Abstract: Based on employee retention research and social resources theory, this paper proposes a construct for motivation to protect existing resources, the pu rpose of which is to develop and validate an instrument measuring the construct, in order to indicate the motivation mechanism behind the predictors in employee retention research. The paper develops a three-factor structure scale to measu r e the motivation based on a qualitative research such as the interview and the l iterature and validates the scale by empirical study. Finally, the structure sca le is important in both the theory and practice.