Exploring the Mediating Role of Employee Attitudes in the Relationship between High-Performance Work Systems and Turnover Intention among IT Professionals in India: A Serial Mediation Approach

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to seek an answer to the question of ‘how’ do high-performance work systems (HPWSs) relate to turnover intention (TI) among information technology (IT) professionals in the Indian IT sector. Against the backdrop of this purpose, we examined, by using multiple regression analysis and a serial mediation approach, the intervening effects that the constructs of work engagement (WE) and organizational commitment (OC) exercised, sequentially, on the relationship between HPWS and TI among 752 IT professionals spread across 17 Indian IT organizations. The findings of this study reveal that the relationship between HPWS and employees’ TI is entirely indirect; that is, WE and OC, in that order, fully and serially mediate the relationship between HPWS and employees’ TI. Further, the study offers a strong case for practitioners from the Indian IT sector to adopt a robust and a synergetic HPWS in order to elicit favourable employee attitudes and consequently mitigate the employees’ TI.