One road to turnover: An examination of work exhaustion in technology professionals

The concept of work exhaustion (or job burnout) from the management and psy chology research literature is examined in the context of technology profes sionals. Data were collected from 270 IT professionals and managers in vari ous industries across the United States. Through structural equation modeli ng, work exhaustion was shown to partially mediate the effects of workplace factors on turnover intention, in addition, the results of the study revea led that: (1) technology professionals experiencing higher levels of exhaus tion reported higher intentions to leave the job and, (2) of the variables expected to influence exhaustion (work overload, role ambiguity and conflic t, lack of autonomy and lack of rewards), work overload was the strongest c ontributor to exhaustion in the technology workers. Moreover, exhausted IT professionals identified insufficient staff and resources as a primary caus e of work overload and exhaustion. Implications for practice and future res earch are discussed.