Who really quits? A longitudinal analysis of voluntary turnover among IT personnel

Maier C, Laumer S, Eckhardt A, Weitzel T (2015)


Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2015

Journal

Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery

Book Volume: 46

Pages Range: 26-47

Journal Issue: 4

DOI: 10.1145/2843824.2843827

Abstract

In response to high turnover rates among IT personnel compared to other groups of professionals, IS research has focused on factors contributing to IT personnel's turnover intention; however, only few studies have focused on actual turnover. To shed more light on actual turnover behavior, this longitudinal study of 125 IT personnel theorizes and analyzes the influence of job-related beliefs on turnover intention and behavior over time. Our results confirm a previously documented turnover intention-behavior gap, finding that 91 out of 125 survey participants indicate a high turnover intention, but that only 27 reported actual turnover behavior within the following 12 months. We further theorize this turnover intention-behavior gap by identifying IT personnel's personality as an important moderating variable for this relation. Specifically, IT personnel more disposed to resisting change translate turnover intentions into actual turnover behavior more seldom than IT personnel less disposed to resisting change. Our study also focuses on how personality influences changes in IT personnel's job-related beliefs and whether or not actual turnover behavior has a positive influence on these beliefs. Our results show that more change-resistant IT personnel change their degrees of job satisfaction and organizational commitment more seldom than less change-resistant personnel and that IT personnel who quit their job change their degree of job satisfaction and organizational commitment more frequently. Our results also show that intentions are a more suitable predictor for less change-resistant individuals than for change-resistant ones.

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How to cite

APA:

Maier, C., Laumer, S., Eckhardt, A., & Weitzel, T. (2015). Who really quits? A longitudinal analysis of voluntary turnover among IT personnel. Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, 46(4), 26-47. https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2843824.2843827

MLA:

Maier, Christian, et al. "Who really quits? A longitudinal analysis of voluntary turnover among IT personnel." Data Base for Advances in Information Systems 46.4 (2015): 26-47.

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