Should I stay or should I go?

Based on a publication in Human Resource Management's special issue on Neurodiversity, Professor Almuth McDowall will conceptualise a model of relational biopsychosocial neurodivergent talent inclusion informed by Organisational Support Theory, comprising employee (person), environment and people characteristics.

Professor McDowall reports on a realist and co-creational investigation into (a) neurodivergent conditions and wellbeing (b) the role of tailored adjustment and (c) the influence of psychosocial support on what makes people stay (career satisfaction) and makes them go (turnover intention). This is based on data from 985 neurodivergent employees across a range of UK-based organisations. She will show how neurodivergent condition co-occurrence was the rule not the exception (complex neurotypes). The number of neurodivergent conditions, wellbeing, knowledge of neurodivergence, support from staff and the manager and psychological safety predicted career satisfaction. Support from the manager, psychological safety and career satisfaction predicted turnover intention. There is support for a serial mediation where the association between psychological safety and turnover intention was sequentially mediated by wellbeing and career satisfaction.

Professor McDowall will discuss the need for a more holistic, ecological understanding of potentially vulnerable neurodivergent talent which considers wellbeing, the importance of the psychosocial environment and opportunity to realize career ambition in equal measures.

Publication

• McDowall, A., N. Doyle, and M. Kiseleva. 2025. “Should I Stay or Should I Go? A Relational Biopsychosocial Perspective on Neurodivergent Talent, Career Satisfaction and Turnover Intention.” Human Resource Management 64, no. 5: 1207–1226.