Career Development and Employee Retention: Unveiling the Connection among Executive Employees in Sri Lankan Microfinance Companies

Abstract

Employee Retention (ER) is a crucial concern for organization as it directly influences productivity, morale, and overall organizational success. Therefore, it is prudent for organizations to adopt the concept of career development to encourage employee retention and it is seen as a significant factor in achieving this goal. This study aims to examine the relationship between career development and employee retention. Data was collected from 132 executive employees who are currently working in selected microfinance companies via an online questionnaire. Study results revealed that ‘career development’, ‘development behavior’, ‘manager’s support for development’ and the ‘network’ have a positive impact on employee retention, while employee willingness to participate’ and ‘growth opportunities’ have no such positive impact on ER. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing practical insights to human resource managers in the microfinance sector and highlighting specific career development dimension that influence retention.