Job hopping among Generation Y is often framed as declining loyalty, yet this narrative can obscure how organizational messages about value, fairness, and care shape employees’ mobility decisions. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, this study examines how job satisfaction, compensation, and work-life balance influence job-hopping behavior among Generation Y employees in Malaysia and Indonesia. A cross-sectional survey collected data from 437 purposively selected employees across diverse sectors in both countries. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to assess the measurement and structural models. The measures demonstrated satisfactory reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Results indicate that job satisfaction, compensation, and work-life balance each significantly reduce job-hopping behavior, jointly explaining 46% of its variance and demonstrating predictive relevance. Compensation produced the largest effect, followed by work-life balance and job satisfaction. These findings challenge deficit-based portrayals of mobile millennials by showing that job hopping is not simply a generational disposition, but a response to how organizational practices communicate recognition, reciprocity, and support. The study contributes a cross-national Southeast Asian perspective to scholarship on workplace communication and employee mobility by positioning rewards, job experiences, and work-life arrangements as material and symbolic signals within the employee-organization exchange. For practitioners, the results suggest that retention communication must be supported by credible organizational action, including equitable rewards, meaningful work, recognition, employee development, flexibility, and manageable workloads. Integrating these practices can strengthen perceived organizational support, improve the employment relationship, and reduce avoidable mobility among Generation Y employees in culturally connected yet institutionally distinct labor markets.

Authors:
Muhammad Syukri Abdullah, The National University of Malaysia, Malaysia
Elaina Rose Johar, The National University of Malaysia, Malaysia
Nadzirah Rosli, The National University of Malaysia, Malaysia,

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Muhammad Syukri Abdullah is a University’s Lecturer at the Center for Value Creation and Human Well-being, Faculty of Economics and Management, The National University of Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-muhammad-syukri-abdullah-2853ab117/

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Muhammad-Syukri-Abdullah?ev=hdr_xprf

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