A study of career needs, career development programs, job satisfaction and the turnover intentions of R&D personnel

TLDR

The study explores how gaps between career development programs and R&D personnel’s career needs influence job satisfaction and turnover intentions, aiming to inform career management practices. The authors surveyed 367 R&D staff at Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park using structured questionnaires. The survey revealed that R&D staff’s career needs vary across career stages, and that larger gaps between these needs and available development programs are linked to higher turnover intentions and lower job satisfaction, with managerial implications highlighted.

Abstract

This study set to explore the career needs and proposes the concept of the gap between career development programs and career needs, and its subsequent effect on job satisfaction, turnover intention, in an effort to contribute to the field of career management, through the effective integration of career needs and career development programs. Questionnaires were completed by 367 R&D personnel from Hsinchu Science‐based Industrial Park (HSIP) in the north of Taiwan. The results reveal that R&D personnel have very diverse career needs at various stages of their career, and that depending on which stage of their career they have reached. The result show that the larger the gap, the higher the levels of both turnover intentions and job dissatisfaction. Managerial implications of these findings are also discussed.