Effect of Advertising on Employee Turnover Intentions:

Internal marketing (IM) treats employees as customers, focusing on corresponding internal measures targeted at them. However, advertising to consumers is also an opportunity for employees to recognize the social impact of their work and change their mindset. Such activities are indeed observed in business. However, little is known about them in research. In addition to the nine factors discussed in the IM literature (professional skills, rewards, work–life balance, human relations, diversity of workforce, office facilities, company cafeteria, new technology, and corporate purpose), this study targeted a tenth factor, advertising, and examined the influence of these ten factors on employee satisfaction and turnover intention. An online survey was conducted with 5,000 full-time employees in 10 industries in Japan (automobile manufacturers, electrical manufacturers, finance, food manufacturers, governments, information technology, medical device manufacturers, real estate, retail, and services), with the data analyzed using covariance structure analysis. The results revealed that advertising did not affect satisfaction; however, it had a significant positive effect on turnover intention. Furthermore, the smaller the organization is in size and the younger the employee attributes are, the greater the likelihood of increased turnover intention. These results sound a warning that when communicating within a company through advertising, care must be taken to avoid increasing employees’ desire to change jobs.