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Hierarchical plateau and
turnover intention of employees
at the career establishment stage
Examining mediation and moderation effects
Baoguo Xie
School of Management, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China
Xun Xin
School of Management, Southwest University of Political Science and Law,
Chongqing, China, and
Guanglin Bai
School of Management, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
Abstract
Purpose –Applying the theory of work adjustment (TWA), the purpose of this paper is to investigate
whether the effect of hierarchical plateau on the turnover intention of employees at the career
establishment stage is mediated by job satisfaction and moderated by person-job fit.
Design/methodology/approach –A survey method was used and data were collected from 248
Chinese employees at the career establishment stage. Hierarchical regression analysis and moderated
mediation analysis were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings –The results demonstrated that hierarchical plateau was positively related to the turnover
intention of employees at the career establishment stage and that job satisfaction played a mediating
role in the relationship. Person-job fit moderated the relationship between hierarchical plateau and job
satisfaction, and the indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention via job satisfaction.
Originality/value –This research offers new insights into the links between hierarchical plateau and
employees’work attitudes and withdrawal behaviour within the TWA. The results suggest that
managers can lessen the negative effects of hierarchical plateau on employees’attitudes and
withdrawal behaviour by improving employees’overall person-job fit.
Keywords Turnover intention, Career establishment stage, Hierarchical plateau,
Theory of work adjustment
Paper type Research paper
A hierarchical plateau is typically defined as the point in one’s organizational career at
which future promotions are unlikely in the current organization (Ference et al., 1977).
To some extent, a hierarchical plateau is unavoidable because of the pyramidal
hierarchy in an organization. Thus, the hierarchical plateau is also referred to as the
structural plateau (Bardwick, 1986). In today’s corporate environment, organizational
flattening is common, and organizations are characterized by flat structures,
de-layering, and downsizing (Hassard et al., 2012; Malone and Team, 2013; Vidal, 2013).
The result of flattening is that there are fewer senior positions in the organization and,
as a consequence, fewer opportunities for vertical mobility (Gordon and Storlie, 2013;
Greenhaus et al., 2010; Lyons et al., 2015; Wynen and de Beeck, 2014). Meanwhile, the
Career Development International
Vol. 21 No. 5, 2016
pp. 518-533
© Emerald Group PublishingLimited
1362-0436
DOI 10.1108/CDI-04-2015-0063
Received 30 April 2015
Revised 16 December 2015
23 March 2016
23 July 2016
Accepted 1 August 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1362-0436.htm
This research was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
(WUT: 2016VI021).
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number of people going into higher education in China, which has increased the supply
of labour in recent decades, is aggravating the situation. Taken together, career
advancement in terms of vertical mobility has become competitive and difficult.
Consequently, more employees will reach a hierarchical plateau before attaining their
career goals (Xie et al., 2015). Generally speaking, a hierarchical plateau is viewed as an
undesirable experience, and is closely related to undesirable consequences (McCleese
et al., 2007; Xie and Long, 2005). In order to reduce or eliminate the negative effects of
hierarchical plateau, researchers have recently made great efforts to find moderating
factors. In the existing literature, the moderating factors include person-related
variables such as career motivation and locus of control ( Jung and Tak, 2008; Li and
Zhang, 2012), and job-related variables such as mentoring others, job scope, role
ambiguity, participation in decision making, and supervisor support ( Jung and Tak,
2008; Lentz and Allen, 2009; Salami, 2010; Tremblay and Roger, 2004; Wang et al.,
2014). However, no study has yet examined the boundary conditions for avoiding the
negative effects of hierarchical plateau, using a person-situation interaction approach.
Another gap is that much of the previous research on hierarchical plateau is inductive
in nature, with scholars explaining patterns of relationships without a clearly
articulated overarching theoretical framework (e.g. Drucker-Godard et al., 2015;
Godshalk and Fender, 2015; Hofstetter and Cohen, 2014; Kim and Kang, 2013; Lapalme
et al., 2009; Lentz and Allen, 2009; McCleese et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2014). A theory is
needed to explain the links between hierarchical plateau and employees’work attitudes
and behaviour, because theories have a powerful normative value and the ability to
legitimate knowledge in scientific research (Suddaby, 2014).
To address these issues, the present study attempts to extend prior research in
several respects. First, based on the person-situation interaction approach, an
overarching theoretical framework –the theory of work adjustment (TWA) (Dawis and
Lofquist, 1984) is introduced. From the perspective of the TWA, the mediating role of
job satisfaction and the moderating role of person-job fit in the association between
hierarchical plateau and turnover intention are tested. Specifically, we argue that job
satisfaction mediates the positive relationship between hierarchical plateau and
turnover intention, and that person-job fit lessens the positive indirect effect of the
relationship between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention via job satisfaction.
Second, the present study focuses on employees at the career establishment stage
(ranging from 25 to 44 years old), because more and more employees at this stage
encounter a hierarchical plateau. A survey has indicated that approximately 10 per cent
of employees perceive a hierarchical plateau three years after entering an organization
and that approximately 30 per cent of employees perceive a hierarchical plateau five
years after entering (Bai et al., 2011). In a large sample of 927 librarians from 32
libraries, one third of the participants at the career establishment stage reported that
future promotions were unlikely in the organization (Chu, 2013). With a sample of 260
kindergarten teachers aged from 25 to 35, Chen (2016) found that 48.5 per cent of
participants reported that future promotions were unlikely in the organization. In a
sample of 198 managers aged from 25 to 40, Niu (2008) found that 35.2 per cent of
participants perceived there to be a hierarchical plateau. In a study on the links
between career plateau and demographic factors, Fu and Li (2014) surveyed a sample of
205 nurses. They found that over 50.00 per cent of the participants at the establishment
stage reported that they perceived there to be a hierarchical plateau. Limited
opportunities for promotion in an organization have become one of the major reasons
that employees at the career establishment stage resign (Li, 2014; Liang et al., 2016;
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Shao, 2007). Thus, in the case of limited opportunities for promotion, how to motivate
and retain employees at the career establishment stage is becoming an issue for
managers. Another reason why this study focused on employees at the career
establishment stage was that if we can find some moderators that are able to reduce or
eliminate the negative responses of plateaued employees at the career establishment
stage, it may be possible to generalize the results to plateaued employees at other career
stages. Establishment stage is typically defined as a stage in one’s career when one has
found an appropriate field of specialization and has found a relatively permanent place
in it (Bhagat, 1983). One of the major developmental tasks at this stage is advancing
to higher levels of responsibility (Super, 1953; Walsh and Savickas, 2013). Thus,
employees at the career establishment stage show a stronger pursuit of vertical
mobility than employees at other career stages such as the maintenance and
disengagement stages (Hall and Nougaim, 1968; Kong et al., 2012). When encountering
a hierarchical plateau, employees at the establishment stage show more negative work-
related attitudes and withdrawal behaviour than employees at other stages (Xie and
Zhou, 2014). Applying this theorizing, we can conclude that if some moderators can
effectively attenuate the negative effects of hierarchical plateau on employees at the
career establishment stage, these moderators are more likely to lessen the negative
responses of hierarchically plateaued employees at other career stages. In short, the
current research aims to provide insights into how and when hierarchical plateau
affects the turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage within the
theory of work adjustment. The hypothesized model is presented in Figure 1.
Theoretical foundation
The theory of work adjustment was developed by Dawis and Lofquist (1984) to address
the issues of how the correspondence between the person and the work environment
influences the organization’s employment decisions and the employees’turnover. The
TWA claims that satisfaction and quitting are a function of the correspondence between
the need system of the individual and the reinforcement system of the work environment.
Specifically, the TWA states that an individual has multiple needs (fulfilment,
achievement, etc.) and the work environment has a variety of reinforcements (salary,
opportunities for career advancement, autonomy, skill varieties, etc.). If the reinforcement
system of the work environment corresponds with the need system of the individual, the
individual will be satisfied with the work environment, which sequentially motivates the
individual to remain in the work environment. Conversely, if the reinforcement system of
the work environment does not correspond with the need system of the individual, the
individual will be unsatisfied with the work environment, which sequentially motivates
the individual to quit (Dawis and Lofquist, 1984).
Job satisfaction
Person-job fit
Hierarchical plateau Turnover intention
Figure 1.
The proposed model
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According to the TWA, hierarchical plateau illustrates one facet of incongruence between
the reinforcement system of the work environment and the need system of the individual.
Thus, we propose that hierarchical plateau is positively related tothe employee’s turnover
intention, and that job satisfaction provides an explanatory mechanism for the association
between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention. Additionally, it is reasonable to assert
that the negative responses of one facet of incongruence between the individual and the
work environment will be buffered by the overall correspondence between the person and
the work environment. This is supported by many studies (e.g. Conner, 2013; Kristof-
Brown et al., 2005; Resick et al., 2007). Applying this theorizing, we propose that the links
between hierarchical plateau and job satisfaction and turnover intention will be moderated
by person-job fit (the overall correspondence between the need system of the individual
and the job reinforcement system).
Hypothesis development
Hierarchical plateau and turnover intention
Promotion is one of the important needs in an employee’s need system, especially for
the employee at the career establishment stage (Hall and Nougaim, 1968; Super, 1953).
Hierarchical plateau is the point in one’s organizational career at which future
promotions are unlikely in the current organization (Ference et al., 1977). In other
words, hierarchical plateau means that the job reinforcement system cannot meet the
individual’s need for vertical mobility in the current organization. Thus, according to
the TWA, we anticipate that turnover intention increases in consequence of
hierarchical plateau. Some empirical studies have corroborated the suggestion that
hierarchical plateau increases an employee’s intention to quit. For example, Godshalk
and Fender (2015), Hofstetter and Cohen (2014), Kim and Kang (2013), Xie et al. (2015),
Wang et al. (2014), and Wen and Liu (2015) all investigated the relationship between
hierarchical plateau and turnover intention, and consistently found that hierarchical
plateau was positively associated with turnover intention. Heilmann et al. (2008) found
that hierarchical plateau explained a unique variance in turnover intention beyond job
satisfaction and organizational commitment. Thus, the first hypothesis is proposed:
H1. Hierarchical plateau positively predicts the turnover intention of employees at
the career establishment stage.
The mediating role of job satisfaction
Why does hierarchical plateau increase the turnover intention of employees at the
career establishment stage? We think that job satisfaction can explain the linkage
between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention, because the TWA claims that the
incongruence between the job reinforcement system and the need system of the
individual will decrease the individual’s job satisfaction, which in turn increases his or
her intention to quit. Therefore, a mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship
between hierarchical plateau and the turnover intention of an employee at the career
establishment stage is expected. Positioning job satisfaction as a mediator between
hierarchical plateau and turnover intention implies linkage from hierarchical plateau to
job satisfaction. In the extant empirical literature, research examining the effect of
hierarchical plateau on job satisfaction supports the conclusion that hierarchical
plateau would decrease an employee’s job satisfaction (e.g. Drucker-Godard et al., 2015;
Godshalk and Fender, 2015; Lapalme et al., 2009; Lentz and Allen, 2009;
Wickramasinghe and Jayaweera, 2010). In combination with findings that there was
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a consistently negative relationship between job satisfaction and turnover (Griffeth
et al., 2000; Tett and Meyer, 1993), we think that job satisfaction may help explain the
relationship between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention. Taken together, we
hypothesize that:
H2. Job satisfaction mediates the relationship between hierarchical plateau and
turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage.
The moderating role of person-job fit
Person-job fit is defined as the degree of congruence or match between the abilities of a
person and the demands of a job, or between the desires of a person and the supplies of a
job (Lee and Antonakis, 2014; Lu et al., 2014; Sekiguchi, 2004). Within the TWA, person-
job fit indicates the overall correspondence between the job reinforcement system and the
need system of the individual. As mentioned before, the negative responses of one facet
of incongruence between the individual and the work environment can be buffered by the
overall correspondence between the person and the work environment. Thus, it is logical
to suggest that person-job fit will moderate the relationship between hierarchical plateau
and job satisfaction. Specifically, the job satisfaction of plateaued employees with a high
person-job fit should be higher than that of plateaued employees with a low person-job fit.
Conner (2013) stated that the effects of hierarchical plateau on an individual’sjob
attitudes and behaviour (such as absenteeism or withdrawal) could be moderated by
person-job fit. Taken together, we hypothesize that:
H3. Person-job fit moderates the relationship between hierarchical plateau and job
satisfaction, such that the negative relationship is weaker when the person-job
fit is higher.
Assuming that person-job fit moderates the association between hierarchical plateau
and job satisfaction, it is also likely that person-job fit will moderate the strength of the
mediating mechanism for job satisfaction in the relationship between hierarchical
plateau and turnover intention –a moderated mediation model (Edwards and Lambert
2007), as depicted in Figure 1. As previously mentioned, a weaker relationship between
hierarchical plateau and job satisfaction will appear when the person-job fit is higher.
Thus, the indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention via job
satisfaction may also be weaker when the person-job fit is higher. Therefore, the fourth
hypothesis is proposed:
H4. Person-job fit moderates the indirect effect of the relationship between
hierarchical plateau and turnover intention via job satisfaction, such that the
indirect effect is weaker when the person-job fit is higher.
Methods
Procedure and participants
The population of our survey was full-time employees working infor-profit organizations
located in mainland China. Before commencing the survey, the author contacted the
managers of the HR departments in four companies. Then, the author sent each manager
a large pack containing questionnaires and a cover letter explaining the research
purpose, guidelines for distributing and completing the questionnaire, and a guarantee of
anonymity and confidentiality. The managers were asked to hand out the questionnaires
to employees who volunteered to receive them. One week after sending the packs, the
researchers collected the questionnaires from the respondents in person.
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In this survey, 290 questionnaires were distributed and 268 were returned. Of the
268 employee respondents, 20 were not at the career establishment stage (with ages
ranging from 25 to 44 years). Thus, we eliminated these 20 respondents from our
analysis. Our final sample size was therefore 248 employees. The valid respondent
percentage was 85.52 per cent. Of the sample, 60.48 per cent of the employees
were male, with an average age of 29.62 years. In regard to their educational level,
79.44 per cent of them had at least a bachelor’s degree. As for their departments,
33.87 per cent of the participants worked in an administrative department,
50.00 per cent in a technology department, and 16.13 per cent in a logistics department.
Measures
Because all of the dependent and independent variables in the current study were
perceptual and attitudinal constructs, they were self-assessed by the employees.
However, common method bias is a concern and may cause inflated relationships
between the study variables (Podsakoff and Organ, 1986; Podsakoff et al., 2003).
Following Podsakoff et al.’s (2003) recommendations, three techniques were used to
reduce potential common method bias. First, all the instruments were anchored on
different points and ranged from 4 to 7. Second, items with the same response formats
were separated. Third, items for the independent and dependent variables were
separated into different sections of the survey instrument.
Hierarchical plateau. Hierarchical plateau was measured using the four-item
subscale from the Career Plateau Questionnaire used by Xie et al. (2015). A sample item
for hierarchical plateau is “I am unlikely to obtain a much higher position in the current
organization”. Answers were given on a six-point scale (1 ¼not at all true of me,
6¼totally true of me). The mean of the scale items was used, with high scores
indicating a high level of hierarchical plateau (α¼0.84).
Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was assessed with the 20-item Minnesota
Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss et al., 1967). A sample item for job satisfaction is
“My pay and the amount of work I do”. Participants responded on a four-point scale
based on the degree of how satisfied they were with their jobs (1 ¼very dissatisfied,
4¼very satisfied). The mean of the scale items was used, with high scores indicating a
high level of job satisfaction (α¼0.91).
Turnover intention. Turnover intention was assessed with the Intention to Quit
Scale developed by Farh et al. (1998). The instrument consisted of four items, with a
sample item being “I often think of quitting my present job”. Answers were given on a
six-point scale (1 ¼strongly disagree, 6 ¼strongly agree). The mean of the scale items
was used, with high scores indicating a high level of turnover intention (α¼0.87).
Person-job fit. There are two approaches to assess person-job fit in the extant
literature. One approach is to compare facets of an individual’s work environment with
what he or she desires. Another approach is to measure the individual’s perception of
overall person-job fit. One disadvantage of using facet measures is that they might
exclude facets of the work environment that are important to individuals, and include
facets that are relatively unimportant (Ironson et al., 1989). In contrast, the overall
measurement permits individuals to assess different aspects of the phenomenon in a
manner that comes naturally to them and hence may more accurately reflect the overall
perceptions of a phenomenon (Nagy, 2002; Oshagbemi, 1999; Wanous et al., 1997).
Following Singh and Greenhaus’s (2004) practice, we used a single-item measure
to assess overall person-job fit. The item was “all in all, I am a good fit with the
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current job”. A seven-point scale was used, with answers ranging from strongly
disagree to strongly agree.
Control variables. Previous studies showed that turnover intention was affected by
socio-demographic variables and job content plateau (i.e. a situation where one
experiences stagnation and a lack of challenge in one’s current job) (Cotton and Tuttle,
1986; Griffeth et al., 2000; Hofstetter and Cohen, 2014). Thus, these variables were
controlled for in the current research. Job content plateau was measured using the
six-item subscale from the Career Plateau Questionnaire used by Xie et al. (2015).
A sample item for job content plateau was “The current job cannot further enrich my
job skills”. The mean of the scale items was used, with a high score indicating a high
level of job content plateau (1 ¼not at all true of me, 6 ¼totally true of me). In the
present study, Cronbach’sαis 0.87. Socio-demographic variables were measured by
age, gender (0 ¼female, 1 ¼male), education (1 ¼high school and below, 2¼associate,
3¼bachelor, 4 ¼master and above).
Preliminary analyses
We conducted a series of preliminary analyses prior to testing the study’s hypotheses.
First, in order to examine whether the hierarchical plateau phenomenon is specific to
career establishment respondents, we conducted descriptive analyses on the four
hierarchical plateau items. For the four items, 36.31, 37.31, 27.93, and 30.95 per cent of
the sample reported that hierarchical plateau was either mostly or totally true for them.
Second, the theory of life-span career development states that the career establishment
stage includes three sub-stages (Super, 1953). According to Conway’s (2004) practice, the
participants were categorized into three subgroups: 25-30, 31-40, and 41-44-years old. The
means of hierarchical plateau were 3.48 (SD ¼1.09) for participants aged 25-30 years, 3.80
(SD ¼1.35) for those aged 31-40 years, and 3.77 (SD ¼1.68) for those aged 41-44 years.
Generally speaking, employees aged between 31 and 40 years perceived there to be higher
levels of hierarchical plateau. However, the results of ANOVA showed that the differences
between these three subgroups were not statistically significant (F
(2,239)
¼2.15, pW0.05).
What is more, the pattern of associations between the key variables (hierarchical plateau,
job satisfaction and turnover) was consistent across the subgroups. Given these results,
we did not continue to segment the participants into subgroups.
Third, in order to estimate the distinctiveness of the theoretical variables, we
conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with Mplus7.0. To assess the model fit,
the four indices suggested by Hu and Bentler (1998) were used, namely, the
Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), the comparative fit index (CFI), the incremental fit index
(IFI), and the root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA). Generally, the cut-off
value for the TFL, CFI, and IFI was 0.90 or above, while that for the RMSEA was 0.08
or below (Byrne, 2001). In the CFA, we combined the theoretical variables to see
whether and how the fit of the model changed. The results showed that the hypothesized
four-factor model, distinguishing hierarchical plateau, job satisfaction, person-job fit, and
turnover intention, fitted better into the data ( χ
2
/df ¼2.42; TLI ¼0.90; CFI ¼0.92;
RMSEA ¼0.07; SRMR ¼0.06) than either the three-factor model in which job satisfaction
and turnover intention were combined into one factor ( χ
2
/df ¼3.30; TLI ¼0.79; CFI ¼0.81
RMSEA ¼0.09; SRMR ¼0.08) or the one-factor model with all variables loaded onto a
single factor ( χ
2
/df ¼3.92; TLI ¼0.61; CFI ¼0.64; RMSEA ¼0.11; SRMR ¼0.10).
Fourth, because this study used self-reports in one survey to collect data on all of the
variables, common method variance may be present. To test the presence of common
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method variance, the unmeasured latent method factor was performed (Podsakoff et al.,
2003). According to this technique, items are allowed to load on their theoretical
constructs, as well as on a latent common method variance factor, and the significance
of the model fit indices is examined both with and without the latent common method
variance factor in the model. If the indices of the model with the latent common method
variance factor are significantly improved, common method variance is deemed to be
present. The results of the analysis revealed that the indices of the five-factor model
(χ
2
/df ¼2.00, TLI ¼0.91; CFI ¼0.94; RMSEA ¼0.06; SRMR ¼0.05) did not fit better
than the four-factor model ( χ
2
/df ¼2.42; TLI ¼0.90; CFI ¼0.92; RMSEA ¼0.07;
SRMR ¼0.06) (Hau et al., 2004). This result demonstrated that common method bias
was not serious in this study.
Results
Descriptive analysis
The means, standard deviations, and correlations of the variables are provided in
Table I. Consistent with our hypotheses, hierarchical plateau is positively correlated
with turnover intention (r¼0.27, po0.01), and negatively correlated with job
satisfaction (r¼−0.41, po0.01), and job satisfaction is also negatively correlated with
turnover intention (r¼−0.56, po0.01).
Test of hypotheses
H1 argued that hierarchical plateau was positively related to the turnover intention of
employees at the career establishment stage. We tested our hypotheses using a
hierarchical regression analysis run by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.
In the third column of Table II, the results show that hierarchical plateau is positively
related to turnover intention ( β¼0.16, po0.01), controlling for socio-demographic
variables and job content plateau. Thus, H1 is supported.
H2 argued that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between hierarchical plateau
and turnover intention. To examine the mediation hypotheses, the mediation procedure
macro developed by Preacher and Hayes (2008) was used. As shown in Table III, after
controlling for job content plateau and demographical variables, the indirect effect of
hierarchical plateau on turnover intention through job satisfaction is positive and
significant ( β¼0.20, SE ¼0.01, po0.001). The bias-corrected 95 per cent confidence
interval of the indirect effect is [0.12, 0.28], which excludes 0. Thus, H2 is supported.
H3 argued that person-job fit moderated the relationship between hierarchical
plateau and job satisfaction. In the fifth column of Table II, the results show that the
interaction of hierarchical plateau and person-job fit positively predicts job satisfaction
Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Gender 0.62 0.49 –
2 Education 2.28 0.86 0.14* –
3 Person-job fit 4.84 1.32 0.03 0.31** –
4 Job content plateau 2.76 1.14 −0.04 0.14** 0.14*
5 Hierarchical plateau 3.59 1.21 −0.07 −0.01 0.23** 0.41**
6 Job satisfaction 2.70 0.43 0.05 −0.17** −0.19** −0.59** −0.41**
7 Turnover intention 3.29 1.14 0.02 0.29** 0.10 0.41** 0.27** −0.56**
Notes: n¼224-248. *po0.05; **po0.01
Table I.
Means, standard
deviations,
correlations
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(β¼0.11, po0.05), controlling for socio-demographic variables and job content plateau.
To further probe the moderation of person-job fit on the association between hierarchical
plateau and job satisfaction, we used the Johnson-Neyman technique (Hayes and Matthes,
2009). Specifically, the web-based tool developed by Preacher et al. (2006) was used to
implement the Johnson-Neyman technique (http://quantpsy.org/interact/mlr2.htm). The
results show that the simple slope is −0.06 ( pW0.05) at a high level of person-job fit
(+1SD ¼1.32), and it is −0.36 ( po0.01) at a low level of person-job fit (−1SD ¼−1.32).
The region of significance on person-job fit ranges from −1.67 to 3.15, indicating that any
given simple slope outside this range is statistically significant. Given that centred person-
job fit ranges from about −2.58 to about +2.46, this indicates that the negative effect of
hierarchical plateau on job satisfaction is significant only for relatively low observed
values of person-job fit. Thus, H3 is supported.
H4 stated that person-job fit moderated the indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on
turnover intention via job satisfaction. The PROCESS macro developed by Hayes
(2013) was used to examine the moderated mediation model. The results in Table III
show that the indirect effects of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention via job
satisfaction vary significantly across different levels of person-job fit. The indirect
effect of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention is not significant ( β¼0.04,
Turnover Job satisfaction
Predictors M1 M2 M3 M4
Step one：controlled variables
Demographical variables
a
–– – –
Job content plateau 0.37*** 0.31*** −0.54*** −0.48***
△R
2
0.26*** –0.40*** –
Step two：independent variable
Hierarchical plateau –0.16** –−0.21***
Person-job fit –– –0.07
Hierarchical plateau×person-job fit –– –0.11*
△R
2
0.02** 0.05***
Notes: n¼224-248. Standardized regression coefficients were reported.
a
Gender and education were
dummied. *po0.05; **po0.01; ***po0.001
Table II.
Results of
hierarchical
regression analysis
Model a(SE) b(SE) a ×b 95%LL 95%UL c’(SE)
Mediation model (H3)−0.15 (0.02)*** −1.31 (0.15)*** 0.20 (0.01)*** 0.12 0.28 0.08 (0.05)
Moderated mediation model (H4)
High ––0.04 (0.05) −0.03 0.12 –
Low ––0.12 (0.04)** 0.05 0.23 –
Notes: Bootstrap sample size ¼1,000. Demographical variables and job content plateau are controlled.
a, regression coefficient for association between hierarchical plateau and job satisfaction; b, regression
coefficient for the association between job satisfaction and turnover intention, when hierarchical plateau is
also a predictor of turnover intention; c’, regression coefficient for the association between hierarchical
plateau and turnover intention (direct effect); a ×b, regression coefficient for the indirect association
between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention via job satisfaction (indirect effect); +1SD ¼1.32 and
−1SD ¼−1.32 for centered person-job fit, respectively. The numbers in the parentheses are standard errors.
Tests of the indirect were based on bias-corrected confidence intervals. **po0.01; ***po0.001
Table III.
The results of
examining
H3 and H4
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SE ¼0.05, pW0.05) when person-job fit is high. However, the indirect effect of
hierarchical plateau on turnover intention is significant ( β¼0.12, SE ¼0.04, po0.05),
when person-job fit is low. Thus H4 is supported.
To illustrate the moderating role of person-job fit in the association between
hierarchical plateau and turnover intention clearly, Figures 2 and 3 were plotted.
As can be seen, when person-job fit is low, the job satisfaction of employees at the
career establishment stage decreases with hierarchical plateau, which in turn increases
their turnover intention. However, when person-job fit is high, the job satisfaction of
employees at the career establishment stage does not decrease with the hierarchical
plateau, which in turn does not increase their turnover intention.
Discussion
Theoretical implications
Consistent with previous research, this study found that hierarchical plateau decreased
employees’job satisfaction (Godshalk and Fender, 2015; Hofstetter and Cohen, 2014;
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
Low P-J fit
High P-J fit
1.0 Low hierarchical plateau High hierarchical plateau
Job satisfaction
Figure 2.
The moderating
role of P-J fit
on first stage
Low P-J fit
High P-J fit
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
Low hierarchical plateau High hierarchical plateau
Turnover intention
Figure 3.
The moderating
role of P-J fit on
indirect effect
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Kim and Kang, 2013; Wang et al., 2014; Wen and Liu, 2015), and increased employees’
turnover intention (Drucker-Godard et al., 2015; Godshalk and Fender, 2015; Lapalme
et al., 2009; Lentz and Allen, 2009; Wickramasinghe and Jayaweera, 2010). These
findings provide further support for the idea that hierarchical plateau may be an
important predictor of work-related attitudes and the withdrawal behaviour of
employees. However, there are four strengths that distinguish this study from previous
studies. First, this study introduced the TWA as an overarching theoretical framework
to explain the patterns of the links between hierarchical plateau, job satisfaction and
turnover intention. We offer new insights into the relationships between hierarchical
plateau and employees’work attitudes and behaviour by drawing on the TWA.
Second, we examined the psychological mechanism relating hierarchical plateau to
turnover intention. Although the positive relationship between hierarchical plateau and
turnover intention has been demonstrated to a great extent in previous studies, the
underlying psychological mechanism is not fully understood. Mathieu et al. (2008)
stated that the task of scientific research was not only to examine the links between
phenomena but also to investigate how and when the links will happen. Based on the
TWA, we tested the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between
hierarchical plateau and turnover intention of employees at the career establishment
stage. Third, within the TWA, this study is the first to investigate empirically the
moderating role of person-job fit on the negative responses of hierarchically plateaued
employees. Recently, we have seen a great deal of effort made to find moderating
factors with a view to reducing or eliminating the negative effects of hierarchical
plateau ( Jung and Tak, 2008; Lentz and Allen, 2009; Li and Zhang, 2012; Salami, 2010;
Tremblay and Roger, 2004; Wang et al., 2014). Given the critical role of the fit between
the person and the work environment in determining employees’work-related attitudes
and behaviour, Conner (2013) argued that plateaued employees’negative responses
would be moderated by person-job fit. However, no study to date has empirically tested
the moderating role of person-job fit. With a sample of employees at the career
establishment stage, this study found that person-job fit lessened the negative
responses of hierarchically plateaued employees. Meanwhile, this finding confirmed
Ference et al.’s (1977) and Ettington’s (1998) views that hierarchical plateau can be
effectively managed. In addition, our research confirmed the mediating role of job
satisfaction and the moderating role of person-job fit in the relationship between
hierarchical plateau and turnover intention within the theory of work adjustment.
These findings suggest that the theory of work adjustment can serve as an important
theoretical framework for guiding investigations into how and when hierarchical
plateau affects employees’work attitudes and behaviour.
Practical implications
Our study also offers some practical implications for managers. First, given the finding
that hierarchical plateau decreased the job satisfaction and increased the turnover
intention of employees at the career establishment stage, we suggest that managers
should be aware of the hierarchical plateau phenomenon within their organization. One
approach often recommended is to assess hierarchical plateau among employees with a
career plateau scale, or using objective indictors such as job tenure (Chao, 1990), and
identify plateaued employees. When the plateaued employees are identified, managers
should do something to support them. To date, researchers have identified some human
resource practices to help plateaued employees (Bardwick, 1986; Ettington, 1997;
Ference et al., 1977). Based on the finding that person-job fit lessens the negative
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responses of hierarchically plateaued employees, the second practical implication
offered by this study is that managers can help plateaued employees through
facilitating person-job fit. One way that promotes person-job fit is to support plateaued
employees to engage in job crafting through giving them more job autonomy. When an
employee’s job characteristics are aligned with his or her personal needs and abilities
because of job crafting (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005), the employee will experience a good
person-job fit (Lu et al., 2014; Tims et al., 2016).
Limitations and future research
Several limitations of the current study should be noted. First, all the variables were
collected with the same sources. This may lead to common method variance, which might
bias the results of the research. Given the perceptual nature of the constructs in this
research, a time-lagged research design is appropriate to alleviate common method bias
(Crampton and Wagner, 1994). Thus, it is advisable that future researchers test the
results of this research using a time-lagged research design. Second, the cross-sectional
design does not allow us to infer causality between the variables. Although the TWA
provides a strong theoretical foundation for the causal links between hierarchical plateau,
job satisfaction and turnover intention, a true or quasi experiment and temporal
precedence design are reasonable ways to determine the causal linkages between
variables (Mathieu and Taylor, 2006). Consequently, a longitudinal research design is
necessary toexamine the underlying mechanismfor the effects of hierarchical plateau on
employees’work attitudes and behaviour. Third, although the overall measurement has
some advantages over the facet measurement (Ironson et al., 1989; Nagy, 2002;
Oshagbemi, 1999; Wanous et al., 1997), we did not know which facet of the person-job fit
lessened the negative responses of the hierarchically plateaued employees. Future
research could use the facet measures to assess person-job fit and examine which facet of
this fit lessens the negative responses of hierarchically plateaued employees.
Conclusions
To conclude, this research investigated the effects of hierarchical plateau on the turnover
intention of employees at the career establishment stage, drawing on the theory of work
adjustment. The findings provide new insights into the psychological mechanism
underlying the link between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention. The results
demonstrate that hierarchical plateau decreases job satisfaction, which in turn increases
the turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage. Person-job fit can
lessen the negative effects of hierarchical plateau on employees at the career establishment
stage. Building on the TWA, this research provides some practical implications for
managers wishing to reduce or eliminate the negative effects of hierarchical plateau on the
work attitudes and behaviour of employees at the career establishment stage.
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Corresponding author
Baoguo Xie can be contacted at: xiebaoguo@foxmail.com
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