Role of Social Factors on Employee Retention Perspectives: A Study on Information Technology Organizations

Abstract

In today's evolving business environment, organizations face significant challenges in retaining key employees. The variety of retention strategies employed has complicated the task for HR professionals to create a definitive model for talent retention. Over time, the focus of employee retention has shifted from individual behaviors and organizational predictors to contextual factors, with interpersonal relationships becoming crucial. Social factors influencing employees' decisions to stay have emerged as essential predictors of retention. This study explores how social factors impact employees' intentions to remain in their roles, particularly within IT companies in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. A descriptive research design was used, gathering responses from 300 software development employees in IT firms around the NCR of Delhi. Participants were contacted through personal networks and randomly selected from a pool of potential candidates. Data was collected using the "social factor-employee intention-to-stay" instrument, adapted from existing research. The analysis was conducted using SPSS 20 and AMOS 20. Findings indicate that social factors significantly influence employees' intention to stay. Social networks and team cohesiveness were found to mediate the relationship between supervisor and co-worker support and employees' intentions to stay. Supervisor support was also found to have a significant impact on co-worker support and employees' intentions to stay. These findings suggest further research and the development of more effective HR policies to enhance employee engagement, satisfaction, and retention. The paper provides empirical evidence to support these claims.