Investigating the Impact of HRM Practices on Turnover Intentions in Malaysia’s ICT Sector

This research examines the impact of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices on ICT employee’s turnover intentions in Malaysia: recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, performance appraisal and work life balance. The Malaysian government is indicating support for knowledge-based economy with initiatives towards strategic Information Communication Technology (ICT); however, the high turnover rates, within this sector, undermines the stability of skilled labors potential. Perceived organizational support, perception of distributive justice in HR practices and rewards are further confirmed as predictors of employee turnover with the array of three well established theories namely Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Organizational Support Theory (OST). In order to study the relationships of HRM practices and turnover intentions data were collected from a cross-sectional survey of ICT employees. It concluded that recruitment practices, compensation, training and development programs, performance appraisals along with work-life balance policies were related to lower turnover intentions. Such findings, thus further reinforce the rationale for human resource management and turnover strategies to be implemented in order to give a competitive edge to organisations in Malaysia rapidly transforming ICT industry. The study contributes to HRM literature by offering implications for practitioners who may be interested in reducing turnover by advancing the existence of an association between higher retention and employee commitment with the positive impact of HRM. A longitudinal research approach, which future studies may opt for to extend the generalizability of our findings across industries and to explore HRM effects over time, can overcome this limitation of cross-sectional design.