My knowledge is not enough: An investigation on the impact of threat of professional obsolescence on turn away intention among IT professionals in Bangladesh

Abstract

While the economy of Bangladesh is booming in information technology (IT) sector, reports suggest that only 10% IT or computer science graduates are contributing in this development. IT companies are challenged to hire new IT graduates as many professionals are switching job to teaching or management positions or moving aboard for higher studies. Using the work place exhaustion and threat of professional obsolescence (TPO) as theoretical lenses, this study explains what are the factors negatively impacts turn away intention of IT professionals. Specifically, we hypothesize that threat of professional obsolescence is very crucial and impacts very high on turn away intention. Data were collected from 185 IT professionals from 15 different IT companies in Bangladesh by survey questionnaire. Structural equation modeling technique was used to analyze the data and test the research model. The results of testing the model indicate the central role of TPO on turn away intention. This study advances the theoretical understanding on turn away intention and offers suggestions for both academia and organizations. The paper also acknowledges the limitations of the study and suggests research directions for future researchers.