Perceived learning opportunities, behavioral intentions and employee retention in technology organizations

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify the relation between perceived learning opportunities, behavioral intentions to voluntarily stay or leave technology organizations and employee retention within these organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a survey of 440 employees of a technology organization.

Findings

Learning opportunities perceived by managers and technicians presented significant positive correlations with the intention to stay and significant negative correlations with the intention to leave the organization. No relation was identified between perceived learning opportunities and manager retention. Among technicians, the correlation between perceived learning opportunities and retention was near zero.

Practical implications

If the organization wants to guarantee the intention of professionals to stay in the organization, the “perceived learning opportunities” indicator should have a similar level of importance as other objective indicators, such as performance and achievement.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to identify relations between perceived learning opportunities and behavioral intention to stay and leave of professionals that work in technology organizations.

Citation

Steil, A.V., de Cuffa, D., Iwaya, G.H. and Pacheco, R.C.d.S. (2020), "Perceived learning opportunities, behavioral intentions and employee retention in technology organizations", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 147-159. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-04-2019-0045