Impact of the Job Stress on Employee Turnover Intention of Nonmanagerial Employees in the Garment Manufacturing Industry in Sri Lanka

Today many organizations have confronted with the problem of higher level of employee turnover as it brings higher replacement cost to these companies. Specially analyzing the current situation of the Garment Manufacturing Industry (GMI), it is observed that the turnover intention of non-managerial employees is greater than its expected level and have become a major threat to their existence. The job stress is one of the major facts which tremendously influencing on this problem. This study mostly focused to identify the impact job stress (JS) on employee turnover intention (TI) of non-managerial employees in the garment manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka. The sample of employees (n=240) was randomly selected from 10 organizations in the GMI. Primary data were collected through a questionnaire and they were analyzed using Licket's five scale ranking method. This research is basically consisting of the characteristics of descriptive and explanatory study. Data relevant to goal conflict, task demand, work over-load, organizational structure, work relationships, self turnover intention and other's perceived turnover intention were analyzed in this study. It was found that there were about 67.5% higher level of employee stress and also about 75% higher level of turnover intention of non-managerial employees. These facts indicate the real situation in the GMI in terms of higher level of JS and higher level ofTI thereto, which it confronted with. And it was found that there was a 0.89 higher positive eo-relationship between JS and employee Tl. Therefore, impact of job stress on non-managerial employee turnover intention of the considered organizations is very high and it has become a burning problem and enormous threat to the GMI of Sri Lanka. As the overall conclusion it can be concluded that there is a significant positive relationship between the job stress and the non­ managerial employee turnover intention. Consequently , GMI should take steps to reduce job related stress of the NMES.