History and scholarship
March and Simon (1958) modelled turnover as desirability and ease of movement. Hirschman (1970) distinguished exit, voice and loyalty; Mobley (1977) proposed a staged model; Lee and Mitchell (1994) the unfolding model triggered by 'shocks'; Mitchell et al. (2001) job embeddedness; Griffeth et al. (2000) a meta-analysis. Topel and Ward (1992) showed early job mobility drives much wage growth, and Granovetter (1973) found weak ties carry job information.
Key points
Typically: clarify reasons → update experience and search experienced-hire postings → apply → negotiate → give notice and hand over. Laws, programmes, visa rules and hiring practice change; check official notices, current law and actual postings.
In practice
Check severance, limits on unemployment benefits after voluntary quitting, and leave settlement. Consider headhunters or a career change.
FAQ
- Is leaving within a year bad?
- A consistent explanation helps; norms vary.
- Do I get unemployment benefit?
- Voluntary quits are generally excluded, with exceptions.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. Wiley.
- Hirschman, A. O. (1970). Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Harvard University Press.
- Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.
- Mobley, W. H. (1977). Intermediate linkages in the relationship between job satisfaction and employee turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 62(2), 237–240.
- Topel, R. H., & Ward, M. P. (1992). Job mobility and the careers of young men. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 439–479.
- Lee, T. W., & Mitchell, T. R. (1994). An alternative approach: The unfolding model of voluntary employee turnover. Academy of Management Review, 19(1), 51–89.
- Griffeth, R. W., Hom, P. W., & Gaertner, S. (2000). A meta-analysis of antecedents and correlates of employee turnover. Journal of Management, 26(3), 463–488.
- Mitchell, T. R., Holtom, B. C., Lee, T. W., Sablynski, C. J., & Erez, M. (2001). Why people stay: Using job embeddedness to predict voluntary turnover. Academy of Management Journal, 44(6), 1102–1121.
- 고용24(고용노동부). https://www.work24.go.kr
- 국가법령정보센터. https://www.law.go.kr