Retaining millennial professionals: Strategies for sustaining tech industry talent in Malaysia
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DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.24(3).2026.07
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Article InfoVolume 24 2026, Issue #3, pp. 95–106
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Type of the article: Research Article
Abstract
Highly skilled and experienced professionals are essential to most profit-making organizations to sustain and remain competitive. This study aims to examine the central challenge of retaining skilled professionals in Malaysia, a key factor in sustaining organizational competitiveness and long-term profitability. A sample of 200 millennials was used to evaluate the potential for employee retention in relation to work-life balance, work environment, compensation, and supervisor support. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships among the constructs. The analysis shows that compensation (β = 0.353, t = 2.869, p = 0.002, f2 = 0.153) is the strongest predictor of employee retention, followed by work environment (β = 0.283, t = 1.653, p = 0.049, f2 = 0.082) and work-life balance (β = 0.246, t = 2.253, p = 0.012, f2 = 0.097). Together, these three factors explain 66.6% of the variance (R2 = 0.666) in employee retention, which is considered substantial. In contrast, supervisor support (β = 0.080, t = 0.681, p = 0.248, f2 = 0.010) does not significantly influence employee retention. Overall, the results show that financial rewards, supportive working conditions, and work-life balance are key drivers of professional retention in Malaysia. Instead of losing highly skilled employees to competitors, it is important to retain them by offering competitive pay, a positive work environment, and a fair work-life balance.
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JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)J28, J63, M12
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References58
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Tables11
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Figures0
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- Table 1. Respondents’ characteristics
- Table 2. Measurement items
- Table 3. Loadings, AVE, and composite reliability
- Table 4. Fornell and Larcker сriterion
- Table 5. Heterotrait-monotrait criterion
- Table 6. Variance inflator factor (VIF)
- Table 7. Hypotheses testing results
- Table 8. Model fit
- Table 9. PLS predict
- Table 10. Predictive power
- Table A1. Cross-loading
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