Determinants of turnover intentions of librarians at the City of Johannesburg libraries in Gauteng province, South Africa

Abstract

Organisations, including public libraries, are confronted with the challenges of managing, controlling and putting in place retention strategies to mitigate against high turnover intention. Turnover intention can bring devastation to an organisation and can also lead to negative consequences such as decreased morale and productivity, shortage of skilled and qualified librarians, direct and indirect costs to the library organisation. This quantitative study employed the census method and adopted the cross-sectional survey design, including the use of a structured questionnaire to collect data from 174 librarians at the City of Johannesburg Libraries (COJLIS) in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings in relation to demographic factors revealed that the majority of the librarians (51%) who have been with the library organisation for a considerable length of time report (length of service) exhibited turnover intention . Findings further showed that the majority of librarians are mostly dissatisfied with organisational determinants, namely: payment and fringe benefits, working environment: flexi working hours (work-life balance) and promotion and recognition which are significant predictors of turnover intention. It is recommended that in order to mitigate turnover intention and increase retention, strategic initiatives should be developed which could incorporate the variables such as payment and fringe benefits, promotion and recognition.