AbstractsPsychology

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Talent retention is currently an international challenge across industries, and especially for academic staff at higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa. It may be argued that HEIs are more dependent on the intellectual and creative abilities and commitment of their academic staff than most other organisations. For an HEI to maintain a long-term trajectory of excellence in terms of both research outputs and teaching, a strong focus on retaining a younger generation of skilled academics is needed. Unfortunately, in many fields HEIs have to compete with industry to retain these employees. At the same time, the academic profession has increasingly fallen behind the private sector in terms of remuneration, amongst others, resulting in a shortage of young academics in South African HEIs. An investigation into the intention to quit amongst Generation Y academics at HEIs therefore is justifiable. A mixed-method research design, including both qualitative (focus groups and blog) and quantitative phases (a self-administered questionnaire), was applied. Academics (n = 189) at six HEIs in South Africa were sampled. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients indicate that employee engagement, transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and remuneration, reward and recognition have a significant negative impact on intention to quit. Based on the multiple regression and partial least square (PLS) path modelling results, it was found that only employee engagement and job satisfaction have a significant negative impact on intention to quit. Therefore, the latter variables have the most significant impact on intention to quit amongst the sampled population. However, the PLS path modelling results suggest that, by including employee engagement, transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and remuneration, reward and recognition in the prediction of intention to quit, 45% of the variance will be explained. Relationships between the independent variables were also found: between employee engagement and job satisfaction; between transformational leadership and employee engagement; between transformational leadership and job satisfaction; and between remuneration, reward and recognition and job satisfaction. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on intention to quit among academics, and specifically the sought-after Generation Y academics. The findings serve as input for the development of efficacious retention strategies and mechanisms to retain Generation Y academics at HEIs in South Africa. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Talentretensie is tans 'n internasionale uitdaging in verskeie industrieë en veral vir akademiese personeel in hoëronderwysinstansies (HOI's) in Suid-Afrika. Dit kan aangevoer word dat HOI's meer afhanklik is van die intellektuele en kreatiewe vermoëns en toewyding van hulle akademiese personeel as diemeeste ander organisasies. Vir 'n HOI om 'n langtermyn-bestaan van uitnemendheid in terme van navorsingsuitsette en onderrig te handhaaf,…