Towards a Universal Turnover Model for the IT Work Force – A Replication Study Christian KORUNKA # , Peter L.T. HOONAKKER*, Pascale CARAYON*^ # Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria *Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement ^Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA Abstract The IT industry is characterized by high turnover. In this study we tested a turnover model based on Igbaria (1992) and Moore (2002) using two datasets from the USA and Austria. The American data consist of 624 IT professionals and managers. The Austrian dataset consists of 677 production workers and professionals from an IT company. The results show that the model fits both datasets. The best fit was found for older employees and highly educated employees. Keywords: Methods, IT workforce, turnover, modelling 1 Introduction Turnover has been a major issue pertaining to Information Technology (IT) personnel since the very early days of computing and continuing in the present (Moore, 2000, Niederman & Summer, 2003). IT personnel have a strong tendency to leave their current employer to work for another organization. Turnover of highly skilled employees can be very expensive and disruptive for firms (Reichheld, 1996). Losing highly skilled staff members means that companies incur substantial costs associated with recruiting and re- skilling, and hidden costs associated with difficulties completing projects and disruptions in team-based work environments (Niederman & Summer, 2003). Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992) tested a model of turnover intention among 464 MIS employees using data from a questionnaire survey. The model consisted of five sets of variables: 1) demographic variables; 2) role stressors; 3) career experiences; 4) work- related attitudes; and 5) turnover intention. Results indicated that two work-related attitudes, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, had the strongest and most direct influence on turnover intention, and that the impact of other variables on turnover intention was primarily mediated by these two variables. Education was the only demographic variable that had a direct effect on turnover intention. Higher educated employees had higher turnover intention and lower levels of job and career satisfaction. Employees with low salaries and those who perceived limited career advancement opportunities tended to hold stronger turnover intention than those with higher salaries and