Abstract

This study examined the mediating effect of organizational cynicism on the relationship between psychological contract breach and turnover intention of military personnel less than five years of tenure. It also examined the moderating effect of the leader-member exchange(LMX) in the relationship between organizational cynicism and turnover intention, and the moderated mediating effect of LMX on the indirect effect of psychological contract breach on turnover intention through organizational cynicism. To address these effects, a survey was conducted on 330 entry-level military personnel, and psychological contract breach, organizational cynicism, turnover intention, and LMX were measured. As a result of the analysis using SPSS 23.0 and PROCESS Macro, psychological contract breach was positively related with turnover intention, and the mediating effect of organizational cynicism on the relationship was significant. And the moderating effect of LMX was significant on the relationship between organizational cynicism and turnover intention, and specifically, the relationship weakened when the LMX was high. In addition, LMX moderated the indirect effect of psychological contract breach on turnover intention through organizational cynicism. Based on the findings, it is expected that providing a coaching program for entry-level military personnel and their superiors could reduce the turnover intention of entry-level military personnel and help them effectively adapt to the military organization.