Gender-related opportunities and turnover: The case of medical sector employees

This study examined the relationships between gender, objective and perceived work-related opportunities, and turnover behavior. This was achieved using an interdisciplinary approach that combined the macro-level perspective on opportunities in internal and external labor markets, with the micro-level perspective of individual perceptions of opportunities. The results revealed that the opportunities-turnover linkage is gender-specific rather than gender-neutral. Women's turnover behavior was affected by their 'perception' of employment opportunities in the organizational and local labor markets. By contrast, men's turnover behavior was affected by 'objective', organizational and local labor market conditions. These findings indicate that the objective opportunities of the work market may be compatible with men's, but not women's, work needs and hence question existing assumptions of a 'gender-neutral' effect of opportunities on turnover decisions.