The predictors of intent to leave in the accounting and finance sector in Asia-Pacific countries: a cross-industrial meta-analysis study

The main aim of this study was to survey the relationships between intent to leave and its strongest antecedents in the accounting and finance industry in Asia-Pacific countries. Novel to the literature, we also aim to test the moderating effects of continent to compare the results in Asia to the ones in Oceania and to test the moderating effect of industry to make a cross-industrial comparison. This study used meta-analysis technique and reviewed the studies in Scopus, Web of Science, GoogleScholar, and ProQuest to bring together 217 suitable studies. Twenty-four of these studies providing 32 correlation values are in the accounting and finance industry and 192 studies providing 309 correlation values are in other industries. Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and burnout are chosen as the strongest antecedents of intent to leave and 217 studies were used. The meta-analysis results showed that all the data sets regarding the surveyed relationships were heterogeneous and none of them included publication bias. The effect size of the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment was the highest in the accounting and finance industry (r = 0.631). The effect sizes of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and burnout on intent to leave were medium in the accounting and finance industry. The moderator analysis results suggested that region as a moderator for the relationship between burnout and intent to leave and industry is a significant moderator to explore the relationships between job satisfaction and intent to leave and for the relationships between organizational commitment and intent to leave. This meta-analysis compares the accounting and finance sector to other sectors in Asia-Pacific countries and it is the only study that could make such a comparison in this region.

Automated summary

The main aim of this study is to examine the relationships between intent to leave and its strongest antecedents in the accounting and finance industry in Asia-Pacific countries. It also tests the moderating effects of continent and industry on these relationships. The findings suggest that job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and burnout are significant predictors of intent to leave. The results of the moderator analysis indicate that region and industry play significant roles in these relationships. This study provides a unique comparison between the accounting and finance sector and other sectors in the Asia-Pacific region.