A Decade of Turnover Intention Research in IT: Key Insights

  • Wagner Vidal Xavier da Silva UFRPE
  • Suzana Sampaio UFRPE / University of Galway

Resumo


Employee turnover intention poses challenges for IT organizations, affecting performance and strategic goals. Despite research efforts, the factors driving turnover remain fragmented. This study conducted a systematic literature review of research published between 2015 and 2024, using PRISMA guidelines. A total of 41 studies were analyzed, identifying 29 internal and 25 external factors. Job satisfaction was the most cited internal factor, while organizational commitment was the most frequent external factor. Burnout also emerged as a key driver. These findings support IT organizations in developing targeted HR strategies to improve retention.

Palavras-chave: Turnover Intention, Employee Retention, IT Professionals, Job Satisfaction, Literature Review

Referências

Abid, G., Zahra, I. and Ahmed, A. (2016). Promoting thriving at work and waningturnover intention: A relational perspective. Future Business Journal, v. 2, n. 2, p.127-137.

Ajayi, F. A. and Udeh, C. A. (2024). Combating burnout in the IT Industry: A reviewof employee well-being initiatives. International Journal of Applied Research inSocial Sciences, v. 6, n. 4, p. 567-588.

Ajit, P. (2016). Prediction of employee turnover in organizations using machinelearning algorithms. algorithms, v. 4, n. 5, p. C5.

Al-Dalahmeh, M. L., Héder, M. and Dajnoki, K. (2020). The effect of talentmanagement practices on employee turnover intention in the information andcommunication technologies (ICTs) sector: Case of Jordan.

Al Akasheh, M., Hujiran, O., Malik, E. F. and Zaki, N. (2024). Enhancing thePrediction of Employee Turnover with Knowledge Graphs and Explainable AI.IEEE Access.

Alla, A. A. and Rajaa, O. (2019). A review of the literature on employeeturnover. American International Journal of Social Science, v. 8, n. 3, p. 22-29.

Apostel, E., Syrek, C. J. and Antoni, C. H. (2018). Turnover intention as a responseto illegitimate tasks: The moderating role of appreciative leadership. InternationalJournal of Stress Management, v. 25, n. 3, p. 234.

Armstrong, D., Riemenschneider, C., Buche, M. W. and Armstrong, K. R. (2018).Mitigating turnover intentions: are all IT workers warriors?. AIS Transactions onReplication Research, v. 4, n. 1, p. 10.

Atouba, Y. C. (2018). Tackling the turnover challenge among IT workers: Examiningthe role of internal communication adequacy, employee work participation, andorganizational identification. Communication Reports, v. 31, n. 3, p. 174-187.

Biswas, S. and Varma, A. (2012). Linkages between antecedents of in-roleperformance and intentions to quit: an investigation in India. The InternationalJournal of Human Resource Management, v. 23, n. 5, p. 987-1005.

Booysen, C. and Malan, D. J. (2024). Intention to quit among Generation Yinformation technology professionals in South Africa. SA Journal of IndustrialPsychology, v. 50,n. 1, p. 1-13.

Chiu, C. (2017). IT professionals’ turnover intention: the role of job crafting andengagement. PACIS 2017 Proceedings.

Cho, J.,Yoo, J. and Lim, J. (2020). Analysis of job stress's impact on job performanceand turnover of cybersecurity professionals. ICIC Express Letters, v.14, p. 409-415.

Chouhan, V. S. (2022). Influence of career adaptability on career satisfaction andturnover intention of IT professionals. International Journal of Human Capitaland Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP), v. 13, n. 1, p. 1-15.

Cohen, G. and Blake, R. S. (2016). Goodman, Doug. Does turnover intention matter?Evaluating the usefulness of turnover intention rate as a predictor of actualturnover rate. Review of Public Personnel Administration, v. 36, n. 3, p. 240-263.

Dhakal, D. R., Ojha, S. K., Sharma, L. K., Dhungana, B. R. and Chapagain, R.(2024). Employee turnover intention in a service industry: a systematic literaturereview. Migration Letters, v. 21, n. 7, p. 1481-1494.

Dhamija, P., Gupta, S. and Bag, S. (2019). Measuring of job satisfaction: the use ofquality of work life factors. Benchmarking: An International Journal, v. 26, n. 3,p. 871-892.

Dinger, M., Thatcher, J. B., Treadway, D., Stepina, L. and Breland, J. (2015). Doesprofessionalism matter in the IT workforce? An empirical examination of ITprofessionals. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, v. 16, n. 4, p. 1.

Dunukara, D. M. A. M. and Pushpakumari, M. D. (2021). The Effect of Job-RelatedFactors and Organisational Factors on Turnover Intention of IT Professionals inthe Western Province, Sri Lanka. In: Proceedings of International Conference onBusiness Management.

Eckhardt, A., Laumer, S., Maier, C. and Weitzel, T. (2016). The effect of personalityon IT personnel's job-related attitudes: Establishing a dispositional model ofturnover intention across IT job types. Journal of Information Technology, v. 31,p. 48-66.

Farooq, H., Janjua, U. I., Madni, T. M., Waheed, A., Zareei, M. and Alanazi, F.(2022). Identification and analysis of factors influencing turnover intention ofPakistan IT professionals: An empirical study. IEEE Access, v. 10, p. 64234-64256.

Gefen, D., Ragowsky, A., Miller, J., Licker, P. and Stern, M. (2015). The center cannot hold: How leading firms are managing the changing IT boundaries. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, v. 36, n. 1, p. 33.

Grawitch, M. J., Trares, S. and Kohler, J. M. (2007). Healthy workplace practicesand employee outcomes. International journal of stress management, v. 14, n. 3,p. 275, 2007.

Gumussoy, C. A. (2016). The effect of five-factor model of personality traits onturnover intention among information technology IT professionals. AJIT-e:Academic Journal of Information Technology, v. 7, n. 22, p. 7-28.

Gupta, K. and Raman, T. V. (2021). Influence of intellectual capital on performance:An analysis of IT and pharmaceutical firms. International Journal of HumanCapital and Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP), v. 12, n. 2, p. 53-71.

Gupta, S. K. and Bhatia, N. (2023). A decade of trend in the employee turnoverintention study in India: A systematic review and recommendation. FIIB BusinessReview, p. 23197145231158907.

Haran, V. V. and Niederman, F. (2022). Social context of turnover-mixed methodsstudy of Indian IT professionals. Journal of Global Information Management(JGIM), v. 30, n. 1, p. 1-24.

Harden, G., Boakye, K. G. and Ryan, S. (2018). Turnover intention of technologyprofessionals: A social exchange theory perspective. Journal of ComputerInformation Systems, v. 58, n. 4, p. 291-300.

Haridas, J., Ture, R. S. and Nayanpally, A. K. (2022). Organizational careermanagement and turnover intentions: mediating role of trust in management.European Journal of Training and Development, v. 46, n. 1/2, p. 257-275.

Herscovitch, L. and Meyer, J. P. (2002). Commitment to organizational change:extension of a three-component model. Journal of applied psychology, v. 87, n. 3,p. 474.

Idell, K., Gefen, D. and Ragowsky, A. (2021). Managing IT professional turnover. Communications of the ACM, v. 64, n. 9, p. 72-77.

Joseph, D., Ng, K., Koh, C. and Ang, S. (2007). Turnover of information technologyprofessionals: A narrative review, meta-analytic structural equation modeling, andmodel development. MIS quarterly, p. 547-577.

Kanchana, L. and Jayathilaka, R. (2023). Factors impacting employee turnoverintentions among professionals in Sri Lankan startups. Plos one, v. 18, n. 2, p.e0281729.

Kitchenham, B. and Charters, S. (2007). Guidelines for performing systematicliterature reviews in software engineering. Technical report, Technical report,EBSE Technical Report EBSE-2007-01.

Kong, C. Y. (2022). Assessment of occupational stress towards turnover intention inconstruction industry.

Kumar, S. (2022). The impact of talent management practices on employee turnoverand retention intentions. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, v. 41, n.2, p. 21-34.

Lo, J. (2015). The information technology workforce: A review and assessment ofvoluntary turnover research. Information Systems Frontiers, v. 17, p. 387-411.

Mahindru, R., Kaur, H. and Gupta, R. (2023). Mapping Research on Ageism,Personal and Social Well-Being in IT Professionals: A Literature Review andBibliometric Analysis. Acta Universitatis Bohemiae Meridionales, v. 26, n. 2.

Moquin, R., Riemenschneider, C. K. and Wakefield, R. L. (2019). Psychologicalcontract and turnover intention in the information technology profession.Information Systems Management, v. 36, n. 2, p. 111-125.

Mufitha, M. B., Lee, S. T. and Yong, C. C. (2019). Is professional commitment thereason for turnover intentions of IT professionals?. Advances in business researchinternational journal, v. 5, n. 1, p. 124-143.

Naqvi, S. M. M. R. and Bashir, S. (2015). IT-expert retention through organizationalcommitment: A study of public sector information technology professionals inPakistan. Applied Computing and Informatics, v. 11, n. 1, p. 60-75.

Pereira, L. C. O., Albuquerque, N. B. C., Valle, R. S., Gois, S. R. F. S. M. andGoncalves, A. A. (2024). Turnover Intention Among ICT Professionals inBrazilian Public Organizations. SAGE Open, v. 14, n. 2, p. 21582440241240313.

Pratiwi, M., Hinduan, Z. R. and Lubis, F. Y. (2024). Unraveling the FactorsContributing to Turnover Intentions Among Knowledge Workers: A SystematicLiterature Review. In: Proceeding of the International Conference onMultidisciplinary Research for Sustainable Innovation. p. 400-410.

Prommegger, B., Pflügler, C., Wiesche, M. and Krcmar, H. (2019). UnderstandingIT- Specific Job Embeddedness to Prevent Turnover of IT Professionals. In:Academy of Management Proceedings. Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy ofManagement, p. 17510.

Ramalho Luz, C. M. D., Luiz De Paula, S. and De Oliveira, L. M. B. (2018).Organizational commitment, job satisfaction and their possible influences onintent to turnover. Revista de Gestão, v. 25, n. 1, p. 84-101.

Ramaprasad, B. S., Lakshminarayanan, S. and Pai, Y. P. (2021). Exploring themediating role of employee attitudes in the relationship between high-performancework systems and turnover intention among IT professionals in India: A serialmediation approach. Global Business Review, v. 22, n. 1, p. 197-218.

Ramaprasad, B. S., Rao, S. and Prabhu, K. N. (2020). Commitment profiles andvoluntary turnover intentions: An empirical assessment of ‘two-faces’conceptualization of normative commitment. Prabandhan: Indian Journal ofManagement, 13(5–7), 7–25.

Rampadaruth, V. (2022). Turnover and Turnaway Intentions of IT Professionals andthe Impact of COVID-19 on Their Work. Human Resource Research.

Rhatigan, C. (2016). The 4 Industries with the Worst Retention Rates. TINYpulse.Viewed on Oct, v. 18, p. 2017.

Rusbadrol, N. and Mahmud, N. (2017). Systematic review on the relationshipbetween organizational justice and turnover intention. European Proceedings ofSocial and Behavioural Sciences, v. 40.

Sandhya, S. and Sulphey, M. M. (2019). An assessment of contribution of employeeengagement, psychological contract and psychological empowerment towardsturnover intentions of IT employees. International Journal of Environment,Workplace and Employment, v. 5, n. 1, p. 22-31.

Santoso, S., Tukiran, M., Aw, P., Pratiwi, I., Elizabeth, R. and Centari, R. E. (2023).The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction, Moonlighting Intentions, TurnoverIntention And Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Literature Review.International Journal of Economy, Education and Entrepreneurship (IJE3), v. 3,n. 2, p. 577-589.

Sarker, F., Vasilescu, B., Blincoe, K. and Filkov, V. (2019). Socio-technical work-rate increase associates with changes in work patterns in online projects. In: 2019IEEE/ACM 41st Int. Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE). IEEE, p. 936-947.

Sasaki, H., Serenko, A., Sato, O. and Prashant, P. (2019). Determinants of JobSatisfaction and Turnover Intention of IT Professionals in Japan. In: AMCIS.

Serenko, A., Sasaki, H., Prashant, P. and Sato, O. (2022). Turnover in Japanese itprofessionals: antecedents and nuances. Australasian Journal of InformationSystems, v. 26.

Setiawan Wahidin, A. D. D. and Heryjanto, A. (2024). The Effect of Job Stress andCorporate Culture on Turnover Intention Mediated By EmployeeEngagement (Empirical Study: Workers In The Field of Information TechnologyIn Greater Jakarta). Journal Research of Social Science, Ecs & Mng., v. 4, n. 2.

Scholtz, B. M., Van Belle, J., Njenga, K., Serenko, A. and Palvia, P. (2019). The roleof job satisfaction in turnover and turn-away intention of IT staff in South Africa.Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management, v. 14, n.1, p. 077-097.

Sethar, W. A., Channar, S. H. and Jatoi, S. (2022). A. Study of turnover intentions ofIT professionals: The case study software houses, Hyderabad, Pakistan. PakistanJournal of International Affairs, v. 5, n. 3.

Sharma, G. G. and Stol, K. (2020). Exploring onboarding success, organizational fit,and turnover intention of software professionals. Journal of Systems and Software,v. 159, p. 110442.

Singh, A. (2024). A Study on Organizational Commitment, Turnover Intention, and Work-Life Balance among Working Professionals. International Journal ofInterdisciplinary Approaches in Psychology, v. 2, n. 6, p. 251: 268-251: 268.

Sivarethinamohan, R. and Aranganathan, Mr. P. (2015). A Study on TurnoverIntentions of Software Professionals in Chennai City. International Journal ofManagement, v. 6, n. 4, p. 44-51.

Souza, D. S., Kilimnik, Z. M., Sant’Anna, A. S. and Diniz, D. M. (2023). Organizational Support, Social Support, And Turnover Intention In Brazilians It Professionals. Revista Economia & Gestão, v. 22, n. 64.

Standish Group. (2015). The Chaos Report 2015. In T. S. Group (Ed.). [link]. (accessed 25 January 2025).

Suárez-Albanchez, J., Gutierrez-Broncano, S., Jimenez-Estevez, P. and Blazquez-Resino , J. J. (2022). Organizational support and turnover intention in the SpanishIT consultancy sector: Role of organizational commitment. Cogent SocialSciences, v. 8,n. 1, p. 2051790.

Trinkenreich, B., Santos, F. and Stol, K. (2024). Predicting Attrition among SoftwareProfessionals: Antecedents and Consequences of Burnout and Engagement. ACMTransactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, v. 33, n. 8, p. 1-45.

Tulili, T. R., Capiluppi, A. and Rastogi, A. (2023). Burnout in software engineering:A systematic mapping study. Information and Software Technology, v. 155, p.107116.

Vennila, M. and Vivekanandan, Dr. K. (2017). A study on how emotional dissonanceimpact work exhaustion, job satisfaction and turnover intention among ITprofessionals. International journal of Management, v. 8, n. 1.

Vidya, K. A. (2023). A Study On Emotional Dissonance And Burnout Influence OnEmployee Turnover Intention Among Information Technology Professionals.

Witt, L. A. and Burke, L. A. (2002). Selecting high-performing informationtechnology professionals. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing(JOEUC), v. 14, n. 4, p. 37-50.

Xavier, H. B., Sampaio, S. C. B., Sobral, M. F. F. and Cornican, K. (2024). From thetable to the sofa: The remote work revolution in a context of crises and itsconsequences on work attitudes and behaviors. Education and InformationTechnologies, p. 1-40.

Zaza, S., Riemenschneider, C. and Armstrong, D. J. (2022). The drivers and effectsof burnout within an information technology work context: a job demands-resources framework. Information Technology & People, v. 35, n. 7, p. 2288-2313.

Zentner, A. (2018). Making the jump: Understanding the associativity betweenperceived job performance and turnover intention of IT professionals in highereducation. Available at SSRN 3145662.
Publicado
12/05/2025
SILVA, Wagner Vidal Xavier da; SAMPAIO, Suzana. A Decade of Turnover Intention Research in IT: Key Insights. In: CONGRESSO IBERO-AMERICANO EM ENGENHARIA DE SOFTWARE (CIBSE), 28. , 2025, Ciudad Real/Espanha. Anais [...]. Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, 2025 . p. 135-149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/cibse.2025.35297.