A revisited analysis of the Exit-Voice-Loyalty- Neglect model: contributions of a longitudinal and conceptually extended approach

Abstract

The purpose of this article is twofold: to evaluate and enrich the latest theoretical developments of the EVLN model and to identify resources mobilized by respondents who use its different options. The results of a longitudinal survey involving 38 temporary workers over the age of 45 confirms the relevance of distinctions between actual and planned exits, passive and active voices, passive and active loyalties and the conceptual extension of cynicism. Two new options emerge: imagined exit and brutal neglect. The dynamic study of how these options evolve (from the beginning of the relationship with an employer until the employee has settled in) brings to light several key trajectories that show the prominent development of destructive options (cynicism, neglect and exit) to the detriment of constructive options (voice and loyalty). A number of variables and mobilized resources (past satisfaction, few alternative job opportunities, professional ambitions, severe financial constraints) help us to understand the diversity of this global dynamic of destruction in an employee-employer relationship.