| Abstract: | This study employs a novel statistical strategy to examine thedeterminants of turnover intention in government service. Toappropriately measure a main determinant of turnover intention—functionalpreferences—I estimate an ordinal item response modelusing data from the Federal Human Capital Survey. The sampleis selected to facilitate an important comparison: the InternalRevenue Service (IRS) has undergone significant performance-basedpay reforms for supervisors, but not for nonsupervisors, whereasthe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), also asubunit of the U.S. Treasury, has not. Inferential models ofturnover intention reveal among other things that functionaland friendship solidary preferences are important determinantsof turnover intention, but increased accountability is associatedwith greater turnover among subordinates. IRS supervisors, whoface paybanding, are significantly less likely to consider leavingthan their counterparts in the OCC, who do not face such incentives. |
