IS 7021: The Philosophy of
Science & Qualitative Research Methods
Dr. Mary C. Lacity
233 Computer Center Building
(314) 516-6127 (work)
(314) 516-6827 (fax)
mailto:mary.lacity@umsl.edu
http:/www.umsl.edu/~lacity
Sample Qualitative
Research Design Proposal
Note: This is extracted
from Lacity, M., Iyer, V., and Rudramuniyaiah, P. (2008),
“Turnover Intentions of Indian IS Professionals,” Information Systems
Frontiers, Special Issue on Outsourcing of IT Services, Vol. 10, 2, pp.
225-241.
Title of Project:
Turnover Intentions Among Indian IS Professionals
Reason Why
Research is Relevant: One of the major challenges facing the Indian IT services
industry is the high rate of turnover among Indian IS professionals. Turnover rates have been reported as high as
100% annually. The lowest rates we found reported on turnover in
Indian software services was 30% (Mitchell, 2004). No matter which turnover number one
considers—the low estimate of 30% or the high estimate of 100%, there is no
denying that turnover is a major issue to Indian suppliers and their global
clients. Supplier staff turnover delays the clients’ projects, reduces quality,
and increases costs (Jiang and Klein, 2002).
Clearly, both clients and suppliers share the objective of high
retention of the supplier’s most qualified workers. Despite the serious problem, no
academic studies have studied the determinants of turnover among Indian IS
professionals. We aim to contribute to
the literature by modeling Turnover Intentions of Indian IS professionals.
Proposed Research Method: We plan to interviews 10 Indian
IS Professionals currently working in
India. Our aim is to interview
people with 2-7 years work experience because this experience level has the
highest reported turnover rates in
Theoretical Background:
Because we do not know a priori
which antecedents of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment from the
study of Western IS professionals might be the most relevant to Indian IS
professionals, we sought a general but comprehensive model that would allow the
Indian IS professionals to suggest the most important antecedents. We selected
the Job Investment Model initially proposed by Kelley and Thibaut (1978) and
applied to Turnover Intentions by Farrell and Rusbult (1981) and Van Dam
(2005). This model is comprehensive
because it includes job factors (Job Satisfaction and Job Attraction),
organizational factors (Organizational Commitment and Investment in Current
Organization), and environmental factors (Organizational Alternatives). This
model also appealed to us because it generically defines the determinants of
Job Satisfaction as the individual’s overall subjective estimation of job
rewards versus job costs. Thus, we would
ask Indian IS Professionals generic questions about the rewards and costs of
the current job without limiting the scope to a few specific constructs. We were very interested in specifically
including Organizational Alternatives because the vibrant job market in
Initial Research Model
CONSTRUCT
|
DEFINITION USED FOR THE INTERVIEWS |
REFERENCES |
|
Turnover
Intention |
The extent to which an employee
plans to leave the organization |
Igbaria and Greenhaus,
1992; Kim et al., 1996; Ruby, 2002; Sujdak
2002 |
|
Job Satisfaction |
The extent to which an employee likes his/her
current job |
Spector, 1996; Carsten
and Spector, 1987 |
|
Job Attraction |
The employee’s overall perception of job rewards
versus job costs |
Kelley and Thibault, 1978; Farrell and Rusbult,
1981; Rusbult and Farrell, 1983; Van Dam, 2005. |
|
Organizational Commitment |
The extent to which an
employee feels emotionally attached to his/her organization |
Meyer and
Allen,1997; Joseph et al., 2007 |
|
Organizational Alternatives |
The employee’s perceived availability of equal or
better jobs in other organizations |
Mitchell et al., 2001;
Van Dam, 2005 |
|
Investment in Current Organization |
The non-portable resources invested in or by the
employee |
Farrell and Rusbult, 1981; Cole and Bruch, 2006 |
|
Work Exhaustion |
The extent to which an employee feels long term
stress and burnout |
Ahuja et al., 2007; Moore, 2000 |
References:
Ahuja, M., Chudoba, K., Kacmar, C., McKnight, D., and
George, J/, “IT Road Warriors: Balancing Work-Family Conflict, Job Autonomy, and
Work Overload to Mitigate Turnover Intentions, MIS Quarterly, March 2007, Vol.
31, 1, pp. 1-17.
Carsten, J., and Spector, P.,
“Unemployment, Job Satisfaction, and Employee Turnover: A Meta-analytic test of
the Munchinsky Model,” Journal of Applied
Psychology,” Vol. 73, 3, 1987, pp. 374-381.
Cole, M., and Bruch, H., “Organizational
Identity Strength, Identification, and Commitment and their Relationships to
Turnover Intention: Does Organizational Hierarchy Matter?” Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 27, 2006, pp. 586-605.
Farrell, D., and Rusbult, C., “Exchange Variables as
Predictors of Job Satisfaction, Job Commitment, and Turnover: The Impact of
Rewards, Costs, Alternatives, and Investments,” Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Vol.28, 1, August 1981, pp. 78-96.
Igbaria, M., and Greenhaus, J., “Determinants of MIS
Employees’ Turnover Intentions: A Structural Equation Model, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 35, 2,
1992, pp. 34-49.
Jiang, J. and Klein, G., “A Discrepancy Model of Information
Systems Personnel Turnover,” Journal of
Management Information Systems, Vol. 19, 2, Fall 2002, pp. 249-272.
Joseph, D., Ng, K., Koh, C., and Ang, S., “Turnover
of IT Professionals: A Narrative Review, Meta-Analytic Structural Equation
Modeling, and Model Development,” MIS Quarterly, Vol. 31,3, 2007, pp.
1-31.
Kelly, H. and Thibaut, J., Interpersonal relations: A theory of Interdependence,
Kim., S., Price, J., Mueller, C., and Watson, T.,
“The Determination of Career Intent Among Physicians at a US Air Force
Hospital, Human Relations, Vol 49, 1996, pp. 947-976.
Meyer, J., and Allen, N. Commitment in the Workplace: Theory, Research, and Application,
Sage Publications,
Mitchell, T., Holtom, B., Lee, T., Sablynski, C., and
Erez, M., “Why People Stay: Using Job Embeddedness to Predict Voluntary
Turnover,
Mitchell, A., “Offshore Labor Markets Impact IT
Outsourcing,” Technewsworld,
September 28, 2004 available online at http://www.technewsworld.com/story/36949.html.
Ruby,
A., "Internal Teacher Turnover in Urban Middle School Reform," Journal of Education for
Students Placed at Risk, Vol. 7, 4, 2002, pp. 379-406.
Rusbult, C, and Farrell, D., “A Longitudinal Test of the
Investment Model: The Impact on Job Satisfaction, Job Commitment, and Turnover
Variations in Rewards, Costs, Alternatives, and Investments,” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 68,
3, 1983, pp. 429-438.
Spector, P., Industrial
and Organizational Psychology: Research and Practice, Wiley,
Spector, P., Job
Satisfaction: Application, Assessment, Causes and Consequences,” Sage
Publications,
Sujdak, E., An
Investigation of the Correlation of Job Satisfaction, Organizational
Commitment, Perceived Job Opportunity, Organizational Communications, Job
Search Behavior, and the Intent to Turnover in IT Professionals,
Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Wayne Huizenga School of Business and
Entrepreneurship, Nova Southeastern University, 2002.
Van Dam,
K., “Employee attitudes toward job changes: An
application and extension of Rusbult and Farrell's investment model, “Journal of Occupational and Organizational
Psychology, Vol.78, 2, June 2005, pp. 253-273.