A Descriptive Study of the Importance of Motivating Rewards for Gen Z Former Big-Box Store Employees’ Retention Intention
Date of Conferral
10-25-2023
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Psychology
Advisor
Michelle Ross
Abstract
Many voluntary resignations started in 2020, increased in 2021, and continued in 2022 and 2023. The current descriptive quantitative study aimed to better understand the perceived importance of rewards as motivation for Generation Z (Gen Z) former big-box store employees and their retention intention in a position. Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation framed the study. In Vroom’s expectancy theory, valence is the value that an individual places on the reward. Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, is more receptive to retention tactics, such as rewards that make employees feel appreciated, understood, and satisfied. The number of participants needed to achieve a power of 0.80 was 211. The participants were of the Gen Z cohort, at least 18 years of age, former employees of a big-box retail store for at least 6 months who resigned from 2021 to 2023 and lived in the tri-county area of Crawford, Mercer, or Erie County, Pennsylvania. Data were collected through the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire scale. Spearman's rank correlation analysis revealed an association between population and intrinsic importance (ρ = 0.59, p = .398, N = 211), as well as a modest inverse relationship between population and extrinsic importance (ρ = -0.04, p = .563, N = 211). Both were found to have no statistical significance. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to determine how social identities impact the perceptions of the importance of rewards and yielded no statistically significant results. The findings have provided information that allows organizations to gain insights into the significance of certain rewards for the population and potentially adopt retention strategies that improve retention and turnover rates resulting in positive social change.
Recommended Citation
Beck, Randi, "A Descriptive Study of the Importance of Motivating Rewards for Gen Z Former Big-Box Store Employees’ Retention Intention" (2023). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 15002.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/15002
