Date

8-20-2026

Department

Graduate School of Business

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Organization and Management (PhD)

Chair

Jeremy Pickwell

Keywords

faith-based nonprofit, emotional exhaustion, turnover intention, organizational performance

Disciplines

Business | Leadership Studies

Abstract

The U.S. nonprofit sector is a vital part of the national workforce and social service infrastructure. Within this sector, faith-based nonprofit SMEs must sustain mission impact while often operating under limited staffing, informal role structures, emotional labor, and significant leadership demands. The purpose of this fixed-design quantitative correlational study was to examine the problem of high turnover and reduced performance in U.S. faith-based nonprofit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study measured emotional exhaustion, role ambiguity, turnover intention, perceived organizational performance, and perceived leadership support and tested whether perceived leadership support moderated the relationship between emotional exhaustion and turnover intention. Leader-Member Exchange theory (LMX) guided the study, with the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model serving as a secondary explanatory lens. Data were collected from 504 paid staff members working in U.S. faith-based nonprofit organizations or church organizations with 3 to 50 paid staff members and a direct supervisor. Results showed that emotional exhaustion and role ambiguity were positively related to turnover intention, while turnover intention was negatively related to perceived organizational performance. Perceived leadership support significantly moderated the relationship between emotional exhaustion and turnover intention; however, the positive interaction indicated that leadership support strengthened rather than weakened the exhaustion-to-turnover relationship. The findings connected workforce stability to strain, role clarity, perceived performance, and relational leadership conditions.

Download

Share

COinS