Psychological Contract and Turnover Intention in the Information Technology Profession

ABSTRACT

The recruitment and retention of Information Technology (IT) professionals continue to concern organizations and researchers. We employ psychological contract theory to examine how unmet expectations may influence psychological contract breach and turnover intention. The results of a survey of IT professionals indicate four factors contributing to IT workers’ perceptions of psychological contract breach including perceived supervisor support, emotional dissonance, work exhaustion, and salary. Further, autonomy moderates the relationship between psychological contract breach and turnover intention.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychological contract theory
• psychological contract breach
• turnover intention
• IT professional
• information technology retention
• IT turnover

Additional information

Notes on contributors

René Moquin

René Moquin is an Assistant Professor of Computer Information Technology in the Neil Griffin School of Business at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR. He worked in the IT industry for approximately 30 years. He primarily teaches Management Information Systems and information security to undergraduate and graduate students. His primary areas of research interest include information security, cloud computing, IT epistemology and ontology, and IT and psychology. Dr. Moquin has published articles in the Journal of Computer Information Systems, Association for Information Systems Transactions on Replication Research, and others.

Cynthia K. Riemenschneider

Cynthia K. Riemenschneider is Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development and Professor of Information Systems in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University. She also holds the Helen Ligon Professorship in Information Systems. Her publications have appeared in MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, and others. She currently conducts research on IT work force issues, women and minorities in IT, IT professional turnover and turnaway intention as well as ethical issues surrounding IT use.

Robin L. Wakefield

Robin L. Wakefield is a Professor of Management Information Systems in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University, Waco, TX. She primarily teaches data analytics and quantitative research methods to graduate students. Her main areas of research interest include social media, information privacy, e-commerce and cloud computing. Dr. Wakefield has published numerous articles in MIS journals including Information Systems Research, The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, The European Journal of Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Information & Management, International Journal of Information Management and The DATA BASE for Advances in Information Systems, among others.