Career Anchors, National Culture and Leave Intent of MIS Professionals in Taiwan

This study focuses on the career anchors of MIS professionals and adopts the well-established career theory, Schein’s Career Anchors, as the fundamental theory in this study. The present paper attempts to investigate the relationship between career anchors and leave intent of MIS professionals in Taiwan. The study adds the cultural construct, Chinese Relationalism, into its research model, in order to comprehend the role of Chinese Relationalism in the context of the career anchor model. Three career anchors: technical competence, autonomy, and entrepreneurship, have direct (negative or positive) and significant impacts on the intents of MIS professionals to leave their employment. This study establishes that Chinese Relationalism impacts on the technical competence, geographical security, identity, lifestyle, and various career anchors of MIS professionals and also moderates the relationships between autonomy, entrepreneurship and the leave intent of MIS professionals in Taiwan. Academically, this study proposes a research model based upon career anchors and intent to leave, and adds Chinese Relationalism into this model. In addition, it develops a qualified reliability and validity questionnaire. Practically, the results of this study could provide enterprises with a useful point of reference for employing and retaining MIS professionals.