia. Zulfaqar Journal of Defence Management, Social Science & Humanities. 4(2).
Ketkaew, C., Manglakakeeree, O., & Naruetharadhol, P. (2020). The interrelationships of work-related factors, person-environment fit, and employee turnover intention. Cogent Business & Management, 7(1), 1823580.
Khan, M. M. R. (2020). Covid-19’s impact on Fresh Graduate’s Job Market in Bangladesh: An observational study. Journal of Business and Management Studies. 2(1): 40-48.
Krishna, C., & Garg, A. (2022). Employee Retention: An Important Factor for Strategies Development. ANWESH: International Journal of Management & Information Technology. 7(1).
Kundi, Y. M., Sardar, S., & Badar, K. (2022). Linking performance pressure to employee work engagement: the moderating role of emotional stability. Personnel Review. 51(3): 841-860.
Kurniawaty, K., Ramly, M., & Ramlawati, R. (2019). The effect of work environment, stress, and job satisfaction on employee turnover intention. Management science letters. 9(6): 877-886.
Laily, N., Setyorini, N., Rahayu, R., Rochdianigrum, W. A., & Lestari, M. (2020). Burnout moderation: Job insecurity and turnover intention. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. 12(6).
Lee, L. M., Gan, S. W., & Chia, Y. S. (2023). Investigating the Effects of Work-Family Conflict on Turnover Intention of ICT Employees in Malaysia. Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia. 27(1): 4.
Lee, E. K., & Kim, J. S. (2020). Nursing stress factors affecting turnover intention among hospital nurses. International journal of nursing practice, 26(6), e12819.
Lim, C. S., & Saraih, U. N. (2020). The relationship between organizational justice and turnover intention among Malaysian ICT employees. International Journal of Business and Technopreneurship. 10(3): 323-330.
Mahadi, N., Woo, N. M., Baskaran, S., & Yaakop, A. Y. (2020). Determinant factors for employee retention: Should I stay. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences. 10(4): 201-213.
Ma’dan, M., Ismail, M. T. & Daud, S. (2020). Strategies to enhance graduate employability: insights from Malaysian public university policymakers. Malaysian Journal of Learning and Instruction. 17(2): 137-165.
Mat Rifin, H., & Danaee, M. (2022). Association between burnout, job dissatisfaction and intention to leave among medical researchers in a research organisation in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. International journal of environmental research and public health. 19(16): 10017.
Mohamad, N. I., Ibrahim, N., Abd Rahman, I., & Ismail, A. (2022). Hubungan Di Antara Tekanan Kerja Dengan Kesejahteraan Keluarga. Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities e-BANGI. 19(7): 52-62.
Kadira, M. J., Ridzuana, A. A. & Zainola, N. A. M. (2021). Hubungan Kecerdasan Emosi Dengan Tekanan Kerja Dan Kepuasan Kerja Dalam Kalangan Anggota Tentera Darat Malaysia. Zulfaqar Journal of Defence Management, Social Science & Humanities. 4(2).
Moslehpour, M., Firman, A., Sulistiawan, J., Lin, P. K., & Nguyen, H. T. T. (2023). Unraveling the Puzzle of Turnover Intention: Exploring the Impact of Home-Work Interface and Working Conditions on Affective Commitment and Job Satisfaction. Behavioral Sciences, 13(9), 699.
Hassan, N., Halif, M. M., Ariffin, N., Aminudin, A. S. & Sumardi, N. A. (2023). Burnout As Predictor Towards Employee Turnover Intention: The Moderating Roles of Emotional Intelligence. Journal of Survey in Fisheries Sciences. 2168-2177.
Zakaria, N. S., Yussof, K. Y. S. K. M., Ibrahim, D. & Tibok, R. P. (2020). Career After Graduation: Future Graduates'perceptions of Job Attributes in Small And Medium Enterprises (SMEs) And Multi-National Corporations (MNCs). e-BANGI Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. 17(6): 252-264.
Husin, N. A., Rasli, S., Kumar, M. S. G. & Suppiah, G. (2021). Unemployment crisis among fresh graduates. American International Journal of Social Science Research, 10(1): 1-14.
Basir, N. M., Zubairi, Y. Z., Jani, R. & Wahab, D. A. (2022). Soft skills and graduate employability: Evidence from Malaysian tracer study. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities. 30(4).
Salahuddin, N. F. M., Mahpar, N. S. & Ishak, M. F. (2023). The relationship between employability skill and job mismatch towards graduates’ unemployment. Information Management and Business Review. 15(3)(I): 96-104.
Omar, M. K., Aluwi, A. H., Fauzi, M. W. M., & Hairpuddin, N. F. (2020). Work stress, workload, work-life balance, and intention to leave among employees of an insurance company in Malaysia. International Journal of Business, Economics and Law: 21(2), 70-78.
Pinnington, A., Mir, F. A., & Ai, Z. (2023). The significance of general skills training for early career graduates: relationships with perceived organizational support, job satisfaction and turnover intention. European Journal of Training and Development.
Rahman, H. A. (2020). PERANAN KERAJAAN DALAM MENTRANSFORMASI PEMBANGUNAN SUMBER LUAR BANDAR. Pembangunan Sumber di Luar Bandar, 1.
Ramlawati, R., Trisnawati, E., Yasin, N., & Kurniawaty, K. (2021). External alternatives, job stress on job satisfaction and employee turnover intention. Management Science Letters. 11(2): 511-518.
Rasool, S. F., Wang, M., Zhang, Y., & Samma, M. (2020). Sustainable work performance: the roles of workplace violence and occupational stress. International Journal of Environmental Research And Public Health, 17(3), 912.
Robert D. Caplan. (1987). Person-Environment Fit Theory and Organizations:Commensurate Dimensions, Time Perspectives, and Mechanisms. Journal of Vocational Behavior. (31): 248-267.
Robert, D. Gatewood, Hubert, S. Feild, M. B. (2010). Human Resource Selection. USA: Cengage Learning.
Salleh, A. M. M., Omar, K., Aburumman, O. J., Mat, N. H. N., & Almhairat, M. A. (2020). The impact of career planning and career satisfaction on employee's turnover intention. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 8(1), 218.
Selye, H. (1950). Stress and the general adaptation syndrome. British medical journal. 1(4667), 1383.
Tang, X., & Li, X. (2021). Role stress, burnout, and workplace support among newly recruited social workers. Research on Social Work Practice, 31(5), 529-540.
Tsaousoglou, K., Koutoulas, D., & Stavrinoudis, T. (2022). Personality and commitment as predictors of turnover intentions among Greek employees in the lodging industry. European Journal of Tourism Research, 31, 3111-3111.
Topino, E., Di Fabio, A., Palazzeschi, L., & Gori, A. (2021). Personality traits, workers’ age, and job satisfaction: The moderated effect of conscientiousness. PloS one, 16(7), e0252275.
Williams, S., & Cooper, C. L. (1998). Measuring occupational stress: development of the pressure management indicator. Journal of occupational health psychology. 3(4): 306.
Zahari, A. E., Supriyati, Y., & Santoso, B. (2020). The Influence of Compensation and Career Development Mediated Through Employee Engagement Toward Turnover Intention of The Permanent Officers Employees at The Head Office of PT Bank Syariah Mandiri. In Journal of International Conference Proceedings (Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 22-40).
Zahari, S. N. S., & Puteh, F. (2023). Gen Z workforce and job-hopping intention: A study among university students in Malaysia. Sciences. 13(1): 902-927.
Darsana, Z. H., Abdull Rahman, R. H., Zainib, F. & Abdul Patah, S. (2022). Kajian Mengenai Perbezaan Niat Berhenti Kerja Dalam Kalangan Guru Sekolah Agama Swasta. Jurnal Kemanusiaan, 20-26.
Zainourudin, J. S., Norazman, I., Omar, R., & Shaari, R. (2021). Hubungan antara Konflik Kerja-Keluarga dan Niat Berhenti Kerja:[The Relationship between Work-Family Conflict and Turnover Intention]. Sains Humanika, 13(2-2).

Romil, M. R. A., & Halim, F. W. (2024). The Influence of Personality and Work Stress on Job Turnover among Graduates. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 14(4), 1012–1028.