The Impact of Job Retention on Continuous Growth of Engineering and Informational Technology SMEs in South Korea

Chongryol Park,Seungjin Kim,Jiwoon Lee,Ronald Mcquaid,Insuk Lee

doi:10.3390/su11185005

Chongryol Park, Seungjin Kim + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su11185005

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Sep 12, 2019
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Stirling, Sogang University

Abstract

This study aims to explore what factors are critically associated with job retention in Engineering and Information Technology small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Korea, and how employers think about staff retention policy in relation to business growth. This contrasts with previous studies that mainly focus on employee motivation, job retention, and turnover. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with founder Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). The results suggest that an important factor influencing job retention policies of these SMEs was to motivate employees to make greater voluntary effort, including through developing a collaborative organizational culture, rather than solely offering them additional financial rewards or using other Human Resource Management (HRM) practices to improve individual performances. Interviewees believed that job retention and business growth were closely related, and they discussed various ways of eliciting emotional commitment from employees. Unlike research on larger firms, these suggestions did not involve immediate financial rewards. How employers thought that the roles played by employees strongly influenced their firm’s productivity and competitiveness. This study suggests SME employers adjust their retention policy specifically to improve their firm’s survival and long-term growth.

Highlights

Why do employees stay with, or leave, a company and what can an small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do about it? Attracting and retaining talent is a significant employment issue in many organizations
The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between job retention and business growth in order to shed light on potential policies to support the continuous growth of SMEs
In answer to research question 1, on how Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) view retention policies and their influence on employee attitudes, they focused on the importance of long-term, high-performance employees, as they are crucial to the creation of a collaborative organizational culture and foster commitment

Summary

Introduction

Why do employees stay with, or leave, a company and what can an SME do about it? Attracting and retaining talent is a significant employment issue in many organizations. The factors influencing employee turnover and job retention for business growth have been considerably researched e.g., [1,2,3]. Many ways to improve job satisfaction, and influence job retention and employee turnover, have been identified. The relationship between employee turnover and job retention is complementary and affects business growth. CEOs often seek to identify the best method of retaining employees, both new employees and experienced staff members, because turnover weakens productivity and performance [21]. Many studies on employee turnover and job retention have focused on the reasons why employees leave and ways to retain them. The relationship between employee turnover and job retention may be mediated various other factors including by the alignment of employee needs and company policy

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