In a volatile political climate where agencies often become the stage for partisan battles, career employees pay the price for increased political attention to agencies. This study seeks to understand how contentious political environments contribute to employee turnover intent. It draws on strategic management and systems theories that link resource turbulence to management changes and employee turnover. The question is important to address because career bureaucrats are critical to government performance as both policy makers and implementers. Individual-level data are paired with organizational-level data to assess how political environments influence turnover preferences. Other aspects of an agency’s political environment (age, design, ideology, and political appointees) are also tested. The analysis shows that budget volatility increases the intent to leave, but staffing volatility increases intent to move within government. All political environment variables except ideology affected intent to change jobs.

中文翻译：

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政治动荡会鼓励联邦雇员战斗或逃离吗？检查政治环境和离职意图

在动荡的政治氛围中，代理通常会成为游击战的舞台，职业雇员为增加对代理的政治关注付出了代价。本研究旨在了解有争议的政治环境如何促进员工离职意图。它借鉴了战略管理和系统理论，这些理论将资源动荡与管理层变动和员工流动联系在一起。这个问题很重要，因为职业官员对于决策者和实施者都对政府绩效至关重要。个人级别的数据与组织级别的数据配对以评估政治环境如何影响离职偏好。还测试了机构政治环境的其他方面（年龄，设计，意识形态和政治任命）。分析表明，预算波动增加了离职的意图，但人员波动增加了在政府内部流动的意图。除意识形态外，所有政治环境变量都会影响换工作意向。