A sequential choice perspective of postdecision regret and counterfactual thinking in voluntary turnover decisions

- Our aim is to develop a theoretical framework for capturing the sequential nature of voluntary turnover decisions.
- We expect employees' self-regulatory motivations to influence the type of counterfactuals produced, which in turn, have idiosyncratic effects on future turnover decisions.
- Depending on how employees self-regulate (promotion focus or prevention focus), either upward or downward counterfactual thoughts will emerge.
- It is expected that upward counterfactual thinking will lead to a future leave decision and downward counterfactual thinking will lead to a future stay decision.

We develop a theoretical framework for voluntary turnover decisions that captures employees' multiple turnover decisions. Our framework addresses both leaving and staying decisions in the voluntary turnover process in a continuous, sequential fashion, and we describe how past turnover decisions can leave “residuals” on future turnover decisions, thus influencing those latter decisions. In particular, we explain that employees make voluntary turnover decisions to achieve well-being, but may experience postdecision regret in the process if they negatively appraise their initial turnover decision. We therefore establish postdecision regret as an important antecedent in future turnover decisions and explain how employees try to manage it through counterfactual thinking and self-regulatory motivations.