the geek shall inherit or leave the money and run? role identities and turnover decisions among software programmers and other high-technology employees
Theresa M. Welbourne, Nathan D. Ainspan · 1999
In my dissertation I introduce a framework to study employee identification with organizational and career roles and then study how these roles impact turnover decisions. This framework is tested with a sample of employees in two computer software companies. In software companies, many employees engage in behaviors that seem to contradict many of the assumptions made in current models of turnover which emphasize elements like job satisfaction, commitment, and compensation. Contrary to these models, a satisfied, committed, well-paid employee may leave his job to take an offer paying a fraction of his salary. Another employee may stay at her job and turn down other offers that could double her salary. By utilizing role theory and identity theory, my research suggests that identification to an employing organization and identification with a career can affect turnover decisions. In my dissertation, I review the literature on high technology personnel to suggest reasons why employees in software companies, and especially programmers, are likely to develop strong career identities. These factors in turn are theorized to lead to greater turnover among programmers. Survey data are collected from 220 employees at two software companies. Turnover data are collected at a later point in time in both firms, thus allowing me to study actual turnover decisions rather than intention to turnover. The results of logistic regression and survival analysis support the hypotheses that identity to career is positively related to the turnover decisions while organization identity is negatively related to turnover. Additional analyses reveal that the programmers in the sample frequently have strong identity to their careers. The last section of my dissertation concludes with a discussion of career and organizational identities and their impact on turnover decisions. I also discuss if and how programmers are different from other employees in software firms. And while the initial emphasis of my research was on the impact of career identity on turnover and my research focused on special traits of programmers and identity, my data and discussion discern organizational identity exerting a stronger influence on turnover decisions and an influence that affects all employees and not just programmers.