Peer-Reviewed Journal Article · Accepted for Publication
The Paradox of Withdrawal
How Managerial Turnover Intention and Attitudes Shape Performance Appraisal Quality in High-Contact Service
退出的悖论：管理者离职意向与态度如何影响高接触服务业的绩效考核质量
Abstract
Purpose. Performance appraisal quality depends heavily on the discretionary effort of the rater. This study investigates the rater-side psychological antecedents of assessment rigor in high-contact service environments: how managers’ positive attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) drive appraisal quality, and whether that relationship is disrupted by the managers’ own turnover intention.
Design/methodology/approach. Data were collected from 318 U.S. service managers. Because job satisfaction and organizational commitment were highly collinear, a second-order factor labelled “Managerial Attitudes” was specified. Structural equation modeling tested the direct effect of these attitudes on self-reported appraisal behaviors and the moderating role of turnover intention.
Findings. Managerial attitudes exerted a powerful positive effect on appraisal quality (β = 0.865). Contrary to Conservation of Resources theory, turnover intention also showed a significant positive direct effect on assessment rigor and did not negatively moderate the effect of positive attitudes — a “Paradox of Withdrawal” in which managers intending to leave may exhibit “lame-duck objectivity,” performing evaluation duties with greater diligence during their exit phase.
Originality/value. The study challenges the assumption that turnover intention universally triggers negligence. Withdrawal cognitions can coexist with — and even enhance — formal supervisory behavior, offering a nuanced extension to turnover theory and demonstrating the utility of second-order factor models for resolving attitudinal multicollinearity in service-leadership research.
Keywords: Performance Appraisal · Turnover Intention · Organizational Commitment · Managerial Attitudes · Social Exchange Theory · Conservation of Resources · High-Contact Service
中文摘要
本研究以 318 位美国服务业经理人的数据，用结构方程模型检验“评估者一侧”的心理前因如何影响绩效考核质量。结果显示：经理人的积极态度（工作满意度与组织承诺，作为二阶因子“管理者态度”）对考核质量有强正向作用（β = 0.865）；与资源保存理论的预测相反，离职意向不仅没有削弱这一作用，反而对考核严谨度有显著的正向直接效应——即“退出的悖论”或“跛脚鸭式客观性”：准备离开的经理人在退出阶段反而更认真地履行评估职责。研究修正了“离职意向必然导致怠职”的假设，并为服务业领导力研究处理态度变量共线性提供了方法论示范。
Why it matters for operators
- Appraisal quality is primarily a function of the rater’s attachment to the organization, not only of the appraisal system itself; investing in managers’ satisfaction and commitment is the highest-leverage fix.
- A manager who has decided to leave is not automatically an unreliable evaluator; the exit phase can be a window of unusually objective assessment.
- Within InsightBridge’s framework, this is the Home Model’s relational-contract logic observed at the supervisor level, and a micro-foundation of Core Code Theory’s claim that identity-based capabilities survive transactional withdrawal.
Citation
Yin, T. (2026). The Paradox of Withdrawal: How Managerial Turnover Intention and Attitudes Shape Performance Appraisal Quality in High-Contact Service. International Journal of Hospitality Management. Accepted for publication.
Author working-paper version (pre-acceptance): PDF. Announcement: InsightBridge Global Intelligence.