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thesis_Daniela Noethen_print final - Jacobs University

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Preventing Knowledge Loss When Employees Expect to Leave<br />

rate for the past year was 12.8%, i.e., on average, 12.8% of last year’s employees of each<br />

team had left within the past year. After an open information session, prospective participants<br />

received an email-invitation to take part in the study and had three weeks to fill in the online<br />

questionnaire. The 294 participants represent 58.0% of the originally contacted employees.<br />

4.4.2. Measures<br />

As the study was conducted in German, scales stemming from the English-speaking literature<br />

were translated into German, then independently back-translated into English and compared<br />

to the original version. Where there were inconsistencies, they were resolved by the<br />

translators (Brislin, 1980).<br />

Independent variables. Turnover intention and expected involuntary turnover were<br />

measured with two related items based on a scale from Moore (2000): “In the coming year, I<br />

will probably look for a new job a) voluntarily, b) because my contract ends, due to business<br />

operation reasons…” Each of the two items a), measuring turnover intention, and b),<br />

measuring expected involuntary turnover, was to be rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging<br />

from “very improbable” to “very probable”.<br />

Perceived supervisor support (PSS) was measured specifically as perceived supervisor<br />

support for knowledge sharing. By choosing such a specific form of supervisor support, we<br />

matched the form of support and the behavior to be affected (Cohen & Wills, 1985). We did<br />

this in order to obtain a larger effect and to show the effect of a more concrete and applicable<br />

behavior. PSS was measured with two items built based on the scale used by Cabrera and<br />

colleagues (2006), and Maurer and Tarulli (1994), respectively, and focused on perceived<br />

facilitation, encouragement, and support for knowledge sharing: “My supervisor encourages<br />

and supports me in sharing my knowledge with team colleagues.” and “After completing a<br />

project or significant milestone, my supervisor encourages me to make my ideas and<br />

143

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