REASONS FOR PROFESSIONALS TO STAY OR LEAVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS

Technology organizations have experienced challenges in retaining professionals. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature on the subject by presenting the professionals’ perceptions about their reasons for voluntarily staying or leaving these organizations.

Design/methodology/approach:

Four hundred and forty workers from private technology companies freely answered two open questions in an online questionnaire (survey): “What are the reasons that maintain you working at this company?” and “For what reasons would you leave this company in the future?”. The responses, collected in the second half of 2016, were inductively coded and subsequently aggregated into categories.

Findings:

The results indicate that the professionals remain in the researched organizations primarily due to occupational (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, proper working conditions and perception of professional growth), organizational (adequate management practices) and environmental reasons (perception that there are no better work alternatives). The professionals surveyed would leave the organizations they currently work, primarily for occupational reasons (lack of job satisfaction and opportunities for professional growth, lack of an outlook on valorization and better working conditions), as well as for organizational (inadequate management practices), environmental (better job alternatives) and individual reasons (career planning). Based on the analysis of these results, an agenda for future research on the investigated topic is presented.

KEYWORDS:
Permanence in organizations; Exit from organizations; Retention; Intentions; Technology companies

Question	Answer	Initial code(s)	Final code(s)
What are the reasons that maintain you working at this company?	The opportunity for rapid growth. The autonomy to develop new projects. The alignment of the company’s values and my values.	Opportunity for rapid growth	Professional growth
		Autonomy	Autonomy
		Alignment of values	Organizational culture
For what reasons would you leave this company in the future?	The opportunity to grow, career plan, the opportunity to develop new skills, a better salary, better benefits, flexible working hours, a more free environment, the opportunity to work from home.	Opportunity for growth	Professional growth
		Career plan	Compensation plan
		Opportunity for development of new skills	Learning
		Better salary	Salary satisfaction
		Better benefits	Satisfaction with benefits
		Freer environment	Working conditions
		Remote work	Management practices

Reasons to leave		Categories and final descriptive codes	Reasons to stay
Percent	Total occurrences	Categories and final descriptive codes	Total occurrences	Percent
100%	733	Total	813	100%
4.0%	29	Individual reasons	8	1.0%
4.0%	29	Career planning	0	0.0%
0.0%	0	Paying bills/survival	8	1.0%
65.0%	477	Occupational reasons	660	81.3%
1.2%	9	Learning	40	4.9%
13.5%	99	Professional growth	129	15.9%
2.3%	17	Organizational commitment	103	12.7%
7.4%	54	Working conditions	112	13.8%
0.0%	0	Stability	9	1.1%
2.2%	16	Impact on health	7	0.9%
0.3%	2	Interferences	0	0.0%
0.8%	6	Distributive justice	1	0.1%
1.6%	12	Motivation	4	0.5%
0.5%	4	Interpersonal relations	0	0.0%
3.4%	25	Satisfaction with leadership	13	1.6%
2.2%	16	Satisfaction with benefits	38	4.7%
17.5%	128	Satisfaction with salary	72	8.9%
1.5%	11	Satisfaction with work	55	6.8%
0.7%	5	Satisfaction with colleagues	59	7.3%
1.2%	9	Satisfaction with promotions	1	0.1%
8.3%	61	Valorization	15	1.8%
0.4%	3	Others	2	0.2%
16.8%	123	Organizational reasons	113	13,9%
2.5%	18	Organizational culture	37	4.6%
3.3%	24	Compensation plan	2	0.2%
9.5%	70	Management practices	70	8.6%
0.7%	5	Management organization	3	0.4%
0.5%	4	Operational budget cuts	0	0.0%
0.3%	2	Structural problems	0	0.0%
0.0%	0	Others	1	0.1%
14.2%	104	Environmental reasons	32	3.8%
1.5%	11	Entrepreneurship	0	0.0%
0.8%	6	Family and friends	2	0.0%
0.3%	2	Critical incidents	0	0.0%
2.3%	17	Place of residence	14	1.7%
8.3%	61	Better opportunities in the same area	10	1.2%
0.0%	0	Job market instability	6	0.7%
0.7%	5	Change	0	0.0%
0.3%	2	Goals	0	0.0%

Editora Mackenzie; Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie Rua da Consolação, 896, Edifício Rev. Modesto Carvalhosa, Térreo - Coordenação da RAM, Consolação - São Paulo - SP - Brasil - cep 01302-907 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revista.adm@mackenzie.br

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[1] Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Aline F. Freitas, Rua Roberto Sampaio Gonzaga, s/n, Bloco C - Sala 6B (CFH), Trindade, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, CEP 88040-970 E-mail: fr.alinef@gmail.com

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REASONS FOR PROFESSIONALS TO STAY OR LEAVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS1 1 This research was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Process no. 428712/2018-5).

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

Originality/value:

Design/methodology/approach:

Findings:

REASONS FOR PROFESSIONALS TO STAY OR LEAVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS¹ 1 This research was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Process no. 428712/2018-5).