The effect of mechanistic and animalistic organizational dehumanization on turnover intentions: a three-wave longitudinal study

Purpose – Prior studies suggested that organizational dehumanization (i.e. employees' perception that their organization denies their humanity) is positively related to employees' turnover intentions. However, evidence of the underlying causality is scarce and prior research did not consider both mechanistic and animalistic organizational dehumanization. Despite having meaningful implications, the temporal stability of mechanistic and animalistic organizational dehumanization also remains unclear. Design/methodology/approach – English-speaking employees from various organizations (N = 200) were invited to take part in a three-wave longitudinal survey (with a 2-month time lag). Findings – Results from latent cross-lagged panel models suggest that employees with higher mechanistic organizational dehumanization displayed more turnover intentions over time, which was not the case for animalistic organizational dehumanization. Originality/value – This research answers the calls made by scholars to (1) gather more robust evidence regarding the directionality of relationships between organizational dehumanization and its outcomes and (2) examine the temporal stability of mechanistic and animalistic organizational dehumanization. Employee retention being a key challenge of contemporary organizations, this work also highlights the relevance of strategies aimed at preventing mechanistic organizational dehumanization perceptions.