Potential reasons for software employees in small companies to leave their present company

Three hundred fifty-nine software professionals in 11 software companies of different size categories were studied in terms of potential reasons for leaving their present company. The most important reasons for the sample as a whole were salary, more experience, more interesting and challenging work, need for a change, and promotion. Those people in the companies with less than 50 people were significantly more likely to want to leave to run their own company, go to a more successful company, or obtain an equity stake, or because their present company was getting too large. Those in larger companies were significantly more likely to want to leave to obtain promotion, because the present company were getting too large, or to obtain more challenging work. These results support previous findings and also suggest that research criteria for smaller companies should include characteristics associated with the effects of different organizational size. The implications for managers suggest that the particular demands of those with a small-organization rather than a large-organization mentality need to be taken into account