A Study of Voluntary Turnover of Air Force Officers in Critically-Manned Career Fields

Turnover in the Air Force has always been a subject of importance. As the costs associated with losing an individual are high, it would be in the best interest of an organization to understand the main reasons for voluntary turnover in order to facilitate retention. Current research has yielded the Unfolding Model of Voluntary Turnover developed by Lee, Mitchell, Holtom, McDaniel and Hill (1999), which identified 5 different paths people take as they voluntary leave organizations. This research effort tested to see if this model held true for a group of former Air Force officers from career fields experiencing low manning levels (32E, 33S, 61S, 62E, and 63A), and found that 47% of the participants fell into the predicted categories.