3700 International Journal of Innovative Research and Scientific Studies, 8(3) 2025, pages: 3700-3715 ISSN: 2617-6548 URL: www.ijirss.com Investigating the determinants of turnover intention among companies undergoing mergers and acquisitions in Malaysia Fikri Ismail 1 , Nazlina Zakaria 2* , Fais Ahmad 3 , 1,2,3 School of Business Management, Universiti Utara Malaysia. Corresponding author: Nazlina Zakaria (Email: nazlina@uum.edu.my) Abstract This study explores factors influencing turnover intention among employees in companies undergoing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Malaysia, focusing on psychological ownership, exploration behavior, exploitation behavior, leader- member exchange, and turnover intention. A Google Form questionnaire was used to collect data from 166 participants, and SMART PLS 4.0 was used for analysis. The results indicate that psychological ownership positively and significantly impacts exploration and exploitation behaviors. Exploration behavior has significant and positive impacts on leader-member exchange. Leader-member exchange has significant and negative impacts on turnover intention. However, exploitation behavior does not have a significant impact on turnover intention. The mediation analysis revealed that exploration behavior and leader-member exchange mediate the relationship between psychological ownership and turnover intention, but exploitation behavior does not. The findings provide actionable insights to organizational management during M&A. By addressing the dynamics of psychological ownership, exploration and exploitation behavior, leader-member exchange, and turnover intention, the study offers practical recommendations to drive organizational innovation while maintaining operational stability during mergers and acquisitions. This work contributes to the academic understanding of employee attitudes and behaviors in the context of organizational change like M&A. Keywords: Exploitation behavior, Exploration behavior, Leader-member exchange, Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Psychological ownership, Turnover intention. DOI: 10.53894/ijirss.v8i3.7381 Funding: This study received no specific financial support. History: Received: 14 March 2025 / Revised: 16 April 2025 / Accepted: 18 April 2025 / Published: 26 May 2025 Copyright: © 2025 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ Contributions: All authors contributed equally to the conception and design of the study. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Transparency: The authors confirm that the manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study; that no vital features of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned have been explained. This study followed all ethical practices during writing.