Career anchors of United States Air Force information systems workers: a turnover predictor?

ABSTRACT

Companies throughout the world have been challenged by poor retention and high turnover of their information systems (IS) employees. The United States Air Force (USAF) has experienced the same trend in its IS workforce. This study measured the career anchors, job satisfaction, and turnover intention of USAF IS workers (n = 2,724) to determine if those whose job type and career anchor matched reported higher satisfaction and lower turnover intention than those whose job type and career anchor did not match. Results suggest that USAF IS workers are significantly different than civilian IS workers in what they consider important in a career. Specifically, USAF IS workers appear to place an overriding importance on job security, service, and life-style factors, but do exhibit underlying technical and managerial anchors as was discovered through an analysis of "relative anchors". Finally, results suggest that job type and career anchor compatibility alone may not be an adequate predictor of job satisfaction or turnover intention.

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INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
air force, career anchor, employee turnover, information systems workers, military personnel, retention