Impact of Workplace Culture and Leadership Styles on Job Hopping Behaviour Among Millennials in the IT Sector

Abstract

The rapid growth of the millennial workforce in the Information Technology (IT) industry has raised concerns about frequent job shifts and employee retention. Millennials have become a major challenge in organizations, particularly in the knowledge-based industry, where human capital is the most important factor. This paper discusses the implications of workplace culture and the type of leadership on job-hopping behaviour among millennial workers in the IT sector in Kerala, India. The study employed a quantitative research design in which the researcher relied on a structured questionnaire to gather primary data on 100 IT professionals. The data were analysed using SPSS to examine the data by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and independent-samples t-test. It is found that there were seven significant dimensions influenced by the job-hopping behaviour based on the factor analysis, including work environment, leadership support, work-life strain, priority on growth, empathetic leadership culture, and cultural satisfaction. The suitability of the data in terms of factor analysis was determined using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) of 0.701 and the Bartlett (  =875.836, p = 0.001) test. Internal consistency. The analysis of reliability demonstrated that the key constructs, such as the work environment (α = 0.777), leadership support (α =0.767), and work-life strain (α = 0.737), were acceptable. The correlation analysis showed that leadership support, work-life strain, and organizational culture all had strong correlations as well. The findings reveal that a good working environment, effective leadership, and career development prospects are significant factors that lead to lower turnover intentions among the millennial generation. The implications of the research to IT organisations are useful as it proposes that organizations should look at flexible working policies, understand leadership practices, and enable organizational cultures to increase employee retention and organizational stability