Digital Transformation Stressors, Perceived Corporate Governance Mechanisms, and Employees' Turnover Intention in Malaysian SMEs: The Mediating Role of Job Dissatisfaction

Tan, Jian Jun (2026) Digital Transformation Stressors, Perceived Corporate Governance Mechanisms, and Employees' Turnover Intention in Malaysian SMEs: The Mediating Role of Job Dissatisfaction. Masters thesis, Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

In recent years, the escalating rate of voluntary employee turnover has emerged as a formidable challenge, posing severe threats to organisational stability, intellectual capital, and long-term sustainability. Malaysian SMEs, which form the vital backbone of the national economy, are inherently susceptible due to their resource constraints, limited retention capacities, and heightened exposure to systemic workplace stressors. As these enterprises navigate a relentlessly digitalising business landscape, employees increasingly grapple with intense technological demands, job insecurity, and the pressure to adapt, all of which precipitate a highly stressful and volatile work environment. While traditional research has largely concentrated on financial motivations or individual personality traits behind quitting behaviour, a critical theoretical gap remains in understanding how structural organisational buffers and modern psychological stressors interact to influence employees’ intention to leave. Addressing this imperative gap within the context of Malaysian SMEs, this study investigates the multi-dimensional determinants of employees’ turnover intention by examining job insecurity perception, digitalisation-induced technostress, job dissatisfaction, robust internal control mechanisms, and ethical organisational culture. Specifically, it explores the deleterious direct effects of two workplace stressors (job insecurity perception, digitalisation-induced technostress) on turnover intention, with job dissatisfaction posited as a critical mediating mechanism. Furthermore, the study assesses the buffering influence of two organisational factors (robust internal control mechanisms, ethical organisational culture) on turnover intention. In total, nine structural relationships are rigorously tested, forming a comprehensive model that integrates psychological and organisational determinants of turnover intentions.