Determinants of Turnover Intention of Rubber Harvesters in Medium Scale Rubber Holdings: A Case Study in Colombo District

Abstract

It was witnessed that a high income among the Latex Harvesters (LHs) in medium-scale rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) smallholder sector in Sri Lanka during the past few years, where serious efforts had to be made to find out the factors triggering the situation. Such findings will be useful for policy makers to develop the approaches relating to human resource development programmes of LHs in order to achieve better performance in the rubber sector. The focus of this study was on three independent variables, namely Job Satisfaction (JS), Organisational Commitment (OC) and Job Demand (JD) that were thought to be linked with Turnover Intentions (TI) of the LHs, with an effort to fill the research gap. The data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire survey in 2020 from 297 LHs in rubber-growing areas in the Colombo District. The sample was selected using a stratified random sampling technique. The variables were measured with the use of validated items. The responses to the LHs for the items were captured on a five-point Likert scale. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used. Female LHs were predominant in the sample, and the age of the LHs varied from 19 to 79 years. Only 8% of LHs had pursued/completed tertiary level education which, was the highest educational level. The majority of the sample (nearly 50%) had 11 to 15 years of work experience in rubber farming. The composite three-predictor conceptual model was validly and reliably capable of explaining 79% of the variances in the TI of the LHs. The findings revealed that JS and OC of LHs had a negative effect on TI. This can enhance JS and OC in order to lower their TI in the medium-scale rubber smallholder sector in Sri Lanka.

Keywords: Latex Harvesters, Rubber, Turnover Intention