Thomas W. Ferratt
ABSTRACT
Retention of IT personnel is a difficulty encountered by many organizations today, particularly for those who work in virtual organization contexts. However, the fit between IT employees' preferred work arrangements and their current work arrangements and this fit's impact on IT employees' intention to stay has been an under-researched phenomenon. This paper develops a conceptual framework, based on Rousseau's [38] psychological contract theory, to address the retention concern. Additional literatures that enhance the conceptual framework suggest that the antecedents of fit, besides preferred employment arrangement, include IT employee stages and anchors, IT competencies, and organizational factors, including IT human resource practices. IT human resource strategy, in turn, impacts the organizational factors. The conceptual framework incorporates additional antecedents of intention to stay, including other employment opportunities, virtual team factors, and individual factors. The paper also suggests an initial empirical study to explore the concept of fit and its antecedents as an initial point of departure for the examination of the conceptual model.
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Index Terms
- Satisfaction of IT professionals with employment arrangements in traditional and virtual contexts
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