Exhaustion from Information System Career Experience: Implications for Turn-Away Intention1

Abstract

While the U.S. economy is recovering slowly, reports tell us that the supply of information systems (IS) professionals is declining and demand is once again on the rise. With organizations challenged in their efforts to hire additional staff, IS professionals are being asked to do even more, often leading to burnout, turnover, and turn-away intentions. Building on Ahuja et al.’s (2007) work on turnover intentions and using the job demands– resources model of burnout as an organizing framework for the antecedents to exhaustion from IS career experience (EISCE), this illustrative research note draws attention to exhaustion in IS professionals that spans an individual’s professional career. Findings indicate that IS professionals’ perceived workload (demand) was associated with higher levels of EISCE, whereas fairness and perceived control of career (resources) were associated with lower levels of EISCE. The influence of EISCE on affective commitment to the IS profession (ACISP) was found to be negative and, ultimately, ACISP fully mediated the effect of EISCE on the intention to turn away from an IS career. The results suggest the importance of studying IS professionals’ perceptions regarding the demands and resources associated with working in the IS field when testing exhaustion across IS career experience.

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