Highly engaged, less likely to quit? – A theoretical perspective on work engagement and turnover in agile information systems development projects

Agile information systems development (ISD) has become a popular way to manage IT projects. One of the key claims of agile ISD is to increase employees’ work outcomes. At the same time, organizations increasingly struggle to gain and retain qualified IT professionals. Aim of this research is to understand how agile practices influence employees’ work engagement and, as a result, their turnover intention. In order to gain empirical evidence, we propose a theoretical model based on the conservation of resources theory. Practical and theoretical implications demonstrate what conclusions can be made regarding the influence of agile ISD on resources, work engagement and intention to quit and what companies can do to retain their IT employees in ISD projects.