Survey Links Common-Good HR Management to Retention Through Intrinsic Motivation

A survey of 300 full-time employees in the United States found that common good human resource management, abbreviated CGHRM, was positively associated with employees’ intention to remain with their organization. The study also found that work intrinsic motivation statistically mediated this association, while prosocial motivation did not. These results came from an analysis of survey data using partial least squares structural equation modeling, and they do not establish that CGHRM caused greater retention.

The research examined a form of human resource management centered on contributions to the common good, rather than relying only on conventional economic exchange between employees and organizations. The authors framed the study around two complementary ideas. Self-Determination Theory provided the basis for considering work intrinsic motivation as a possible pathway connecting CGHRM with retention, while Trait Activation Theory informed the analysis of agreeableness and prosocial motivation.

Agreeableness was tested as a moderator, meaning the researchers examined whether its relationship with the other study variables differed across levels of the trait. The participants were full-time employees recruited through the Prolific platform. The researchers analyzed the data with partial least squares structural equation modeling in SmartPLS 4, and hypothesis testing used bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples.

In the resulting statistical model, CGHRM was positively associated with job retention, work intrinsic motivation and prosocial motivation. The direct retention association therefore appeared alongside separate associations between common-good management and each of the two motivational variables measured in the study. The two proposed motivational pathways did not behave identically.

Work intrinsic motivation significantly mediated the association between CGHRM and job retention, consistent with the interpretation that employees’ experience of their work itself may be relevant to whether they intend to stay. Prosocial motivation, despite its positive association with CGHRM, did not mediate the retention relationship. The study therefore distinguishes between becoming more motivated to benefit others through work and reporting a stronger intention to remain with an organization: the two variables were related in the model, but only one served as a statistical mediator for retention.

Contrary to the hypothesized direction, agreeableness negatively moderated the relationship between CGHRM and prosocial motivation. In other words, the association between common-good management and prosocial motivation was stronger among employees with lower agreeableness. Agreeableness did not moderate the relationship between CGHRM and job retention.

The evidence is bounded by the study’s design and population. It comes from one online survey of 300 US employees, and the analysis identifies statistical associations rather than demonstrating a causal sequence of influence. The findings therefore apply most directly to the sampled employees and the modeled relationships among CGHRM, motivation, agreeableness and intention to stay.

The result nevertheless offers a clear research-level distinction for organizations evaluating common-good HR approaches: their reported association with retention was statistically accounted for through work intrinsic motivation, not through prosocial motivation, while the personality moderation applied only to the latter pathway.

Subject of Research: Associations among common-good HR management, employee motivation, agreeableness and intention to stay

Article Title: The influence of common good human resource management on employee retention in the United States from motivational and personality perspectives

Article References: Nguyen, C. V. H., Pham, N. T., & Hoang, T. T. (2026). The influence of common good human resource management on employee retention in the United States from motivational and personality perspectives. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04715-3

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04715-3

Keywords: employee retention, common-good HR management, intrinsic motivation, prosocial motivation, agreeableness, workplace psychology, survey research, structural equation modeling, self-determination theory, trait activation theory, influence, common