Retail Store Merchandise Buyers

Construct: Stayers:
(N = 177)
Mean
SD Leavers:
(N = 36)
Mean
SD
Intention to leave
Job satisfaction
Role conflict
Role ambiguity
Intrinsic orientation
DMM influence
Income
Buycenter influence
BS activities
BS relationships
8.77
17.59
10.68
7.21
17.14
2.79
3.27
7.92
9.92
22.10
3.74
3.45
2.73
2.09
3.08
1.19
1.39
2.68
2.21
3.27
11.25
16.31
11.71
8.06
17.55
2.78
2.87
8.69
9.83
22.53
4.41
3.64
2.50
2.45
2.61
1.46
1.27
2.88
2.38
2.81

Approx histograms from 70-95-100 rule of thumb

Use the diagram to explain how to sketch an approximate histogram based on the mean and standard deviation — about 70% of the area within s of the mean, 95% within 2s and almost all within 3s.

Discuss how this helps to assess the overlap between the Stayers and Leavers for each variable.

Mention that there is considerable overlap in the distributions for all variables.

Mention that these are only rough indications — more advanced statistical methods are needed to properly assess the differences between the Stayers and Leavers. (And these are based on the means and standard deviations.)

The table was published in the Journal of Retailing. It describes the results from questionnaires completed by 'merchandise buyers' in 213 chain stores — the people responsible for purchasing stock that will be sold by the retailers. The buyers were classified into two groups, depending on whether they were still in the same employment after 9 months, and a major aim of the study was to compare these 'stayers' and 'leavers'.

Most of the responses were obtained by aggregating the responses to a group of questions in the questionnaire. Details of the variables are in the paper,

An Empirical Investigation of Dysfunctional Turnover Among Chain and Non-Chain Retail Store Buyers, S.M.Keaveney, Journal of Retailing, 68, 1992, p145-170.