Job stressors and turnover intention of IT executives in Malaysia: The mediating role of employee well-being.

Abstract

Fear of losing psychological resources can lead to stress, impacting psychological health and behavioral outcomes like burnout, absenteeism, service sabotage, and turnover. The study examined the impact of job stressors (time pressure, role ambiguity, role conflict) on employee well-being and turnover intentions. The study also investigated the mediating role of employee well-being between job stressors and turnover intention based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory. Data from 396 IT executives in Malaysian IT firms were analyzed using the Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. Results confirmed a significant negative correlation between time pressure (-0.296), role ambiguity (-0.423), role conflict (-0.104), and employee well-being. Similarly, employee well-being showed a significant negative relationship with turnover intentions (-0.410). The mediation analysis revealed that employee well-being mediates the relationship between time pressure (0.121), role ambiguity (0.173), role conflict (0.043), and turnover intentions. This paper aims to manifest the importance of designing employee well-being policies by firms to retain employees. Findings reflect the role of the managerial approach towards ensuring employee well-being for employee retention, thereby reducing recruitment and re-training costs.