Factors affecting intention to quit among IT professionals in Turkey

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of stressors (role ambiguity, role conflict, work‐overload, work‐family conflict), job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment on the information technology (IT) professionals' intention to quit their jobs in Turkey.

Design/methodology/approach

A structural equation modeling approach was employed to identify the variables that significantly affect the decision to quit. Using LISREL 8.54, data collected from 204 IT professionals were used to test the proposed research model.

Findings

The results revealed that intention to quit one's job is explained by job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Besides, role ambiguity and job stress exert negative indirect effects on the intention to quit one's job. Additionally, organizational commitment is strongly explained by job satisfaction, and job satisfaction is predicted by role ambiguity and job stress.

Practical implications

The study offers several significant suggestions for the continuity of IT professionals in companies.

Originality/value

There are two contributions of this paper. First, this study provides evidence for the impact of stressors, job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment on intention to quit jobs among IT professionals in Turkey. Second, it also provides insight into the importance of stress factors by dividing the stressors into specific stress factors such as work‐family conflict, work‐overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity.

Citation

Calisir, F., Gumussoy, C.A. and Iskin, I. (2011), "Factors affecting intention to quit among IT professionals in Turkey", Personnel Review, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 514-533. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483481111133363