Technological Adoption to Combat Turnover

1. Technological Adoption to Combat Turnover Hy SockelWilliamson College of Business Administration, YSUOne University Plaza, Youngstown, Ohio 44555hysockel@cc.ysu.edu Kuanchin ChenDepartment of Business Information SystemsHaworth College of Business, Western Michigan Universitykc.chen@wmich.edu James W. KroegerNance College of Business, Cleveland State UniversityCleveland, Ohio 44114 SCL.TO-SB.TO

2. The IS&T Survey This study examines issues relating to retention of Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) employees • Anonymous Self report Survey • More than 270 IS&T Employees from Midwest USA • Snowball methodology - Based on envelopes • Response rate  20% • Part of a larger study • Path Analysis – Factor analysis SCL.TO-SB.TO

3. BackgroundIS&T People Shortage Orgs use technology as way to • become effective and efficient • eliminate layers of management • gain competitive advantage The drive for IS&T has created a shortage • Growth in IS&T twice general pop. Growth rate • Congress increases H1-B visas in recognition of IT shortage (April 2001) IS&T Different than General population (Griesser) SCL.TO-SB.TO

4. High Turnover Rates - Stress Turnover of Developers leads to a 25% project abortion rate (Szajna & Scamell - 93) • Employees that stay are under great pressures to fill in the gaps, tighten the belt, take-over • They end up – working harder and longer • Prolong exposure to can lead to • Burnout characterized by fatigue, depression, hopelessness • Burnout leads to disengagement and more Turnover(Perlman, Lee, Grensing) Stress Burnout SCL.TO-SB.TO

5. IS&T People Are Different Than Other Professions • Fitz-enz (1976) differences based on motivational factors • Couger & Zawacki (1978) found differences  • rating of their jobs; programmers rated their jobs the lowest • levels of “meaningfulness" from work (lower). • growth needs, MIS personnel had very high needs • social needs MIS personnel displayed very low • Woodruff (1978), found that the attitudes of IS personnel were significantly different from other groups studied at the time • Nash & Redwine (1988) found vast differences in abilities, cognitive perspectives, and personality styles of computer professionals • Orlikowski & Baroudi (1989, p. 23) state that IS workers are distinct with their own “identity, attitudes, interests, colleagueship, collective action, power, status, and work consciousness” SCL.TO-SB.TO

6. IS&T People Are Different Than Other Professions • Igbaria & Wormley (1992 p. 508) state there is evidence that “MIS personnel differ from employees in other fields on a number of personality and motivational factors such as need for achievement, need for growth and social needs” • Griesser (1993) found that the IS personnel can be more resistant to change than other professionals • Burn, Tye, Ma, & Poon (1994) report that IS professionals have very different needs and expectations from their working environments • Myer, Paunonen, Gellatly, Goffin, & Jackson (1989) found highly significant differences between IS and non‑IS professionals in the area of needs SCL.TO-SB.TO

7. Model IS&T Personnel Model based on Sockel (2000) and Mak & Sockel (2001) Commitment +H04 Loyalty +H03 +H07 -H08 -H05 Satisfaction TurnoverIntentions -H02 +H06 -H01 Burnout H08 was not supported; SCL.TO-SB.TO

8. Definitions Satisfaction: as an emotional reaction which “results from the perception that one’s job fulfills or allows the fulfillment of one’s important Job values …” (Locke, 76) Loyalty: is a strong desire to maintain a relationship with the organization Commitment: strong belief and acceptance of the organizations goals and values – a relative strength of an individual’s identification SCL.TO-SB.TO

9. Scales Scales were pre-tested Most Scales used were from established instruments All scales pre-tested on two exploratory studies 7 point Likert like scale • Validity assessed using factor analysis • Construct Cronbach’s alphas all above .9 Nunnally indicates • > .6 Exploratory • > .7 Acceptable • > .8 Excellent SCL.TO-SB.TO

10. Sample Questions – Commitment 9 Item - Mowday, Porter, Steers SCL.TO-SB.TO

11. Hypothesis From To  Sig. H01 Satisfaction Burnout -.510 .000 H02 Satisfaction Turnover -.190 .007 H03 Satisfaction Commitment .681 .000 H04 Commitment Loyalty .878 .000 H05 Loyalty Turnover -.526 .000 H06 Burnout Turnover .346 .000 H07 Satisfaction Loyalty .159 .000 Supported Hypotheses H02 not supported when LISREL used instead of Path SCL.TO-SB.TO

12. Findings Satisfaction has continuously shown to be an important factor in Employee retention: • Many kinds of satisfaction exist – • Hackman & Oldham: I must be happy, I have … • Important Antecedent to Commitment & Loyalty • Organizations are really interested in Loyalty • Cheaper to retain employees than replace SCL.TO-SB.TO

13. How Do You Build Loyalty ? Some feel thru the appropriate introduction of technologies • What is the association of Technology innovation with Loyalty, Satisfaction, Commitment, Burnout … • Large number of employees feel undervalued • Train those that want it • Allow those that do NOT, to continue in legacy areas SCL.TO-SB.TO

14. A)Innovations Please list things that you Want to learn and/or are being Required to learn. In the appropriate columns circle ALL the ICONs that indicate your feelings Description Use the back of sheet for additional Items Feelings about Item Want to  w Required  r Happy Unhappy w r    w r    w r    w r    Survey SCL.TO-SB.TO