IT Professionals' Turnaway Intention and the Role of Technostress

Abstract

The supply of global information technology (IT) workers does not meet the demand of the industry. Therefore, researchers try to distill ways to increase and retain the IT talent pipeline. Ensuring that IT professionals remain in their IT careers is an essential element of such research. The influence of technostress on job turnover is evident. Yet, we know little about the impact of technostress on career turnaway and its interaction effects on the antecedents of turnaway intention. While job turnover may negatively impact a specific organization, career turnaway has negative implications for the industry. Losing IT professionals from the field means that additional efforts toward motivating, recruiting, educating, and preparing replacement talent are needed. By examining the dynamics of technostress on IT professionals' career turnaway intention (N=512), we reveal two critical findings. First, technostress reduces the IT professional's commitment to their IT career and increases exhaustion from their IT career experience. Second, technostress moderates IT professionals' commitment to their profession and career turnaway intentions. To remedy these concerns, we provide managerial advice and provide suggestions for future research.