An Investigation of the Influence of the IS Context on the Determinants of Turnover Intentions in Korea

Management of IS employees' turnover has been one of the important areas of research in the IS discipline. Prior IS studies have focused on personality factors that differentiate IS personnel from non-IS personnel. Unlike prior studies, this study examines job contextual factors that may be salient in IS personnel turnover. Seven variables that have been frequently employed as determinants of turnover intention in prior studies were compared across different job contexts. These seven variables are role conflict, role ambiguity, job alternatives, interpersonal conflict with colleagues within a team, interpersonal conflict with colleagues outside a team, burnout, and career plateau. A total of 209 responses obtained from employees in different job contexts were analyzed. Interestingly, the results reveal that IS and non-IS personnel have statistically similar levels of perceptions on these variables. In addition, we investigated differences between the behavioral models of turnover intention for IS and non-IS personnel. The results indicate that role conflict and interpersonal conflict with colleagues outside a team have a higher influence on turnover intention for IS personnel compared to non-IS personnel. Based on the results, the paper discusses the implications of the findings and provides directions for future research.