RETAINING TALENT: ASSESSING JOB SATISFACTION FACETS MOST SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO SOFTWARE DEVELOPER TURNOVER INTENTIONS

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1 Jounal of Infomation Technology Management ISS # A Publication of the Association of Management RETAIIG TALET: ASSESSIG JOB SATISFACTIO FACETS MOST SIGIFICATLY RELATED TO SOFTWARE DEVELOPER TUROVER ITETIOS STEVE G. WESTLUD WASHIGTO UIVERSITY I ST. LOUIS Steven_Westlund@wustl.edu JOH C. HAO CAPELLA UIVERSITY John.Hannon@Faculty.Capella.edu ABSTRACT Retaining infomation technology employees has been a poblem in many oganizations fo decades. When key softwae developes quit, they depat with citical knowledge of business pocesses and systems that ae essential fo maintaining a competitive advantage. The pimay aim of this study was to assess facets of job satisfaction that ae most significantly coelated with softwae develope tunove intentions. Suveys wee collected fom a sample of softwae developes acoss the United States. Coelations wee assessed though multiple linea egession and paametic measues of association. The esults indicated a significant pedicting elationship between the softwae developes tunove intentions and nine facets of job satisfaction. Also found was a significant negative elationship between satisfaction with the natue of wok and tunove intentions when contolling fo the effects of the othe independent vaiables. Implications of these findings ae discussed along with ecommendations fo IT pofessionals and eseaches. Keywods: employee etention, job satisfaction, softwae develope, tunove intentions. ITRODUCTIO Infomation technology (IT) dives ou 2 st centuy digital economy. Companies ely on thei IT talent to ceate new poducts and sevices, solve poblems, and maintain a competitive advantage. Although tech-savvy employees ae ecognized as vital assets, many fims stuggle to etain them. IT employee etention has been a poblem in many oganizations fo seveal decades. Employees possessing technological skills in high demand IT aeas have shown moe loyalty to thei own caees and pesonal development than to thei oganizations [0]. Accoding to Ramlall [30, p. 52], In today s highly competitive labo maket, thee is extensive evidence that oganizations, egadless of size, technological advances, maket focus and othe factos, ae facing etention challenges. Witake [39] estimated that up to 20% of IT wokes tunove each yea. Jiang and Klein [6] epoted an infomation systems (IS) employee tunove ate of 25 to 35% in Fotune 500 fims. A suvey of,000 full-time wokes commissioned by the online ecuitment fim Headhunte.net evealed that 78% of the espondents would take a new position if the ight oppotunity came along. Foty-eight pecent of those employed wee still actively looking fo new jobs [27]. Sixty pecent of the 462 IT wokes ecently suveyed by the Computing Technology Industy Association wee seaching fo new jobs while employed. [20]. Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4, 2008

2 Employee tunove has been costly to oganizations. Recuiting, selecting, and taining expenses ae obvious costs. Pekala [27] epoted that fims in the U.S pay moe than $40 billion annually in ecuiting, taining, and administative expenses to eplace employees who leave. Holtom, Mitchell, and Lee [2] add to that list of vaiables ones not as obvious. These include: (a) diminished custome sevice ability, (b) the lack of continuity on key pojects, and (c) the loss of futue leadeship talent. Messme [2, p. ] points out how it is fa moe expensive to eplace valued employees than it is to just etain them. When you facto in lost poductivity, company knowledge, ecuitment costs, the expense of finding, hiing, and taining, a new staff membe can easily add up to thousands, even tens of thousands of dollas. When key pesonnel leave an oganization, they depat with citical knowledge of business pocesses and systems that ae essential to maintaining a competitive advantage [26]. Fome employees walk out the doo with much moe than when they aived. Why? They leave with citical knowledge of who they know. Accoding to Paise, Coss, and Davenpot [25], this can significantly alte both intenal and extenal oganizational elationships. When IS development teams lose assets befoe poject completion, thee is even moe cause fo concen. ot only does that loss of key IS pesonnel leave the poject team inadequately staffed; it can leave the team with insufficient knowledge, geatly inceasing the isk of poject failue [7]. A potential majo loss, consideing the financial damage fom failed IS pojects in the United States, was estimated at $00 billion annually [24]. But thee is moe than just the financial loss. Pake and Skitmoe [26] found that tunove disupts and negatively affects poject team pefomance. So much so that it could negate an oganization s competitive advantage. Pake and Skitmoe also found that poject management tunove occus pedominately duing the execution phase of the poject life cycle. The main causes ae elated to caee and pesonal development, and dissatisfaction with oganizational cultue and the poject management ole. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Given the citical ole of IT job etention to oganizational pefomance, the pupose of this study was to identify which facets of softwae develope job satisfaction ae most significantly elated to tunove intentions. To satisfy this objective, this investigation posed the following eseach question: Which facets of job satisfaction, if any, have the geatest influence on tunove intentions among softwae developes contingent ewads, pomotion, supevision, pay, opeating conditions, cowokes, benefits, communication, o the natue of wok? Westlund [38] conducted a study of 496 softwae developes acoss the United States to assess elationships among poject leadeship styles, softwae develope job satisfaction, and tunove intentions. The pimay objective of the eseach was to detemine whethe satisfaction with supevision o oveall job satisfaction was moe significantly elated to softwae develope tunove intentions. The esult oveall job satisfaction had the geate influence. In fact, the investigation evealed a significant negative elationship between oveall job satisfaction and tunove intentions when contolling fo the effect of satisfaction with supevision. Howeve, the negative elationship between satisfaction with supevision and tunove intentions was not found to be significant when contolling fo the effect of oveall job satisfaction. The integated pocess model of job tunove [5], Specto s [34] nine facets of job satisfaction, and Westlund s [38] findings povided the theoetical basis fo this eseach. A fixed design was employed, equiing a substantial amount of pe-specification about what would be done and how it would be accomplished. The conceptual famewok used in this study is illustated in Figue. The independent job satisfaction vaiables wee: (a) contingent ewads, (b) pomotion, (c) supevision, (d) pay, (e) opeating conditions, (f) cowokes, (g) benefits, and (h) communication, and (i) the natue of wok. The dependent vaiable, tunove intentions, eflected combined scales of thoughts of quitting and intent to leave. EARLIER RETETIO/TUROVER RESEARCH Tietjen and Myes [37] agued that instilling satisfaction within wokes is a cucial task of management since satisfaction ceates confidence, loyalty, and ultimately impoves quality in the output of the employed. Jiang and Klein [6] epoted that IS pofessionals find moe satisfaction with thei caee when supeviso suppot is pominent and an adequate ange of oppotunities that satisfy thei caee desies exist within the oganization. Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

3 Pomotion (X 2 ) Supevision (X 3 ) Contingent Rewads (X ) Pay (X 4 ) Woking Conditions (X 5 ) Tunove Intentions (Y) Cowokes (X 6 ) Benefits (X 7 ) atue of Wok (X 9 ) Communication (X 8 ) Figue : Conceptual Famewok Motivational theoies elated to job satisfaction and employee tunove include (a) equity theoy, (b) expectancy theoy, and (c) need theoies. Equity theoy is useful fo pedicting absence and tunove. Expectancy Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

4 theoy has povided explanations of employee poductivity, absenteeism, and tunove. The need theoies elated to job satisfaction include Aldefe s [2] existence, elatedness, and gowth (ERG) theoy, the two-facto theoy [], and Deci and Ryan s [6] self-detemination theoy (SDT). Job Satisfaction Aldefe [2] identified thee goups of coe needs. He agued that people have the need fo (a) existence, (b) elatedness, and (c) gowth. The existence needs ae concened with poviding the basic mateial equiements fo life. The need fo existence is simila to the physiological needs and seveal of the secuity needs in Maslow s [9] hieachy. The elatedness needs ae concened with the desie to maintain impotant intepesonal elationships. The need fo elatedness is compaable to the social needs and seveal of the secuity and esteem needs in Maslow s hieachy. The gowth needs satisfy the desie fo pesonal development. These include Maslow s self-actualization needs and seveal esteem needs. In contast to Maslow s [9] hieachy, Aldefe s [2] ERG theoy does not follow a igid pogession of steps fom one level to the next, ecognizing that moe than one need may be opeative at the same time. Accoding to the autho, if gatification of a highe need is stifled, the desie to satisfy a lowe need inceases. Hezbeg, Mausne, and Snydeman [] suggested that the opposite of satisfaction is no satisfaction, not dissatisfaction. Theefoe, an individual s feelings of satisfaction ae diffeent than his o he feelings of dissatisfaction. In the two-facto theoy, the authos poposed that intinsic factos ae elated to job satisfaction and extinsic factos ae elated to job dissatisfaction. Intinsic factos include advancement, esponsibility, achievement, and ecognition. The Extinsic factos ae supevision, pay, company policies, elations to othes, and woking conditions. Hezbeg et al. [] agued that the emoval of extinsic factos fom a job does not guaantee that the job will be satisfying. Rathe, people will not be dissatisfied when these extenal conditions, known as the hygiene factos, ae adequate. To motivate wokes, the authos suggested placing an emphasis on the job chaacteistics that people find intinsically ewading. These chaacteistics include pomotions, pesonal gowth, ecognition, esponsibility, and achievement. SDT eseach also focused on intinsic and extinsic motivation. Ryan and Deci [32, p. 70] defined intinsic motivation as the inheent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and execise one s capacities, to exploe, and to lean. A peson is intinsically motivated to do something because it is inheently inteesting o enjoyable. The authos defined extinsic motivation as the pefomance of an activity in ode to attain a sepaable outcome. Thee ae fou classifications:. Extenal egulation is the least autonomous and most contolled fom of extinsic motivation. An individual pefoms the behavio to satisfy an extenal demand o extenally imposed contingent ewad. 2. Intojected egulation is a contolled fom of egulation. A peson pefoms the action to avoid feelings of guilt o anxiety, o to maintain self-esteem and feelings of woth. 3. Regulation though identification is a moe autonomous fom of extinsic motivation. An individual identifies with the pesonal impotance of the behavio and accepts the egulation as his o he own. 4. Integated egulation is the most autonomous fom of extinsic motivation. Actions become self-detemined as the peson intenalizes the easons fo the action and assimilates them to the self. Within SDT, thee ae thee innate psychological needs that povide the basis fo self-motivation and integation. These ae the needs fo: (a) competence, (b) elatedness, and (c) autonomy. Accoding to Ryan and Deci [3], feelings of competence (self-efficacy) will not enhance intinsic motivation unless they ae accompanied by a sense of autonomy. Much of the SDT eseach and some contovesy have focused on the issue of autonomy vesus contol. Ryan and Deci [3] agued that contingent ewads, theats, deadlines, diectives, and competitive pessues diminish intinsic motivation since people expeience these as contolles of thei behavio. A meta-analysis by Deci, Ryan, and Keostne [7] confimed that expected tangible ewads made contingent on task pefomance hinde and undemine intinsic motivation. The effects of stess and bunout have been linked to job dissatisfaction [34]. A study by Agawal and Featt [] identified employee stess as a baie to successful IT human esouce stategies. One souce of stess was the sense of having an ovewhelming amount of wok to do. In companies whee poject management activities wee pefomed well, the authos found a geate balance and sense of equity among the staff. In oganizations whee IS pojects wee funded at appopiate levels, the stess level within the IT wokfoce appeaed less likely to lead to bunout. Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

5 Tunove Employee tunove affects oganizations, the individuals who leave, and those who stay. Voluntay tunove can have positive and negative consequences fo oganizations and individuals. Accoding to Mobley [23], the deteminants of employee tunove can be simplified into fou geneal classes:. The extenal economy, which affects the availability of altenative jobs. 2. Oganizational factos, such as leadeship, the ewad system, and job design. 3. Individual non-wok vaiables, like a spouse s caee and family consideations. 4. Individual wok-elated vaiables, such as values, expectations, abilities, satisfaction, commitment, and intentions. Reseaches have developed a numbe of significant theoetical models to bette undestand employee tunove. These famewoks include the Pice-Muelle model of voluntay tunove [29] and Jackofsky and Slocum s integated pocess model [5]. Pice pimaily eseached stuctual vaiables that efe to pattened social inteaction. These vaiables ae (a) autonomy, (b) distibutive justice, (c) job stess, (d) pay, (e) pomotional chances, (f) outinization, and (g) social suppot. Accoding to the autho, pay deceases tunove along with the following intevening vaiables: (a) job satisfaction, (b) oganizational commitment, (c) seach behavio, and (d) intent to stay. Autonomy and social suppot decease tunove though thei positive impact on job satisfaction. Job stess and outinization incease tunove though thei negative impact on job satisfaction. Pice identified thee types of social suppot: (a) supevisoy, (b) pee, and (c) kinship. Pomotional chances and supevisoy suppot decease tunove indiectly though thei positive impact on job satisfaction and oganizational commitment. The Pice-Muelle model [29] is based on thee assumptions. Fist, it is assumed that employees bing expectations to the wokplace. If these ae met, the employees should emain satisfied, committed, and employed. Second, it is assumed that thee is an exchange of ewads between the employe and the employees, and the ewads ae at the disposal of the employe. Thid, it is assumed that the employees ae motivated to achieve these ewads and avoid costs. Pice s model is most applicable to full time employees who expect long-tem elationships with thei employes. Jackofsky and Slocum s integated pocess model [5] is based on the assumption that job pefomance is elated to vaiables involved in the voluntay tunove pocess. The authos pedicted that job pefomance influences desiability of movement and ease of movement, which wee two deteminants of tunove oiginally poposed by Mach and Simon [8]. They opeationalized these vaiables into job satisfaction and the expectation of finding altenatives. Jackofsky and Slocum [5] theoized that job satisfaction and the expectation of finding altenatives wee both linked to thoughts of quitting. This was based on Mach and Simon s [8] pediction that an incease in the desiability of movement stimulates the motivation to withdaw, and Jackofsky s [4] poposal that the motivation to quit may oiginate fom eithe desiability o ease of movement. Thei model showed a path of diect elationships between thoughts of quitting, intentions to quit, and job tunove. Boswell, Boudeau, and Tichy [5] enhanced the taditional model of a simple sequence of declining job attitudes followed by job seach and subsequent sepaation. The authos modeled within-individual job satisfaction as a function of job change pattens to detemine if wok attitudes change systematically within the tempoal tunove pocess. Thei findings suppoted a honeymoonhangove effect suggested in the liteatue. Low job satisfaction was found to pecede a voluntay job change, with an incease in job satisfaction immediately following a job change (the honeymoon effect) followed by a decline in job satisfaction (the hangove effect). A numbe of scholas [4, 8, 36] have suggested that oganizational commitment educes employee tunove. Bentein, Vandenbeghe, Vandenbeg, and Stinglhambe [4] examined the ole of commitment in the tunove pocess though the use of the Allen and Meye famewok of commitment [22]. The authos found that the steepe the decline in an individual s affective and nomative commitments ove time, the geate the ate of incease in that individual s intention to quit, and the geate the likelihood that the individual would actually leave the oganization within the following nine months. Thatche, Stepina, and Boyle [36] tested a conceptual model that links peceptions of the intenal wok envionment and extenal makets to IT woke tunove. Thei model focused on oganizational commitment as the pimay pedicto of tunove intention. The authos hypothesized that oganizational commitment mediates the influence of (a) job satisfaction, (b) peceived job chaacteistics, (c) peceived competitiveness of pay, and (d) peceived job altenatives on tunove intention. Thei esults evealed that oganizational commitment and peceived job altenatives distinctly affected tunove intentions. Oganizational commitment was found to mediate the influence of job satisfaction, peceived job chaacteis- Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

6 tics, and peceived competitiveness of pay on tunove intention. In a ecent exploatoy study, DelCampo [8, p. 465] sought to examine how the stength of an oganization s cultue influences, pomotes, o impedes voluntay employee temination within fims. DelCampo posited that voluntay tunove can be pedicted though the identification of employee peceptions of pay, pefomance, withdawal cognitions, and oganizational commitment. Holtom et al. [2] pesented a famewok fo aligning etention pactices with oganizational stategy and cultue. The authos agued that job embeddedness is a stonge pedicto of employee attendance, etention, and pefomance than job satisfaction and oganizational commitment. STUDY METHODOLOGY The pupose of this study was to not only advance ou undestanding of the elationships among the facets of softwae develope job satisfaction and tunove intentions, but to measue which job satisfaction facets ae most significantly elated to softwae develope tunove intentions. The study used a quantitative coelational design. Tunove intentions wee measued as degees of elationship to the following job satisfaction vaiables: (a) contingent ewads, (b) pomotion, (c) supevision, (d) pay, (e) opeating conditions, (f) cowokes, (g) benefits, (h) communication, and (i) the natue of wok. Tunove intentions eflected combined scales of thoughts of quitting and intent to leave. Hypotheses The following hypotheses wee evaluated with a significance level of 0.05: H 0 : Thee is no significant coelation between tunove intentions and the nine facets of softwae develope job satisfaction. H2 0 : Thee ae no significant patial coelation coefficients among tunove intentions and the nine facets of softwae develope job satisfaction. Instumentation Two measuement instuments wee employed, Specto s [33] job satisfaction suvey (JSS) and Jackofsky and Slocum s [5] measue of tunove intentions. The JSS instument was utilized to measue the seven facets of job satisfaction. Jackofsky and Slocum s scales wee employed to measue tunove intentions. The JSS instument was developed by Specto [33] to assess employee attitudes about the job and aspects of the job. The questionnaie contains 36 items and poduces nine job satisfaction facet scales and a total scoe computed fom all the items. Each JSS facet scale is measued by fou items. The instument uses a summated ating scale fomat. The six choices ange fom (stongly disagee) to 6 (stongly agee) with items witten in both diections, equiing about half of them to be evesed scoed. Specto [34] calculated eliability coefficients (a) fom a sample of employees who completed the JSS with a sample size of = 2,870. Coefficient alphas anged fom 0.60 on the cowokes subscale to 0.9 on the total scale. Test-etest eliability scoes of the JSS have anged fom 0.37 to Validity evidence fo the JSS also has been povided by studies that compaed diffeent scales with one anothe on the same employees. Accoding to Specto [34], these coelations anged fom 0.6 fo cowokes to 0.80 fo supevisos. Jackofsky and Slocum [5] designed thei scales to test thei model of job tunove. The scales measue thoughts of quitting and intent to leave as indicatos of tunove intentions. Each scale contains fou items that ae ated on a five-point Liket scale. Choices ange fom (stongly disagee) to 5 (stongly agee). Jackofsky and Slocum [5] epoted eliability scoes fo the tunove intention scales and calculated a eliability scoe of a = 0.83 fo the thoughts of quitting scale and a eliability scoe of a = 0.73 fo the intent to leave scale. These scales exceed the minimum standad (0.70). In testing the hypothesized linkages in thei path model using odinay least squaes (OLS) egession, they found a coelation of 0.6 between the thoughts of quitting and intent to leave scales. A questionnaie developed by Westlund [38] was used to collect paticipant demogaphic data, but was not included in esponding to the pimay eseach questions o hypotheses. The Multifacto Leadeship Questionnaie (MLQ) 5X ate fom [3] also was administeed but not used as pat of this study. Data Collection and Sample Paticipating oganizations had the option of esponding via a pape-and-pencil o an on-line suvey. Respondents filling out pape-and-pencil foms eceived a packet that contained a cove lette, instuctions, questionnaies, and a etun envelope addessed to the eseaches. Those completing on-line suveys eceived an invitation with a link to suveymonkey.com, a secue commecial suvey web site. The cove lette and the invitation notified the paticipants about the pupose of the study and assued them that thei paticipation Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

7 was completely voluntay and anonymous, and esponses wee confidential. The study s paticipants wee softwae developes fom 24 oganizations epesenting highe education, consulting, defense contacting, and local govenment. This study included six demogaphic data elements. These wee (a) gende, (b) age, (c) yeas of expeience in IT, (d) education, (e) hous woked pe week, and (f) pimay poject ole. Demogaphic statistics fom the 28 usable suveys evealed that the sample s population consisted of IS developes functioning pimaily as analysts, pogammes, and data specialists. The pecentages of females, olde wokes, and employees with advanced degees ae highe in the sample s population compaed to the U.S. IT wokfoce composition statistics. The hous woked pe week by the sample population ae typical fo the IT pofession. Desciptive Statistics The desciptive statistics fo the vaiables used to test the hypothesis ae pesented in Table. Fou of the 28 cases wee excluded fom the analysis because they wee missing values fo some of the vaiables. Scoes fo satisfaction with pay, pomotion, supevision, benefits, ewads, and the natue of wok anged fom.0 to 6.0 on a 6-point Liket scale. Woking conditions and communication vaiables values spanned fom.250 to 6.0. The scoes fo cowokes wee between.333 and 6.0, inclusive. Tunove intention scoes anged fom.0 to 5.0 on a 5-point Liket scale. Pomotion had the lowest mean scoe, with a value of The standad deviation fo this vaiable was.263. The supevision vaiable had the highest mean scoe, with a value of Supevision scoes wee skewed towad highe values with a standad deviation of.24. The tunove intentions vaiable had a mean scoe of and a standad deviation of Table : Desciptive Statistics Vaiable Minimum Maximum M SD Vaiance Pay Pomotion Supevision Benefits Contingent Rewads Woking Conditions Cowokes atue of Wok Communication Tunove Intentions Peason coelation coefficients fo all of the vaiables in this study ae pesented in Table 2. The stongest coelations ae between the vaiables of contingent ewads and communications (.725), contingent ewads and pay (.77), and contingent ewads and supevision (.704). The weakest coelations ae between the vaiables of benefits and supevision (.47), benefits and cowokes (.85), and the natue of wok and pay (.94). Testing Linea Regession Assumptions Plots of vaiables and linea egession esiduals wee used to test assumptions of: (a) linea elationships, (b) equal vaiances, (c) nomality, and (d) independent obsevations. The assumption of linea elationships was tested by geneating scatteplots fom dependent and independent vaiables, esiduals and independent vaiables, and studentized esiduals and pedicted values. The Dubin-Watson statistic and a scatteplot of studentized esiduals against pedicted values wee used to test the assumption of equal vaiances. Histogams and Q-Q plots of the studentized esiduals wee used in nomality tests. An examination of unusual obsevations evealed mistakes in data enty and scoing that wee coected. Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

8 Table 2: Peason Coelation Matix Va. Pay Benefits Cont. Rewads Wok. Cond. atue of Wok Comm. Tunove Int Pomotion Supevision Cowokes Tunove Int. Pay Pomotion.670 Supevision Benefits Wok Cond atue of Wok Comm Cont. Rewads Cowokes A scatteplot of the egession studentized deleted esidual against the pedicted value is shown in Figue 2. The plot eveals points that ae scatteed moe o less andomly about the cente line, indicating the assumptions of lineaity and equal vaiances wee met. The Dubin-Watson statistic was.975. A value close to 2 indicates that adjacent esiduals ae not coelated with each othe, and that the data meets the assumption of independent obsevations. The studentized deleted esidual, illustated in histogam fom in Figue 3, eveals a faily nomal distibution. A Q-Q plot of the studentized deleted esidual is pesented in Figue 4. This plot shows a nomal distibution containing points moe o less on a staight line with an obsevation on the high end. The histogam and Q-Q plot indicate that the data meet the assumption of nomality. Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

9 3 2 Studentized Deleted Residual R Sq Linea = 4.85E Unstandadized Pedicted Value 5 Figue 2: Scatteplot of the Studentized Deleted Residual and Unstandadized Pedicted Value 20 omal 5 Fequency Studentized Deleted Residual 3 Mean = Std. Dev. =.0269 = Figue 3: Histogam of the Studentized Deleted Residual Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

10 Figue 4: Q-Q Plot of Studentized Deleted Residual The hypotheses wee tested using multiple linea egession. All nine independent job satisfaction vaiables wee included in the model fo pedicting the dependent vaiable of tunove intentions. The esults povided suppot fo the hypotheses with a 95% confidence level and 7.63% confidence inteval Hypothesis H 0 : Thee is no significant coelation between tunove intentions and the nine facets of softwae develope job satisfaction. The 0 significance level of the egession model was less than the significance fo the test (0.05). FIDIGS Table 3: Linea Regession Model Summay Theefoe, the null hypothesis was ejected. Found was a significant pedicting elationship between the softwae developes tunove intentions and thei satisfaction with: (a) contingent ewads, (b) pomotion, (c) supevision, (d) pay, (e) opeating conditions, (f) cowokes, (g) benefits, (h) communication, and (i) the natue of wok. A summay of the linea egession model is pesented in Table 3. It includes the coelation coefficient (R), the coefficient of detemination (R squae), and the Dubin-Watson statistic. The coefficient of detemination = 0.395, indicating that 39.5% of tunove intentions can be attibuted to the vaiables in the model. Adjusted SE Dubin Model R R Squae F R Squae of Estimate Watson The patial coelation coefficients ae pesented in Table 4. The esults indicate that softwae develope tunove intentions can be estimated by the following multiple egession equation: tunove intentions = * satisfaction with pay * satisfaction with pomotion 0.64 * satisfaction with supevision 0.07 Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

11 * satisfaction with benefits * satisfaction with ewads 0.09 * satisfaction with woking conditions * satisfaction with cowokes * satisfaction with the natue of wok 0.54 * satisfaction with communication. Table 4: Linea Regession Patial Coelation Coefficients Unstandadized Coefficients Standadized Coefficients Model Vaiable B Std. Eo Beta t Sig (Constant) Pay Pomotion Supevision Benefits Rewads Conditions Cowokes atue of Wok Communication Hypothesis 2 H2 0 : Thee ae no significant patial coelation coefficients among tunove intentions and the nine facets of softwae develope job satisfaction. The 0.05 significance level of the patial coelation coefficient between tunove intentions and satisfaction with the natue of wok was less than the significance fo the test (0.05). Theefoe, the null hypothesis was ejected. Satisfaction with the natue of wok was found to be significantly elated to the dependent vaiable, tunove intentions, when contolling fo the effects of the othe independent vaiables. Seconday Findings The Peason coelation coefficients shown in Table 2 eveal significant negative bivaiate coelations between the dependent vaiable and each of the nine job satisfaction independent vaiables. The stongest coelations ae between tunove intentions and satisfaction with contingent ewads ( () = 0.529, p < 0.0), satisfaction with communication ( () = 0.526, p < 0.0), and satisfaction with supevision ( () = 0.52, p < 0.0). The weakest coelations ae between tunove intentions and satisfaction with benefits ( () = 0.23, p < 0.05), and satisfaction with woking conditions ( () = 0.265, p < 0.0). DISCUSSIO Job Satisfaction and Tunove Intentions The finding of a significant pedictive elationship between the softwae developes nine facets of job satisfaction and thei tunove intentions is consistent with othe theoetical models [5, 5, 8, 29] that elated job satisfaction to employee tunove. Pice coelated job satisfaction positively with (a) autonomy, (b) distibutive justice, (c) pay, (d) pomotional chances, and (e) social suppot. He also elated job satisfaction to lowe job stess and outinization. Pay is likely to be an issue in non-fo-pofit oganizations that have difficulty offeing salaies that ae competitive with the business secto. Pomotional chances tend to be limited in small IT depatments. Management may pefe to hie new talent fom outside the fim athe than pomoting fom within. Individuals must expeience satisfaction of the needs fo both competence and autonomy if intinsic motivation is to be enhanced o maintained [32]. Howeve, the level of autonomy may be influenced by the oganizational stuctue and cultue. Poject manages exhibiting contingent ewad behavio acknowledge a job well done. They may offe bonuses o pay inceases in exchange fo implementing a quality system on time and within budget. Repimands Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4, 2008

12 may be handed out fo failue to meet pefomance goals. Fo this style of leadeship to be effective, subodinates must peceive that ecognition, ewads, epimands, and punishments ae deliveed consistently and faily. atue of Wok and Tunove Intentions The finding of a significant negative elationship between satisfaction with the natue of wok and tunove intentions when contolling fo the effects of the othe job satisfaction vaiables is consistent with theoies of job satisfaction and tunove. Hezbeg et al. [] posited that job satisfaction is elated to intinsic factos while job dissatisfaction comes fom extinsic conditions, the hygiene factos. The intinsic job satisfaction scales used in this study ae (a) contingent ewads, (b) pomotion, and (c) natue of wok. The extinsic facets of job dissatisfaction ae (a) supevision, (b) pay, (c) opeating conditions, (d) cowokes, (e) benefits, and (f) communication. Hygiene factos, such as satisfaction with supevision, ae not enough to make a job satisfying. Intinsic factos, such as the natue of wok, have the geate influence. Aldefe [2] suggested that people have the need fo existence, elatedness, and gowth. Pay, benefits, and opeating conditions satisfy the need fo existence. Supevision, cowokes, and communication fulfill the need fo elatedness. Gowth is elated to the intinsic factos of advancement, esponsibility, achievement, and ecognition. Manages can facilitate employees gowth needs though contingent ewads, oppotunities fo pomotion, and the natue of wok assigned. Supevisos can help satisfy subodinates needs fo elatedness by woking collectively with them to solve poblems. Team membes also fulfill this need by discussing technical and functional issues with cowokes. Thei need fo gowth can be met though pogessively challenging assignments, oppotunities to lean new technologies, and ecognition of achievement fom management and pees. Ryan and Deci [3, p. 7] suggested that social envionments can facilitate intinsic motivation by suppoting vesus thwating people s innate psychological needs fo: (a) autonomy, (b) competence, and (c) elatedness. Accoding to the authos, It is citical to emembe, howeve, that people will be intinsically motivated only fo activities that hold intinsic inteest fo them, activities that have the appeal of novelty, challenge, o aesthetic value. The eality of softwae development is that team membes ae called upon to pefom tasks that lack intinsic value. Pojects face deadlines and esouce constaints. A chaismatic poject manage exhibiting inspiational motivation and idealized influence leadeship styles motivates subodinates by facilitating egulation though identification and self-detemination. Team membes who identify with the impotance of the mission align thei own goals and objectives with those of the poject manage, the team, and the oganization. The poject manage may choose to extinsically motivate team membes though extenally-imposed ewads and punishments that ae contingent on meeting pefomance goals and expectations. Westlund [38] found that softwae developes wee moe satisfied with supevisos who exhibited chaismatic and contingent ewad leadeship styles than those who adopted management-by-exception o laissez-faie appoaches. Limitations The suvey instuments quantitatively measued self-epoted tunove intentions and facets of job satisfaction. Theefoe, some degee of subjectiveness was inheent in the data collected. Influences unknown to us may have caused vaiances in the suvey population to skew the esults. Respondents wee assued that thei paticipation would be anonymous and thei esponses would be confidential. Howeve, it is possible that the scoes could have been skewed if the paticipants peceived thei esponses might be intecepted o epoted back to management. Job satisfaction measuements wee limited to the nine facets poposed by Specto [33]. The measuements of tunove intentions wee esticted to the thoughts of quitting and intent to leave scales poposed by Jackofsky and Slocum [5]. The quantitative coelational eseach design did not attempt to show causation. We did not incopoate Mach and Simon s [8] peceived desiability of movement and peceived ease of movement vaiables into the conceptual famewok used in this study. These factos also may have influenced the paticipants tunove intentions. The sample s population included softwae developes employed in institutions of highe education, local govenment, and consulting fims. Theefoe, the esults may not apply to IT pofessionals woking in othe sectos. The suvey population was skewed slightly towads females, olde wokes, and employees with advanced degees, which may affect the genealizability of the findings. Pice [28] and Mobley [23] acknowledged that olde wokes tend to have lowe ates of tunove than younge employees. Accoding to the authos, thee is weak evidence to suppot the genealization that bette educated wokes have highe ates of tunove than less educated employees. Howeve, the esults of ealie stud- Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

13 ies investigating the coelation between gende and tunove wee inconclusive. RECOMMEDATIOS Aeas of Futue Reseach This eseach involved softwae developes woking in highe education, local govenment, and consulting fims. Thee is an oppotunity to eplicate this study in othe business sectos and oganizational types. Scholas may wish to expand this eseach to othe types of knowledge wokes, such as enginees and achitects. Thee also is an oppotunity to investigate possible gende diffeences in softwae develope job satisfaction and tunove intentions. Five of the nine facets of job satisfaction did not contibute to the egession model used in the analysis. Futhe eseach is needed to develop a simplified model that would exclude ielevant vaiables fom the pediction. The JSS instument [35] used in this study was oiginally developed fo use in human sevice oganizations, although it is applicable to all types of oganizations. Futue eseach could exploe job satisfaction facets citical to softwae developes and tailo an instument specifically fo these pofessionals. A mixed methodology involving focus goups and suvey eseach could be employed fo this pupose. This study did not conside the inteactions of job embeddedness and ease of movement. Holtom et al. [2] ecently suggested that job embeddedness is a stonge pedicto of etention than job satisfaction and oganizational commitment. Results of a ecent suvey by Hwang and Kuo [3] of executives and staff employed in the Taiwan govenment suggest that job satisfaction may not be significantly elated to tunove when contolling fo the effect of peceived altenative employment oppotunities. Moe eseach is needed to assess the inteactions of job embeddedness, ease of movement, and job satisfaction on the tunove intentions of softwae developes. Recommendations fo IT Pofessionals To incease etention, we ecommend that IT manages take action to design jobs that top pefoming softwae developes will find satisfying. Job designes should pay paticula attention to the natue of the wok that these employees ae called to pefom. To this end, we encouage IT leades to benchmak thei softwae development pactices against oganizations such as Google, a widely-ecognized industy leade in innovation. Accoding to the company s web site [9], its mission is to oganize the wold s infomation and make it univesally accessible and useful. The management team at Google ecognized that exceptional thinking and technical expetise ae equied to accomplish this goal. It has facilitated a motivated and inspied wokfoce though the following pactices:. Enginees wok in small teams to pomote spontaneity, ceativity, and speed. 2. Management listens to evey idea on the theoy that any enginee can come up with the next geat one. 3. Leadeship povides the esouces needed to tun geat ideas into eality. 4. Enginees ae offeed 20% time to wok on whateve they feel passionate about. Google ews, Google Suggest, AdSense fo Content, and Okut ae among the many poducts that have emeged fom this pactice. COCLUSIOS Tech-savvy IT wokes ae a vital esouce in ou 2 st centuy digital economy. Fims can bette leveage thei IT talent by developing cultues that foste ceativity, empowement, motivation, and oganizational commitment. Westlund [38] epoted that IS poject manages who exhibited both chaismatic and contingent ewad leadeship styles had moe satisfied subodinates with lowe tunove intentions. Westlund also found that oveall job satisfaction was moe significantly elated to softwae develope tunove intentions than satisfaction with supevision. The esults of this study futheed that eseach by showing that satisfaction with the natue of wok had the geatest influence on tunove intentions among these softwae developes. It is impotant to ecognize that tunove can have positive outcomes. Mobley [23] noted that it can displace poo pefomes, infuse new knowledge and technology though the eplacements, and stimulate changes in policy and pactice. Without tunove, oganizations can become stagnate and lose thei competitive advantage. Jackofsky and Slocum [5] concluded that the wost and the best pefomes ae the ones most likely to voluntaily leave the oganization. Most IS poject teams cannot affod to lose thei top pefomes, especially duing the development life cycle. We suggest that this attition can be educed by designing jobs that softwae developes will find intinsically ewading and satisfying. This can be accomplished, in pat, though pogessively- Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

14 challenging assignments, oppotunities to lean new technologies, and the ecognition of achievement fom management and pees. REFERECES [] Agawal, R. and Featt, T. W. "Cafting an HR Stategy to Meet the eed fo IT Wokes," Association fo Computing Machiney: Communications of the ACM, Volume 44, umbe 7, 200, pp [2] Aldefe, C. P. Existence, Relatedness, and Gowth: Human eeds in Oganizational Settings. Fee Pess, ew Yok, ew Yok, 972. [3] Avolio, B. J. and Bass, B. M. Multifacto Leadeship Questionnaie: Manual and Sample Set, Mind Gaden, Palo Alto, Califonia, [4] Bentein, K., Vandenbeghe, C., Vandenbeg, R. and Stinglhambe, F. The Role of Change in the Relationship between Commitment and Tunove: A Latent Gowth Modeling Appoach, Jounal of Applied Psychology, Volume 90, umbe 3, 2005, pp [5] Boswell, W. R., Boudeau, J. W. and Tichy, J. The Relationship between Employee Job Change and Job Satisfaction: The Honeymoon-Hangove Effect, Jounal of Applied Psychology, Volume 90, umbe 5, 2005, pp [6] Deci, E. L. and Ryan, R. M. Intinsic Motivation & Self-Detemination in Human Behavio, Plenum, ew Yok, ew Yok, 985. [7] Deci, E. L., Ryan, R. M. and Koestne, R. The Pevasive egative Effects of Rewads on Intinsic Motivation: Response to Cameon (200), Review of Educational Reseach, Volume 7, umbe, 200, pp [8] DelCampo, R. G. The Influence of Cultue Stength on Peson-Oganization Fit and Tunove, Intenational Jounal of Management, Volume 23, umbe 3, 2006, pp [9] Google. The Enginee s Life at Google, age=about.html&about=eng, Octobe [0] Gooley, T. B. How to Keep Good People, Logistics Management and Distibution Repot, Volume 40, umbe, 200, pp [] Hezbeg, F., Mausne, B. and Snydeman, B. B. The Motivation to Wok, Wiley, ew Yok, ew Yok, 959. [2] Holtom, B. C., Mitchell, T. R. and Lee, T. W. Inceasing Human and Social Capital by Applying Job Embeddedness Theoy, Oganizational Dynamics, Volume 35, umbe 4, 2006, pp [3] Hwang, I. S. and Kuo, J. H. Effects of Job Satisfaction and Peceived Altenative Employment Oppotunities on Tunove Intention - An Examination of Public Secto Oganizations, Jounal of Ameican Academy of Business, Cambidge, Volume 8, umbe 2, 2006, pp [4] Jackofsky, E. F. Tunove and Job Pefomance: An Integated Pocess Model, Academy of Management. The Academy of Management Review, Volume 9, umbe, 984, pp [5] Jackofsky, E. F. and Slocum, J. J. S. A Causal Analysis of the Impact of Job Pefomance on the Voluntay Tunove Pocess, Jounal of Occupational Behavio, Volume 8, umbe 3, 987, pp [6] Jiang, J. J. and Klein, G. Supeviso Suppot and Caee Ancho Impact on the Caee Satisfaction of the Enty-Level Infomation Systems Pofessional, Jounal of Management Infomation Systems, Volume 6, umbe 3, 999, pp [7] Keil, M., Cule, P. E., Lyytinen, K. and Schmidt, R. C. A Famewok fo Identifying Softwae Poject Risks, Association fo Computing Machiney. Communications of the ACM, Volume 4, umbe, 998, pp [8] Mach, J. G. and Simon, H. A. Oganizations, John Wiley & Sons, ew Yok, ew Yok, 958. [9] Maslow, A. H. Motivation and Pesonality, Hape & Row, ew Yok, 954. [20] McGee, M. K. Time fo a Caee Change, InfomationWeek, Volume 074, 2006, p. 78. [2] Messme, M. Retaining you Top Pefomes, Stategic Finance, Volume 85, umbe 0, 2004, pp. -2. [22] Meye, J. P. and Allen,. J. A Thee-Component Conceptualization of Oganizational Commitment, Human Resouce Management Review, Volume, umbe, 99, pp [23] Mobley, W. H. Employee Tunove: Causes, Consequences, and Contol, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 982. [24] Oz, E. and Sosik, J. J. Why Infomation Systems Pojects ae Abandoned: A Leadeship and Communication Theoy and Exploatoy Study, Jounal of Compute Infomation Systems, Volume 4, umbe, 2000, pp [25] Paise, S., Coss, R. and Davenpot, T. H. Stategies fo Peventing a Knowledge-Loss Cisis, MIT Sloan Management Review, Volume 47, umbe 4, 2006, pp Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,

15 [26] Pake, S. K., & Skitmoe, M. Poject Management Tunove: Causes and Effects on Poject Pefomance, Intenational Jounal of Poject Management, Volume 23, umbe 3, 2005, pp [27] Pekala,. Holding on to Top Talent, Jounal of Popety Management, Volume 66, umbe 5, 200, pp [28] Pice, J. L. The Study of Tunove, Iowa State Univesity Pess, Ames, Iowa, 977. [29] Pice, J. L. Reflection on the Deteminants of Voluntay Tunove, Intenational Jounal of Manpowe, Volume 22, umbe 7/8, 200, pp [30] Ramlall, S. A Review of Employee Motivation Theoies and thei Implications fo Employee Retention within Oganizations, Jounal of Ameican Academy of Business, Cambidge, Volume 5, umbe /2, 2004, pp [3] Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. Self-Detemination Theoy and the Facilitation of Intinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being, Ameican Psychologist, Volume 55, umbe, 2000, p. 68. [32] Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. Intinsic and Extinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and ew Diections, Contempoay Educational Psychology, Volume 25, umbe, 2000, pp [33] Specto, P. E. Measuement of Human Sevice Staff Satisfaction: Development of the Job Satisfaction Suvey, Ameican Jounal of Community Psychology, Volume 3, umbe 6, 985, pp [34] Specto, P. E. Job Satisfaction: Applications, Assessment, Causes and Consequences, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Califonia, 997. [35] Specto, P. E. Job Satisfaction Suvey, JSS, Mach [36] Thatche, J. B., Stepina, L. P. and Boyle, R. J. Tunove of Infomation Technology Wokes: Examining Empiically the Influence of Attitudes, Job Chaacteistics, and Extenal Makets, Jounal of Management Infomation Systems, Volume 9, umbe 3, 2002, pp [37] Tietjen, M., A. and Myes, R., M. Motivation and Job Satisfaction, Management Decision, Volume 36, umbe 4, 998, pp [38] Westlund, S. Retaining Talent: Assessing Relationships among Poject Leadeship Styles, Softwae Develope Job Satisfaction, and Tunove Intentions, Doctoal Dissetation, Capella Univesity, Minnesota, [39] Witake, A. What Causes IT Wokes to Leave, Management Review, Volume 88, umbe 9, 999, p. 8. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES John C. Hannon is an adjunct pofesso in the School of Business and Technology at Capella Univesity in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He eceived his DBA in management fom ova Southeasten Univesity in 984. He also holds an MBA in quantitative methods fom the Univesity of Dayton. His eseach inteests include chaismatic leadeship, employee etention, and e-commece. Steven G. Westlund is an adjunct pofesso in the School of Engineeing and Applied Science and an assistant diecto of Infomation Systems at Washington Univesity in St. Louis. He eceived his PhD in oganization and management with a specialization in infomation technology management fom Capella Univesity s School of Business and Technology. He also holds a mastes degee in infomation management fom Washington Univesity. His cuent eseach inteests include infomation technology poject leadeship, job satisfaction, and employee etention. Jounal of Infomation Technology Management Volume XIX, umbe 4,