A model of department chairs' social intelligence and faculty members' turnover intention

This study presents a structural equations model for the relationship between department chairs' social intelligence (SI) and faculty members' turnover intention (TI) at a state university in the United States. SI is defined as the ability to be aware of relevant social situations, to manage situational challenges effectively, to understand others' concerns and feelings, and to build and maintain positive relationships in social settings. We test our model with questionnaire data from 406 faculty belonging to 43 departments in this university. Our data analyses with LISREL 9.2 suggest that department chairs' SI is negatively associated with TI. Implications for management, directions for future research, and limitations of the study are discussed.