Determinants of Retention of Psychological Contract of Information Technology Professionals in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Job hoping of employees has become a tremendous issue in IT firms across the world. Literature reveals that the average period of IT professional remains in a company is around two years. This research paper argues that this issue arises because of current IT firms have failed to retain the psychological contract of IT professionals which was formed at the recruitment and the socialization stages. Building a positive psychological contract in the recruitment stage is not enough to sustain in the current business environment. It is vital to retain the psychological contract as well. This study examines the determinants of psychological contract retention in the domain of IT professionals in Sri Lanka. This cross sectional field study was carried out among a sample of 80 IT professionals. Convenience sampling was applied to select the sample. A self-administered, standard questionnaire was used to gather data. Eighty questionnaire responses from the IT professionals were analyzed using SPSS. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed to find out the determinants of psychological contract retention. KMO statistics was used to determine the sampling adequacy. Factor loading values and extraction sums of squared loadings (cumulative) values were used to draw the conclusion. The results of this exploratory study revealed that work atmosphere is the most prominent factor that contributes to retain the psychological contract among them. Moreover, stimulating job, task description, autonomy, salary satisfaction are the significant determinants of psychological contract retention of IT professionals in Sri Lanka. Finding of this research revealed that job security, intra organizational mobility, work life balance and career development become insignificant to retain the psychological contract of IT professionals in the Sri Lankan Context. Furthermore, it is recommended to give a serious attention to create and maintain a proper work atmosphere through possible policies, procedures and systems in IT firms.