Motivated by the inconsistencies in the employee turnover literature, the study draws on the perspectives of social capital theory, relational leadership theory, and the theory of reasoned action to examine how social capital influences employee turnover  through employee job satisfaction intention at varying levels of relational leadership. 

Survey data from 153 employees from both public and private legal firms in sub-Saharan Africa–Ghana was tested using OLS regression in SPSS. Results indicate that social capital positively drives employee satisfaction, while relational leadership was found not to moderate the linkage between social capital and employee satisfaction. Interestingly, employee satisfaction is found to fully mediate the relationship between social capital and employee turnover intention.

The theoretical and managerial contributions of the study are outlined in the latter section of the document.