The study of the turnover of MIS professionals—The gap between Taiwanese and US societies

There are two issues relating to the turnover of MIS professionals that remain largely unexplored in the literature: (1) the relationship between the turnover and career anchors of MIS professionals; and (2) the role played by national culture in this relationship. Due to the fact that MIS professionals often process significant information by means of specific technical skills in organizations, high turnover rates among these professionals create problems for organizations. Traditionally, MIS professionals have been considered different from other professionals. Therefore, identifying MIS professionals’ motivation for job change and resolving problems they encounter may lead to a reduction in the turnover rate of these professionals in organizations. In this study, 353 MIS professionals in Taiwan were interviewed to identify their career anchors and motivation for job change. The result indicates the value of exploring a new category of anchor—“learning motivation”. The result also suggests that the anchor of greatest concern for these professionals is lifestyle, followed by organizational stability and learning motivation. The finding of this study differs from those made in a US context, where service is ranked top. Finally, this study posits three propositions related to career anchors and cultural factors across different ages.