Abstract

This research-in-progress paper examines factors that influence IT employees‟ decision to continue staying with their current jobs and hence their current companies (i.e., vendor organizations in IT outsourcing industry). It employs the lens of Job Embeddedness Model (JEM) that posits employees‟ decision to stay with a job is influenced by a matrix of two embedded dimensions (i.e., on-the-job embeddedness and off-the-job embeddedness) and three embedded elements (i.e., fit, link, and sacrifice). Each element in the matrix was examined using a qualitative case study method. In a labor-intensive environment such as that of the IT outsourcing industry, retaining skilled and talented employees is important because these employees are sources of competitive advantage. If they leave, loses in the forms of human, knowledge, and social capital can be so substantial that it affects the operations of both vendors and their clients. Through understanding of factors that bind employees to their current organizations, effective retention programs can be formulated to keep the best IT employees productively engaged for a long-term.

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