Safe-Workplace Compliance and Employee Retention in Tirupur’s Textile Industry: The Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support

Abstract

Employee retention is still a challenge in Tirupur, which is an exporter of knitwear in Tamil Nadu that is currently experiencing a severe shortage of skilled labour despite the growing demand internationally. The purpose of this research is to find out the direct impact of compliance with safe workplace on retention and to test if perceived organizational support (POS) is a mediator in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Organizational Support Theory (Eisenberger et al., 1986) and Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964) provided the theoretical background for the study that used a quantitative cross-sectional survey among 200 shop floor employees, supervisors, and administration personnel chosen by a stratified-purposive sampling method among garment and knitwear units in Tirupur. Measurement and structural models were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling with the bootstrapping technique of mediation test. Findings – Safe-workplace compliance was found to be positively correlated with employee retention (H1) and POS (H2), and POS with retention (H3).