Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to argue that affective commitment plays a significant and complex role in the relationship between social support and turnover intention. Design/methodology/approach

Surveys were returned by 217 hospital employees with an average tenure of 11.55 years (SD=10.20). Findings

Findings suggest that perceived organizational support and perceived supervisor support (PSS) could directly impact turnover intention without the mediation of affective commitment. Thus, affective commitment only partially mediates the negative relation between perceived support and turnover intention. In addition, the results suggest that enhanced PSS reduced turnover intention more powerfully, when affective commitment increased. For a highly committed employee, support from the supervisor can be more influential than that of a less committed employee. Originality/value

This is an initial investigation on the moderating role of affective commitment in the relationship between perceived social support and turnover intention. Further, the findings emphasize the independent impact of perceived social support above and beyond the effect mediated by affective commitment, thus adding evidence to the debate on the extend of the mediating effect of affective commitment.