The Study on Factors Influencing Staff Turnover at International University, Vietnam: Masters thesis of Business Administration

MEIHO UNIVERSITY

Graduate Institute of Business and Management

MASTERS THESIS

The Study on Factors Influencing Staff

Turnover at International University,

Vietnam

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Masters of Business Administration

Advisor: Dr. Ron Chuen Yeh

Co-advisor: Dr. Nguyen Trung Truc

Graduate Student: Nguyen Tran Quynh Giao

December, 2010

I

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to save all of my sincerest thanks in this part of the research and share

gratefulness to the great support from the following persons:

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Ron Chuen Yeh and

Dr. Nguyen Trung Truc, the great supervisors of my research project, for their research

guidance and useful advices, which enables me to develop the thesis of the dissertation,

for their time reading its earlier versions, and for their discussions and comments.

Without their patience and willingness to help, this project can never be completed.

I also wish to send my thanks to all professors in EMBA Vietnam program of Meiho

University who have shown their expertise, patience and great efforts in disseminating

new knowledge to Vietnamese students in this newly-started program. It is cordially

believed by the author that the EMBA programs co-held by Meiho University and

Hochiminh City University of Industry will progress steadily in the coming years.

I also would like to extend my appreciation to all my friends and colleagues who are

working at International University for their valuable time and inputs into the survey and

interviews that form the research.

The gratitude also goes to my classmates in EMBA 2 program who kindly help and

motivate me to accomplish this challenging course.

Last but not least, from the deepest part of my heart, I would like to thank my mother

who always supported me during the course of this study and gave me a lot of

encouragement for completing my MBA program.

II

The Study on Factors Influencing Staff Turnover

in International University, Vietnam

ABSTRACT

In any organization, including universities, in addition to the boards of rectors and

lecturers, working staffs plays a very important role to the sustainable development of the

university. In fact, high staff turnover rate – to a university – is always a trouble and even

a serious problem since it can affect the quality of education. Thus, the purpose of this

study was to identify the most important factors that influence on the staff turnover at the

International University (IU), Ho Chi Minh City since it has have a high staff turnover

rate through years. Once such factors are identified, further researches can make efforts to

lower the turnover of the university.

In-depth interviews with one Rector and four Heads of Personnel Administration

offices were conducted to develop questionnaires. Then, a survey was done with

questionnaires sent to 81 staff working at the International University. Data collected

through the survey were sorted by the frequency of their importance. Data collected

through in-depth interviews were noted down and then categorized into themes. Both

qualitative and quantitative data were considered and analyzed.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to analyze interrelationships among

twenty-nine variables, condense their contained information into a smaller set of factors,

and then did further analyses; like testing seven hypotheses, and examining the level of

impact of the factors that influence on the staff turnover at IU through the results to

achieve the goals of the thesis. Results of statistical analysis indicate that the benefits and

working conditions have no effect on the turnover intention of the IU’s staff. On the

contrary, the factors that influence on their intention of leaving the university are

supervisors and promotion; and some other factors. The research findings also put

forward a conclusion that among those, the supervisors and promotion were the important

factors that have the most effect on the employee turnover of IU.

Keywords: Turnover, Staff Turnover, Turnover Intention

III

The Study on Factors Influencing Staff Turnover

in International University, Vietnam

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .........................................................................................................I

ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................II

Contents .................................................................................................................................. III

Tables...................................................................................................................................... VI

Figures....................................................................................................................................VII

Chapter1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background and Motivation ........................................................................................... 1

1.2 Research Purpose, Objectives and Questions ................................................................. 3

1.3 Research Scope and Limitations..................................................................................... 3

1.4 Definition of Terms ........................................................................................................ 3

Chapter 2 Literature Review..................................................................................................... 5

2.1 Turnover and High Turnover Rate.................................................................................. 5

2.2 Comparison between the Average Staff Turnover Rate at IU and Public

Universities in Vietnam. ....................................................................................................... 6

2.2.1 The staff turnover rate at some public universities in vietnam................................ 6

2.2.2 The staff turnover rate at IU..................................................................................... 7

2.3 The Impacts of High Staff Turnover to the Education Quality ...................................... 8

2.3.1 Financial cost of turnover. ....................................................................................... 9

2.3.2 Inefficient performance.......................................................................................... 10

2.3.3 Lack of staff. .......................................................................................................... 10

2.3.4 University’s morale................................................................................................ 11

2.4 The Factors That Influence On the Staff Turnover Rate. ............................................. 12

2.4.1 Supervisors............................................................................................................. 12

2.4.2 Working conditions................................................................................................ 13

2.4.3 Training and development. .................................................................................... 14

2.4.4 Promotion............................................................................................................... 15

2.4.5 Job stress. ............................................................................................................... 16

2.4.6 Salary. .................................................................................................................... 17

2.4.7 Benefits. ................................................................................................................. 18

IV

2.5 Turnover Intention ........................................................................................................ 19

Chapter 3 Research Methodology........................................................................................... 20

3.1 Research Framework .................................................................................................... 20

3.2 Research Process........................................................................................................... 22

3.3 Research methods. ........................................................................................................ 23

3.3.1 In-depth interview.................................................................................................. 23

3.3.2 Survey. ................................................................................................................... 26

3.3.3 Follow-up interviews. ............................................................................................ 26

3.4 Designing the Questions ............................................................................................... 26

3.4.1 In-depth interview.................................................................................................. 26

3.4.2 Survey. ................................................................................................................... 26

3.4.3 Follow-up interviews. ............................................................................................ 29

3.5 Validity and Reliability................................................................................................. 29

3.6 Sampling Design........................................................................................................... 31

3.6.1 In-depth interview.................................................................................................. 31

3.6.2 Survey. ................................................................................................................... 31

3.7 Data Collection ............................................................................................................. 32

Chapter 4 Research Results and Analysis............................................................................... 34

4.1 Descriptive Data Statistics............................................................................................ 34

4.1.1 Result of gender. .................................................................................................... 35

4.1.2 Result of age. ......................................................................................................... 36

4.1.3 Result of year of working. ..................................................................................... 36

4.1.4 Result of education’s level..................................................................................... 36

4.1.5 Result of monthly income...................................................................................... 37

4.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis ......................................................................................... 39

4.2.1 Test the reliabilities of variables............................................................................ 39

4.2.2 Analyze to check hypotheses by exploratory factor analysis. ............................... 39

4.3 Correlation and Regression Analysis on the Impact of the Five Factors on the

Turnover Intention. ............................................................................................................. 48

4.3.1 Correlation analysis with pearson coefficients. ..................................................... 48

4.3.2 Linear correlation and regression analysis............................................................. 49

Chapter 5 Implications, Conclusions and Recommendations................................................. 53

5.1 Conclusions................................................................................................................... 53

5.1.1 The staff turnover rate at iu is higher than other universities in viet nam. ............ 53

V

5.1.2 High staff turnover has a negative effect on the quality of education. .................. 53

5.1.3 High Staff turnover has a negative effect on the quality of education................... 53

5.1.4 Factors not influencing on the staff turnover intention of IU. ............................... 55

5.2 Research Implication .................................................................................................... 56

References............................................................................................................................... 58

Appendix 1 Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 64

Appendix 2 Questionnaire ...................................................................................................... 68

Appendix 3 Basis for determining sample size....................................................................... 72

Appendix 4 In-depth Interview Responses............................................................................. 73

Appendix 5 Follow-up Interview Responses.......................................................................... 77

Appendix 6 Descriptive Statistics........................................................................................... 80

VI

Tables

Table 2-1 Turnover Rates of A Number of Public Universities in Vietnam from 2008 to

2010 .....................................................................................................................6

Table 2-2 Total Number Employed and Leavers over Year 2004 to 2010..........................7

Table 2-3 Percentage of Staff Turnover Rate over Year 2004 to 2010 ...............................7

Table 2-4 Definition of Job Stress .....................................................................................16

Table 2-5 Definition of Turnover Intention.......................................................................19

Table 3-1 The Questionnaire Constructs with References ................................................27

Table 3-2 Reliability of the Questionnaire (Detail in the Attachment) .............................30

Table 4-1 The Sum of Coded Scales..................................................................................34

Table 4-2 Descriptive Statistics Analysis of Gender .........................................................35

Table 4-3 Descriptive Statistics Analysis of Age ..............................................................36

Table 4-4 Descriptive Statistics Analysis of Working Year..............................................36

Table 4-5 Descriptive Statistics Analysis of Education.....................................................36

Table 4-6 Descriptive Statistics Analysis of Monthly Income ..........................................37

Table 4-7 The Result of Quantitative Variable Descriptive ..............................................37

Table 4-8 KMO and Bartlett's Test....................................................................................40

Table 4-9 Result of the Relationship between Components and Variables.......................41

Table 4-10 Result of Component Loadings.......................................................................42

Table 4-11 KMO and Bartlett's Test..................................................................................43

Table 4-12 Result for the Relationship between Components and Variables ...................44

Table 4-13 Result of Component Loadings.......................................................................45

Table 4-14 Factors Grouped and Named...........................................................................46

Table 4-15 Result of Linear Relationship between Variables ...........................................48

Table 4-16 Result of Linear Relationship between Variables ...........................................50

Table 4-17 Result of Variables Entered.............................................................................50

Table 4-18 Model Summary (d) ........................................................................................50

Table 4-19 The Result of ANOVA....................................................................................51

Table 4-20 The Result for Coefficient of Three Variables................................................51