Investigating of Human Resource Management Practices Effects on Knowledge Workers Intention to stay With Emphasis on Organization Commitment

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1 International Research Journal of Management Sciences. Vol., 2 (11), , 2014 Available online at ISSN x 2014 Investigating of Human Resource Management Practices Effects on Knowledge Workers Intention to stay With Emphasis on Organization Commitment (A case Study of Research Institute of Petroleum Industry) Abbas Taheri Yeganeh 1*, Akbar Hassanpoor 2, Mohammad Ataee 2 1 Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran 2 Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran Corresponding Author: Abbas Taheri Yeganeh ABSTRACT: The main aim of this research is investigating of human resource management practices effects on knowledge workers intention to stay in Iranian research institute of petroleum industry. In particular, the research identified the core factors of human resource management practices, which influence on the decision knowledge workers to stay. These specific factors consisted of two bundles of practices: Human resource factors and. The outcome of the HRM-retention relationship was examined through organizational commitment. This study is an applied research according to the goals and objectives of the research and the method used in the current research is descriptive-correlational. The studied population of this study includes 561 individuals and the sample size is 234 individuals were chosen based on the krejcie-morgan table that selected through simple random sampling method. Questionnaire is the tool for gathering the data. Assess its validity is confirmed through review of face-content by teachers also calculated cronbach s alpha reliability coefficient of the questionnaire after modification 0/9529 percent. SPSS software has been used for data analyzing. Descriptive statistics method such as frequency distribution, frequency percentage and tables were applied to analyze data. In inferential statistics section, Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple linear regression, ANOVA test, Durbin-Watson test and etc were used. This research consists of seven main hypotheses. The findings of this study revealed positive significant co-relationships between above factors and organizational commitment and intent to stay also shows direct and indirect influence above factors on organizational commitment and knowledge workers intent to stay. Keywords: Knowledge worker, Organizational commitment, Intention to stay, Human resource management. INTRODUCTION In the present business environment, where growth is largely a product of creative and technological advancements, human capital is one of a company s most valuable assets (Chipunza & Kabungaidze, 2012), but very few organizations are able to fully harness its potential. The human resource enables organizations to achieve optimization of resource, effectiveness, and continuous improvement consistently (Wernerfelt, 1984).Many organizations have now recognized that human resources play an important role in gaining a competitive advantage in today s highly competitive global business environment (Mello, 2007). To obtain a competitive advantage, companies must attract, retain, and engage talented or highly skilled employees. However, this task is becoming increasingly difficult because of shortage of talented employees. Highly talented and skilled employees are referred to as knowledge workers. The term knowledge worker was coined by Peter Drucker (1989) who points out that knowledge workers are employees with much-needed qualifications and the ability to acquire and apply theoretical and analytical knowledge. Knowledge workers use knowledge to add value to a business process (Chipunza & Kabungaidze, 2012). Knowledge workers are employees who have a deep background in education and experience and are considered people who think for a living (Cooper, 2006).A few years later Drucker (2002) wrote that knowledge workers have become the major creator of wealth and jobs and increasingly the success and even the survival of every business will depend on the performance of its knowledge workforce. Brown and Duguid (1996) redefine the concept of a knowledge worker as a 365

2 learning person who is at the core of knowledge transfer in an organization (Sutherland & Jordaan, 2004). For this reason, an organization s ability to retain knowledge workers is a critical component in determining its present and future success. As such; researchers are interested in addressing the key issues and challenges relating to knowledge workers retention. Reducing this employee s turnover is a strategic and very important issue (Ongori, 2008). Turnover is a symptom of a larger systemic problem such as ineffective retention management (Dobbs, 2001). Turnover has negative effects on productivity, product and service quality, and profitability. The cost involved in hiring new employees is high and finding skilled employees can be difficult. Replacing a lost valuable employee can be more expensive than employing a new one. Cappelli (2008) believes that retaining the organization s valuable employees has been very challenging for many organizations. Research estimates indicate that recruiting and training new employees cost approximately 50 percent of the worker s annual salary. It is again estimated that each time an employee leaves an organization, it is presumed that productivity drops due to the learning curve involved in understanding the nature of the job and the organization (Kwenin, Muathe & Nzulwa, 2013). The main purpose of retention is to prevent the loss of competent employees from the organization as this could have adverse effect on productivity and service delivery. However, retention of high performing employees has become more challenging for managers as this category of employees frequently move from one job to another as they are being attracted by more than one organization at a time (Samuel & Chipunza, 2009). Therefore Managers must carry out various actions in order encourage knowledge workers to remain in the organization. Certainly, HRM practices will play an important part in this respect. While all aspects of managing human resources are important, employee retention continues to be an essential human resource management activity that helps organizations in their quest to achieve their goals and objectives (Mello, 2007).This research is important because the desire to remain causes reduction in leaving the job or also causes reduction in searching new jobs to replace the former one. So the application of it could help the organization to improve its operation and attract powerful individuals, and also could help it to increase efficiency and reduce the waste of sources organization. The aim of this study is investigating of human resource management practices effects on knowledge workers intention to stay. More specifically, the research identified eight retention factors that influence the decision of knowledge workers to stay. These specific factors consisted of two bundles of practices: Human resource factors (e.g., person organizational fit, remuneration, reward and recognition, training and career development, challenging job opportunities) and organizational factors (e.g., leadership behavior, company culture and policies, teamwork relationship, satisfactory work environment and communication). The outcome of the HRM-retention relationship was examined through organizational commitment and intent to stay. In this study, independent variable consists of 4 subsets which are presented in the following figure1. Based on this, the conceptual model of the study is as follows: Human Resource factors.person organizational fit. Remuneration, reward and recognition. Training and career development.leadership behavior.company culture and policies.teamwork relationship.communication Organizational commitment Intent to stay Figure 1. Path model for explanation the relations between research variables. Research hypotheses based on the theoretical research model were developed as follows: 1) Human resource factors influences on knowledge workers intent to stay. 2) influences on knowledge workers intent to stay. 366

3 3) Human resource factors influences on knowledge workers organizational commitment. 4) influences on knowledge workers organizational commitment. 5) Organizational commitment influences on knowledge workers intent to stay. 6) Human resources factors through organizational commitment mediating variable influences on knowledge workers intent to stay. 7) through organizational commitment mediating variable influences on knowledge workers intent to stay. METHODOLOGY From the point of aim, this research is an applied research. Also based on the method it is a descriptive-correlative survey. In the current research both library, and field methods are used for data collection. The current research statistical population includes all of the employees in research institute of petroleum industry who have at least bachelor degree in art and science which is 561 individuals. For measuring the sample size in the current research the krejcie and Morgan table is used and regarding the fact that the population size was 561 individuals, the sample size of 234 individuals was extracted out of the mentioned table, and according to this, 234 questionnaires were distributed among the population. Also for sampling in this research the simple random sampling was used. In the current research, the variables of human resource factors and its components (including: person organizational fit, remuneration, reward and recognition, training and career development, challenging job opportunities) and organizational factors and its components (including: leadership behavior, company culture and policies, teamwork relationship and satisfactory work environment) are considered as the independent variables. The dependent variables of the current research are organizational commitment and intent to stay. Data collection instrument for this study is a questionnaire created by Janet Cheng Lian Chew (2004) and the Likert scale of five values in instrument was used. Assess its validity was confirmed through review of face-content by teachers and also provided by receiving the comments of experts of this field of study and from their point of view the validity of questionnaire was accepted. Thus it could be expected that the questionnaire being used in this research has adequate content and face validity. Also, for surveying the reliability of research questionnaire the Cronbach s Alpha coefficient was used, and this coefficient for questionnaire equals 0.95 which is in an acceptable range. In the current research, for data analysis, and surveying the accuracy of the research hypotheses, the descriptive analysis methods such as frequency distribution table, frequency and diagrams, and proper inferential analysis methods of Pearson correlation coefficient, Multiple linear regression, ANOVA test, Durbin-Watson test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were used and all of the calculations were conducted by the use of SPSS18 software. RESULTS Descriptive analysis of research demographic data showed that from the total number of 234 examinees, 35% were women and 65% were men. Also 64% of them are married, 36% of them were single. 52% of the examinees were at the age range of About the education of the sample, 14% of the respondents had PH.D degree and about56% of them had master degreeandnearly30% of them had bachelor degree. In terms of examinees work experience nearly 40% of the examinees had 5-10 years of work experience. The results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test showed that all of the research Data are normally distributed, thus we can take advantage of parametric statistics. According to the normality of data, Pearson test was used to analyze the relationship between variables. As it is observable in table 1, positive and significant correlation exists between all of the variables. The strongest correlative correlation belongs to the organizational commitment and intent to stay variables(r=0.606) and the weakest one belongs to the human resource factors and the organizational commitment variables(r=0.539). Table 1. Correlation between the variables entering the research. Variables Pearson s correlation Sig. coefficient Human Resource factors and intent to stay and intent to stay Human resource factors and organizational commitment and organizational commitment Organizational commitment and intent to stay To study the effects of model variables on each other and investigate the hypotheses, two linear regressions were used; to examine the effect of independent variables of human resources and organizational factors on the dependent variable of organizational commitment, multiple linear regression (1) was used; and to study the effect of independent variables of human resources factors, organizational factors, and organizational commitment on the dependent variable of intention to stay, multiple linear regression (2) was applied. 367

4 For verifying linear regressions, Enter method was used. Multiple liner regression (1) Multiple liner regression (2) Table 2. A summary of regression model results. R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate In these regressions, coefficient of determination (R²: shows that changes in independent variables lead to some percentage of changes in the dependent variable) was desirable. After multiple linear regressions were confirmed, the model was verified using the following tests: 1) To evaluate the linearity of regression, ANOVA test was used. H0: Regression is not linear (regression equation is not significant). H1: Regression is linear (regression equation is significant). Table 3. The results of multiple regression variance. ANOVAª Sum of df Squares Regression Residual Total a. Predictors: (Constant), Human resource factors, b. Dependent variable: organizational commitment Mean Square Table 4. The results of multiple regression variance. ANOVAª F Sig. ª Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Regression Residual Total a. Predictors: (Constant), Human resource factors,,organizational commitment b. Dependent variable: intent to stay Sig. ª Since significance level for both regression equations was smaller than error values of 0.05, H1 (linear regression) was confirmed. 2) To examine the autocorrelation of disturbance terms, Durbin-Watson test was used. Table 5. Result of Durbin-Watson test. Regressions Durbin-Watson Multiple liner regression (1) Multiple liner regression (2) In both regression equations, Durbin-Watson statistic value was in the range of 1.5 to 2.5; thus, this situation was highly desirable, almost no serial correlation existed in error statements and regressioncan be confidently confirmed. 3) To study the normality of residuals, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied. If regression assumptions hold true, distribution of conventional residualsshould be normal. H0: Data are normal (data come from a normal population). H1: Data are not normal (data donot come from a normal population). Table 6. Result of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to verify data normality. N Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z Multiple liner regression (1) Multiple liner regression (2) Sig

5 Significance level of both regression equations was higher than error value of 0.05; so, H0 can be concluded, which means that the residuals were normal. 4) To study multicollinearity between independent variables, an index called tolerance was used. Table 7. Index of variance s tolerance and factor of variance s inflation. Independent variables in Multiple liner regression (1) Tolerance Human resource factors VIF Independent variables in Multiple liner regression (2) Human resource factors organizational commitment Tolerance VIF Tolerance values for all the three independent variables were greater than 0.1, meaning that the situation was desirable and no multicollinearity existed. After testing the significance of regression, significance of each test coefficient should be tested in order to determine whether the coefficients calculated at the confidence level of 95% were non-zero or not. Multiple liner regression (1) Yˆ1 01 3X1 4X 2 Multiple liner regression (2) Yˆ2 02 1X1 2X 2 5Y1 In multiple linear regressions, non-standardized coefficients were used to obtain linear regression equation. This equation can be used to predict the value of dependent variable using the independent variables; also, using standard coefficients can be used to obtain the impact of each independent variable on the dependent variable. Linear regression (1): Table 8. Coefficients of regression model (relationship between HR and organizational factors and organizational commitment). Constant Human resource factors Unstandardized Coefficient B Std.Error Standardized Coefficient Beta t Sig According to linear regression equation (1), organizational commitment ( Ŷ 1) was dependent variable and human resource factors and organizational factors ( X1 and X 2 ) were independent variables. According to the above table for constant value ( 01 coefficient), because significance level was equal to and smaller than the error value of 0.05 (absolute value of T statistic is greater than 1.96), H1 can be confirmed with the confidence of 95%; i.e. constant value ( 01 coefficient) was non-zero. So, the constant value remained in the model and equaled As far as the variable coefficient of human resource factors is concerned( 3 ), since significant level value was and smaller than the error value of 0.05, H1 can be concluded with 95% confidence; i.e. this coefficient was non-zero. So, human resource factors stayed in the model with the coefficient value of and its impact on organizational commitment was 28.3% as a positive value. Thus, hypothesis (3) was verified.as far as the variable coefficient of organizational factor ( 4 ) is concerned, since the significance value was equal to and less than the error value of 0.05, H1 was concluded with the confidence of 95%. In other words, this coefficient was non-zero and organizational factor stayed in the model with the coefficient value of and its impact on organizational commitment was 0.34%as a positive value. Thus, hypothesis (4) was verified. Linear regression equation (1) was finally as follows: Yˆ X X 2 369

6 Linear regression (2): Table 9. Coefficients of regression model (relationship between HR, organizational factors and organizational commitment and intent to stay). Constant Human resource factors Organizational commitment Unstandardized Coefficient B Std.Error Standardized Coefficient Beta t 0/ sig 0/ According to linear regression equation (2), intent to stay( Ŷ 2 ) was the dependent variable and factors of human resources, organizational factors and organizational commitment ( X 1, X 2 andy 1) were independent variables. Based on the above table, for constant value ( 02 coefficient), since significance level was and higher than the error value of 0.05 (absolute value of T statistic was smaller than 1.96), H0 was confirmed with the confidence of 95%. In other words, the constant value ( 02 coefficient) was zero and deleted from the model. As far as the variable coefficient of human resource factors ( 1 ) is concerned, because significance value was equal to and less than the error value of 0.05, H1 can be concluded with the confidence of 95%; i.e. this coefficient was non-zero, so human resource factors stayed in the model. Its coefficient value was and its effect on intent to stay was 27.5%as a positive value. For the variable coefficient of organizational factors ( 2 ),because significance value was equal to and less than the error value of 0.05, H1 can be concluded with the confidence of 95%. In other words, this coefficient was non-zero and organizational factorsstayed in the model with the coefficient value of and its effect on intent to stay was 16.5%as a positive value. Therefore, hypothesis (2) was verified. For the variable coefficient of organizational commitment ( 5 ),because significance level was equal to and less than the error value of 0.05, H1 can be concluded with the confidence of 95%. In other words, organizational commitment variable stayed in the model with the coefficient value of and its effect on intent to stay was 36.7%as a positive value. So, hypothesis (5) was verified. Linear regression equation (2) was finally as follows: Yˆ X X Y 1 Hypothesis6: Human resources factors through organizational commitment mediating variable influences on knowledge workers intent to stay. According to the results of hypotheses (3) and (5), it can be concluded that human resource factors had an effect on knowledge workers intent to stay through the mediating variable of organizational commitment and It s effect size was equal to the multiplication of effect of human resource factors on organizational commitment by that of organizational commitment on intent to stay, which was equal to Hypothesis7: through organizational commitment mediating variable influences on knowledge workers intent to stay. According to the results of hypotheses (4) and (5), it can be concluded that organizational factors had an effect on knowledge workers intent to stay through the mediating variable of organizational commitment and It s effect size was equal to the multiplication of effect of organizational factors on organizational commitment by that of organizational commitment on intent to stay, which was equal to So, all the seven hypotheses of this study were confirmed. To prioritize variable dimensions of human resource factors and organizational factors, Friedman test was used. Friedman test for prioritizing variable dimensions of human resource factors: Human resource factors variable dimensions Person organizational fit Remuneration, reward and recognition Training and career development Challenging job opportunities Table 10. Mean Rank (Human Resource factors variable dimensions). H0: There is no significant difference between variable dimensions of human resource factors. H1: There is a significant difference between variable dimensions of human resource factors. Mean Rank

7 N Chi-Square df Asymp.Sig Table 11. Friedman Test Result Because significance level was and larger than the error value of 0.05, H0 can be concluded; i.e. different dimensions of human resource factors variable were equally important and there was no significant difference between them. Friedman test for prioritizing dimensions of organizational factor: variable dimensions Leadership behavior Teamwork relationship Company culture and policies Communication Satisfactory work environment Table 12. Mean Rank (organizational factors variable dimensions). H0: There is no significant difference between variable dimensions of organizational factors. H1: There is a significant difference between variable dimensions of organizational factors. Mean Rank N Chi-Square df Asymp.Sig Table 13. Friedman Test Result Significance value was equal to and smaller than the error value of 0.05.So, H1 can be concluded; i.e. different dimensions of organizational factors were not equally important and there was a significant difference between them. Table 14. Prioritization of organizational factors variable dimensions. variable dimensions Mean Rank Satisfactory work environment 3.63 Teamwork relationship 3.30 Company culture and policies 3.18 Communication 2.54 Leadership behavior 2/34 Rank Considering the above results in terms of prioritizing the variable components of organizational factors and their significance for knowledge workers, it was revealed that satisfactory work environment component had the highest ranking and organizational leadership component had the lowest ranking. In other words, the importance of variable components of organizational factors for the workers was as follows in the order of priority: 1- Satisfactory work environment, 2- Teamwork relationship, 3- Company culture and policies, 4- Communication, 5- Leadership behavior. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Human resource factors and organizational factors directly and indirectly affected knowledge workers intent to stay through organizational commitment. Therefore, it could be said that, once appropriate policies are adopted and implemented in organizations about these two factors, desirable impacts will be made on staff commitment and knowledge workers may most probably stay in organizations. Several academic studies have been implemented at organizational level in this regard which have approved these results. Huselid (1995) in his study entitled The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance, states that 371

8 human resource management practices effects on employees performance results by shaping their behaviors and attitudes at organizational level. Also, there is a fact that practices and procedures of human resources management affect employees level of commitment through an impact on their perception of organizational support. There are many pieces of evidence which show that human resource management plays an important role in the knowledge workers intent to stay. Based on the research by Fitz-enz(1990), staff management in terms of their staying is affected by many key factors which must be managed and implemented in parallel with each other. Thus, organizations use a wide range of these elements to generate commitmentin employees and keep them in their organizations (Clark, 2001).According to these results; the strongest relationship existed between organizational commitment and intent to stay. This result showed that employees stay in the organizations to which they feel more commitment. Different studies, like Balfour and Weschler (1996), Mowday et al. (1982), and O'Reillyand Chatman (1986) have reported a significantly positive relationship between organizational commitment and intent to stay. Results obtained from proving the research main hypotheses demonstrated that the variable of organizational factors had direct and indirect effects on employees intent to stay. Also, Friedman tests indicated that components of this variable were not equally important in terms of knowledge workers in intent to stay. In this regard, for each component, the following suggestions are presented in the order of importance: Satisfactory work environment: Organizational management must: (1) Generate appropriate opportunities for employees to enjoy from amenities,(2) Promote physical status of workplace, and (3) Make a healthy and balanced working environment by reducing work accidents and violations. Teamwork relationship: Organizations must pay attention to making team and group-oriented structures. Teamwork relationships generate some opportunities for social interaction among employees, develop alliance and sincere feeling among employees, and reduce pressures induced by work uncertainties. Fundamentally, the employees who work in teams feel stronger commitment to their team and organization as a whole and have higher tendency to continue working with organization. Company culture and policies: (1) Organizational procedures and policies must be understandable, useful, and up-to-date and facilitate the work; (2) Organizational management must attempt to hold periodic meetings in order to develop a clear understanding about the organizational mission in employees. Communication: (1) Organization must emphasize communication channels at all levels; (2) Organization must work on adjusting employees thoughts and make them aware of their important matters; (3) Organization should provide formal mechanisms for employees to express their complaints; (4) Organization must hold periodic meetings between employees and managers to help them solve their problems. Communications lead to mutual trust between employees and their supervisors and in fact make them feel worthy; so, the feedbacks that are given to employees make a relation between organizational policies and workplace aspects and thus create a mechanism for hearing their probable complaints. Organizational leadership: Organization managers need to identify their existing leadership style and detect its difference with employees personal values. Thus, organizations must try to adopt leadership styles that are in line with employees personal values and therefore lead to the promotion of their job satisfaction and performance. Adopting appropriate leadership styles can cause employees high motivation and commitment and reduce their turnover intention. Based on the findings and analysis of results in this research, the overall impact of variable of human resources factors on employees intention to stay was higher than that of organizational factors. On the other hand, Friedman test showed that, contrary to the variable of organizational factors, all the human resource factors were considered almost equally important by employees. Therefore, human resource managers are suggested to emphasis on human resource factors more than organizational factors and equally consider all of its four components in order to increase employees intention to stay. Remuneration, reward and recognition of employee value: (1) Organization must have a wellestablished payment system based on individual strengths and capabilities; in this regard, a performance management system should be established in organization. (2) Organization must appreciate high-quality work of their employees using various methods. When employees feel that their skills, efforts, and performance are appreciated, they tend to stay in organization. Appointments and challenging job opportunities: (1) Organization should provide opportunities for employees to learn new things; (2) Organization should provide appropriate job diversity for employees. When employees feel that organizations fail to assign attractive and challenging tasks, present opportunities for developing new skills, or grant autonomy to them, they will most probably decide to leave the organizations. Person-organization fit: Organization must select the people whose values are more congruence with the organizational values. In this regard, psychological interviews should be held by experts. Values form the basis of personality and have relatively high durability. So, if values of an organization and employees are in parallel in terms of culture, justice, and honesty, the employees will feel higher tendency to continue working in that organization. Training and career development: (1) Holding training and scientific events and seminars within organizations for enhancing scientific capabilities of employees, (2) Concluding contracts with accredited universities for promoting educational level of employees and providing scholarships for them. When employers train their employees and assist them in identifying and improving their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, they actually help them to satisfy their specialized desires, which affect their organizational commitment and intent to stay. Based on the findings and analysis of the results, it is revealed that organizational commitment had the highest correlation coefficient with maximum direct impact on employees intent to stay, compared to other variables. Thus, it is recommended to optimally adopt the above-mentioned human resource management procedures in decision-making 372

9 and planning, which could lead to promoting sense of belonging to organization. Increased organizational commitment causes employees to be sensitive to the fate of their organizations and make them proud of being a member these organizations. Thus, they work for organizational success and also believe that their career success is indebted to and inspired by their organization. REFERENCES Balfour DL, WaschlerB, Organizational commitment: Antecedents and outcomes in public organizations. Public Productivity and Management Review. 19(3): Chipunza C, Kabungaidze T, Attributes utilized by knowledge workers in identifying employers of choice: focus on accountants and information technology specialists in South Africa. Journal of Social Sciences. 31(2): Clarke KF, What businesses are doing to attract and retain employee-becoming an employer of choice. Employee Benefits Journal. 26(1): Cooper D, Knowledge worker.canadian Business. 79(20): Dobbs K, Knowing how to keep your best and brightest. In workforce. 80(4): Fitz-enz J, Getting and keeping good employees. Personnel. 67(8): Huselid MA, The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal. 38: Janet CLC, The influence of human resource management practices on the retention of core employees of Australian organizations: An empirical study. PH.D Thesis, Murdoch University. Kwennin DO, Muathe S, Nzulwa R, The influence of employee rewards, human resource policies and job satisfaction on the retention of employees in Vodafone Ghana limited. European Journal of Business and Management. 5(12): Mello JA, Strategic human resource management. 2nd ed. India: Cengage. South-Western. Mowday RT, Porter LW, Steers RM, Employee organizational linkages: The psychology of commitment absenteeism, and turnover. New York: Academic Press. Ongori H, A review of the Literature on Employee Turnover. African Journal of Business Management. 1(3): O'Reilly C, Chatman J, Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The affective compliance, identification, and internalization on pro-social behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology. 71(3): Samuel MO, Chipunza C, Employee retention and turnover: using motivational variables as a panacea. African Journal of Business Management. 3(8): Sutherland M, Jordaan W, Factors affecting the retention of knowledge workers. Journal of Human Resource Management. 2(2): Wernerfelt B, A resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal. 5(2):