Prior and future withdrawal and performance: A meta-analysis of their relations in panel studies

•We examine the effects of prior performance on future withdrawal and vice versa.•Effects were examined while controlling for the outcome variable at Time 1.•Employee prior performance had a significant effect on employee future withdrawal.•Overall, prior withdrawal did not have a significant effect on future performance.•However, employee prior burnout did have a significant effect on future performance.

While consensus exists among researchers that withdrawal and performance are related, the ordering of these constructs in proposed models frequently varies based on the theoretical focus of the study. Specifically, several extant well-being theories predict employee withdrawal will affect future performance while several turnover theories predict employee performance will affect future withdrawal. This study systematically addresses these complementary theories by conducting a meta-analysis of panel studies measuring both withdrawal and performance at two or more time periods. After accounting for sampling and measurement error, meta-analytic regression results indicate that performance is significantly negatively related to future withdrawal (ρ = − .19) even after accounting for prior withdrawal (β = − .03). However, the relationship between withdrawal and future performance (ρ = − .20) disappeared after accounting for prior performance (β = .00), although burnout did predict future performance even after accounting for prior performance (β = − .07).