Les déterminants du retrait organisationnel : le cas du cynisme et du départ volontaire

The purpose of this thesis is to better explain the concept of organizational withdrawal and its determinants. Through the study of the more general literature on counterproductive behavior and organizational withdrawal, we expose the different facets of organizational withdrawal in terms of both work withdrawal and job withdrawal, a definition of organizational withdrawal, a typology of work withdrawal and a multilevel integrative theoretical model of organizational withdrawal. This original model advanced in this thesis, from which a certain number of theoretical propositions arise, mainly mobilizes the multilevel sociological approach, the model of adaptation in organizational behavior, as well as the perspective of the psychological contract and that of job embeddedness. The multilevel sociological approach of Marchand et al. (2006) identifies several determinants of behavior and / or attitude in the different spheres of the individual's life which, according to Rosse and Miller's adaptation model (1984), acts by adapting appropriately to different situations at work. The present thesis also uses the perspective of Rousseau's psychological contract (1989, 1990). It is a relevant approach in the explanation of the behavioral and / or attitudinal reactions of the employee, with a view to social exchange (Blau, 1964), following an assessment of the degree of respect of his psychological contract by his employer. This assessment covers several working conditions in the employment relationship. We also favor the job embeddedness perspective of Mitchell et al. (2001) to demonstrate that the social connections that exist between the employee and the persons in organization could reduce the intensity or magnitude of the negative behavioral and / or attitudinal responses resulting from a situation of non-compliance with the psychological contract of the latter by his employer. In order to verify the impact of the respect of the psychological contract as well as the job embeddedness on the adoption of the organizational withdrawal, we chose to study more specifically the cynicism as attitude of work withdrawal in the frame of transversal quantitative estimate as well as voluntary departure as a behavior job withdrawal in the context of a long-term quantitative estimate. The results of multiple multilevel regressions of these two studies indicate the presence of certain protective factors as well as certain risk factors associated with the adoption of cynicism and voluntary leaving. The use of one's skills in the workplace, receiving recognition for the work and the presence career development opportunities are common factors in preventing cynicism and voluntary departure. In addition, the support received from the supervisor helps to prevent cynical attitudes at work, while the presence of high psychological demands at work, being exposed to irregular hours and experiencing job insecurity could increase cynicism. The results also indicate that social support from colleagues and the presence of career development opportunities play a joint role in preventing voluntary departure. As for the prevention of cynicism, both social support from the supervisor and colleagues play an additional role of protection against the cynical attitude possible to develop by the employee who perceives the non-respect of his psychological contract as regards use of skills, decision-making authority, recognition, career development and job insecurity. We also carried out a third quasi-experimental study, according to a cross-sectional quantitative estimate, on the determinants of voluntary leaving. The results of the ANOVA regarding the effects of three experimental conditions (cynicism, social support, and duration of social support) on voluntary leaving indicate that being cynical or receiving weak social support increases the intention to leave. In addition, being cynical, receiving weak social support for a long time is the situation that further increases the intention to quit one's job. This thesis helps to advance the theoretical and empirical knowledge of organizational withdrawal, cynicism and voluntary departure and concludes with possible recommendations for practitioners to an integrated intervention to prevent these two possible responses to unsatisfactory conditions at work. The thesis stresses the importance for the employee to fully utilize his skills at work, to be recognized for his efforts and contributions to the organization and to have sufficient opportunities for career development and advancement within the framework of his job.

Keyphrases: Organizational withdrawal, Withdrawal from work, Withdrawal from employment, Cynicism, Voluntary leaving, Psychological contract, Job embeddedness, Social support