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

Organisations, including public libraries, are confronted with the challenges of managing, controlling and putting in place retention strategies to mitigate high turnover intention. Turnover intention can bring devastation to an organisation, leading to consequences such as decreased morale and productivity, shortage of skilled and qualified staff, and direct and indirect costs to the organisation. This quantitative study employed the census method and adopted a case study design, with an embedded survey design, making use of a structured questionnaire to collect data from 174 librarians at the City of Johannesburg Libraries 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 who have been with the library organisation for a considerable length of time exhibited turnover intention. Findings further showed that the majority of librarians were mostly dissatisfied with organisational determinants, namely: payment and fringe benefits, working environment (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 variables such as payment and fringe benefits, promotion and recognition.