Newcomer retention – an investigation on Indian IT industry

Abstract

Purpose

Understanding attrition in this VUCA world has become imperative for organizations to ensure they are able to sustain themselves. While focus on understanding attrition is important, it is equally important to retain acquired talent, at the same time add value to the human side of business. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors which play crucial role in retention of newly hired employees working in Indian IT industry. The study has considered factors, namely, supervisor support behavior, feedback-seeking behavior (FSB), affective commitment (AC) and empirically verified their impact on new recruit’s intention to quit (IQ).

Design/methodology/approach

The survey was conducted among 524 newly hired employees working in 58 different companies listed in National Association of Software Services Companies member directory in Indian IT industry. All the scales used in the study are reliable and validated. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to test the validation of scales. The data were analyzed to test the proposed structural model using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The present study has successfully blended and verified the effect of supportive behavior of supervisor and new recruit’s FSB on the AC and IQ of newly hired employees. The study highlighted that supportive supervisors can encourage the newly hired employees to seeking feedback and enhance their commitment toward the organization. Further, this reduces the turnover intention of employees.

Research limitations/implications

The theoretical contribution of the study is in successful amalgamation of two major streams of studies on new recruits by assessing the effect of supervisors’ supportive behaviors and new recruits’ proactive FSB on their IQ. The study has also looked at the newly hired employees’ behavioral reactions during uncertain entry period and throughout the adjustment process. The limitations of the study are in the focus on one industry and cross-sectional data. In the future researchers can explore the relationships in a longitudinal study. Also, other variables like perceived organizational support and job satisfaction can be considered.

Practical implications

The present study demonstrates that supportive supervisors can motivate newly hired employees to seek feedback, and help them to “fit in” the organization. This study verifies that supervisors are considered as an important source of information for new recruits and the new recruits’ FSB positively influences their commitment toward the organization. Based on these results it is imperative for managers to be approachable and available to offer feedback to the new recruits in their initial days to ensure their adjustment, commitment and retention in the organization. This adds to sustaining the business and social well-being of the employees.

Originality/value

The present study offers a critical insight about the retention of newly hired employees in the organization. In the quickly changing VUCA world, these newly hired employees can be an asset for companies to build competitive advantage. However, to construct a strong future team for the organization, it is imperative that companies focus on augmentation of commitment among newly hired employees to further retain them. The present study proposes the path of empowerment among the new recruits to make them committed to the organization and to make sure that they stay with the organization in long run.

Citation

Deshpande, A. and Gupta, R. (2021), "Newcomer retention – an investigation on Indian IT industry", Management Decision, Vol. 59 No. 4, pp. 787-800. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-02-2019-0233