IT Professional Turnover: Qualitative Phenomenological Study Review

Introduction

The costs of replacing information technology professionals are enormous, and recent trends indicate that voluntary turnover in this industry is on the rise for reasons that remain better described than understood in the relevant literature. The study under review, "Precipitating Events Leading to Voluntary Employee Turnover among Information Technology Professionals: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study," emphasizes the need to better understand undesired employee turnover in the information technology industry in general, and within the defense contracting industry in particular. To this end, the qualitative study used a series of 20 interviews with IT professionals working in the defense contracting industry to develop its findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

This paper evaluates that qualitative study using the framework provided by Miles and Huberman (1994) and Creswell (2007). An evaluation of the study's methodology is followed by a discussion of the author's identified limitations, implications, and recommendations. Finally, an assessment of the author's application of his selected methodology is followed by a summary of the research and its important findings in the conclusion.

Evaluation of Methodology

The study's stated purpose was to examine the lived experiences of IT professionals working in the defense contracting industry in order to better understand the types of precipitating events that can result in voluntary turnover. This purpose is largely congruent with the author's general problem statement, which relates to inordinately high and unacceptable levels of voluntary employee turnover among IT professionals — levels that have far outpaced those of other professions — with the specific problem being comparable levels of voluntary turnover in the defense contracting industry. The six research questions propounded by the author also naturally flow from the above-described problem statement and specifically focus on the respective why, what, when, and how factors that compel IT professionals either to remain with a firm or to seek better opportunities elsewhere.

The author states that a purposive sampling procedure was used to intentionally select participants who possessed the lived knowledge relevant to the study's purposes. Potential participants were initially contacted by telephone or email to determine whether they satisfied the study's several selection criteria. The selection criteria were straightforward and appropriate: (a) participants must be actively employed as an IT professional; (b) they must have held more than one position in the defense contracting industry and must have held their most recent position since January 1, 2006, to minimize recall errors; and (c) they must work in the defense contracting industry at Fort Meade, Maryland.

In support of his rationale for research method and design selection, the author describes the various attributes and capabilities of qualitative and quantitative research and explains why the selected approach was most suitable for the goals of his study. Taken together, the qualitative research method and design employed were appropriate for those goals. According to Iorio (2004), "Dealing primarily with words, qualitative research is holistic and blatantly interpretative. Qualitative researchers go 'into the field' to gather data by observation and interaction with people from whom they hope to learn" (p. 6). Moreover, the author rightly justifies his selection of a qualitative phenomenological in-depth interview method and design because of the need to understand precipitating events as part of the natural flow of the human condition.

In sharp contrast to quantitative data analysis, qualitative researchers face some daunting challenges in analyzing their data. For instance, Darlington and Scott (2002) point out that qualitative research is usually labor-intensive and time-consuming when interviews are used, and they recommend limiting the number of participants. With 20 interviewees, the author of this study was arguably mildly ambitious in his participant count.

With respect to the confirmability and credibility of his data, the author reports that triangulation helped improve the accuracy and validity of his results, as did the validation of interview results by the interviewees themselves, using NVivo as a data analysis tool — though the author does not elaborate on this step. While triangulation helps improve the dependability and trustworthiness of the data, qualitative research findings are frequently difficult to transfer to other settings (Neuman, 2003).

Conclusion

The costs of replacing an information technology professional can easily equal or exceed a full year's compensation, making the identification of ways to reduce voluntary employee turnover a timely and valuable enterprise. In his study, the author presents a comprehensive overview of the problem, explains why it is important to study, and then proceeds to do so in a qualitative fashion that served to identify previously unknown precipitating factors — findings that can serve as the basis for future research. In addition, the author identified a significant disconnect between industry averages for the precipitating event of being offered a job for more money and the substantially higher levels he identified in his sample, which also serve as a basis for future research in this area.

References

Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Sage Publications.

Darlington, Y., & Scott, D. (2002). Qualitative research in practice: Stories from the field. Allen & Unwin.

Iorio, S. H. (2004). Qualitative research in journalism: Taking it to the streets. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Sage.

Neuman, W. L. (2003). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (5th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.