The role of a manager's expertise on the IT professional's intent to leave in South Africa
Date
2018
Authors
Mazibuko, Zanele
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
The issue of employee turnover has long been a matter of interest in human
resource management, industrial psychology as well as for managers and
researchers. This is an even bigger issue in the Information Technology (IT)
industry in South Africa due to skills scarcity.
Vast amounts of literature exist on Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), job
satisfaction and intent to leave. These have been studied separately or in
conjunction, however there is limited research linking these elements to the
manager’s expertise (both technical and general managerial skills) in the IT
industry in South Africa.
The study aimed to discover the factors that play a role in It professionals’ intent
to leave within the IT industry.
An empirical, survey based study was conducted to analyse the proposed
model. The role of the manager’s expertise (independent variable) and intent to
leave (outcome variable) was assessed in the IT industry from the perspective
of an IT subordinate as well as assessing LMX and job satisfaction as mediating
factors. Lastly, the control factors such as demographics, education,
organisational tenure and alternative employment were also tested in the study.
Based on literature, a structural model was developed and analysed in the
context of IT professionals in South Africa. The model incorporated the core
antecedents of turnover i.e. demographics, job satisfaction and intent to leave
as well as constructs of the manager’s expertise (both technical and general
managerial skills) and LMX. Structural equation modelling was used, which is a
two-step technique that combines factor analysis and multiple regression
analysis, to analyse the relationships between the measured variables and
latent constructs.
The empirical tests showed that the manager’s technical expertise does not
play a role in an IT subordinate’s intent to leave even when mediated by LMX
and job satisfaction. However, the manager’s general expertise does appear to
act as an explanatory variable on intent to leave. Indirect effects were observed
!i
between the general expertise and intent to leave. Furthermore, an association
is observed between the manager’s general expertise, through mediation
effects of job satisfaction, and the subordinate’s intent to leave. The mediation
effects of LMX were not supported in both cases.
The study aimed to investigate the proposition that IT subordinates need
managers possessing both technical and general managerial skills, however,
the results showed that in today’s age the subordinate is more concerned with a
manager that displays interpersonal, leadership and business functional skills
instead of technology management skills.
Therefore, managers need to ensure that they focus on relationship
management and soft skills by engaging with each professional and understand
what their needs are. The human resources (HR) teams in organisations must
ensure that job specs include general managerial skills as one of the key
important factors when recruiting for IT managers. Furthermore, HR needs to
hold the managers accountable for employee retention.
Description
MBA Thesis
Keywords
IT, manager, technical expertise, general expertise, LMX, job satisfaction, intent to leave.