Reasons Behind the Migration of Highly Qualified Employees from Turkiye: The Case of Software Developers and Engineers

Abstract

The emigration of highly skilled software developers and engineers from Turkey has gained momentum, leading to a shortage of technical staff in technology companies, particularly startups. In order to understand their motivations for migrating, interviews were conducted with software developers and engineers. The findings reveal that highly skilled individuals perceive their labor as undervalued in Turkey, both economically and in terms of social status. The international nature of the software industry makes it relatively easy for them to migrate to other countries or work for foreign companies remotely. They express that companies in their destination countries respect their work, private lives, and individuality. To address this issue, Turkish companies can consider measures such as assisting key employees in purchasing houses and cars, as well as supporting their families’ education and healthcare expenses, to ensure long-term loyalty. Furthermore, it is suggested that salaries for software developers should be adjusted to be more comparable to those abroad in terms of purchasing power. Failure to provide sufficient incentives may result in software exports falling short of expectations amidst this wave of migration.

Keywords

• Brain Drain
• Highly Skilled
• Software Developers
• Income
• Respect

References

1. Agafonoff, N. (2006). Adapting ethnographic research methods to ad hoc commercial market research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 9 (2). 115-125. google scholar
2. Akın, M. S. (2022). Three main factors in decision making process for migration: Decision Quality, implementation, timing. İzmir Journal of Economics , 37 (4) , 1022-1039. google scholar
3. Akın, M.S., & Demir, E. (2021). Ürün-müşteri memnuniyeti-kullanıcı deneyimi açısından erzincan kış turizminin değerlendirilmesi. Uluslararası Türk Dünyası Turizm Araştırmaları Dergisi 6(1), 193-207. google scholar
4. Aksoy, Z. (2012). Uluslararası göç ve kültürlerarası iletişim. Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 5 (20): 294-295 google scholar
5. Alkın, R. (2019). Öğrenci hareketlilikleri, göç ve yükseköğretimin uluslararasılaşması. Medeniyet ve Toplum Dergisi, 3 (1), 131-134. google scholar
6. Anas, M. U. Mohamed & Wickremasinghe, Seetha. (2010). Brain drain of the scientific community of developing countries: The case of Sri Lanka. Science & Public Policy - Sci Public Policy. 37. 381-388. google scholar
7. Atılgan, D. (1986). Beyin göçü. TKDB, 35(3), 27-36. google scholar
8. Bakırtaş, T., & Kandemir, O (2010). Gelişmekte olan ülkeler ve beyin göçü: Türkiye örneği. Kastamonu Üniversitesi Kastamonu Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 8(3), s. 961-974. google scholar

9. Blauner, R. (1964). Alienation and freedom: The factory worker and his industry. University of Chicago Press google scholar
10. Bowers, C. A., & Jentsch, F. (2005). Team workload. In N. Stanton, A. Hedge, K. Brookhuis, E. Salas, & H. Hendrick (Eds.), Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics Methods (pp.1-3). CRC Press. google scholar
11. Brown, D. (2000). Contemporary nationalism: civic, ethnocultural and multicultural politics. London: Routledge. google scholar
12. Çağlar, T. (2018). Göç çalışmaları için kavramsal bir çerçeve. Toros Üniversitesi İİSBF Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 5 (8), 26-49. google scholar
13. Çılbant, C , Karabıyık, C., & Yalçınkaya, H . (2018). Göç ve verimlilik ilişkisi: Türkiye ve Arupa Birliği örneği. Manisa Celal Bayar Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 16 (2), 117-128. google scholar
14. Crowley-Henry, M., O’ Connor, E., & Al Ariss, A. (2018). Portrayal of skilled migrants’ Careers in business and management studies: A review of the literatüre and future research agenda. European Management Review, 15(3), 375-394. google scholar
15. Davenport, S. (2004). Panic and panacea: Brain drain and science and technology human capital policy. Research Policy, 33, 617- 630. google scholar
16. De Haas, H. (2006). Engaging diaspora: How governments and development agencies can support diaspora involvement in the development of origin countries. International Migration Institute, Oxford University. google scholar
17. Deniz. T. (2014). Uluslararası göç sorunu perspektifinde Türkiye. Türkiye Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 18 (1), 175-204. google scholar
18. Devlet Planlama Teşkilatı. III. Kalkınma planı (1973-1978). DPT Yayınları: Ankara. google scholar
19. DeVoretz, D. J., & Pivnenko. S. (2004). The economic causes and consequences of Canadian citizenship. IZA DP No. 1395. google scholar
20. Durongkaveroj, W. (2018). Tolerance for inequality: Hirschman’s tunnel effect revisited. Australian National University Working Paper No.2018/23. google scholar
21. Easterly, W., & Nyarko, Y. (2008). Is the brain drain good for Africa?. Brookings Global Economy and Development Working Paper, (19). google scholar
22. Erdoğan, İ. (2003). Beyin göçü ve Türkiye. Kuram ve uygulamada eğitim bilimleri. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice 3(1), 85-100. google scholar
23. Erkal, M. (2011). Beyin göçü . Istanbul Journal of Sociological Studies , 0(18) , 73-80 . google scholar
24. Faulkner, L. (2003). Beyond the five-user assumption: Benefits of increased sample sizes in usability testing. Behavior research methods. Instruments, & Computers, 35, 379-383. google scholar
25. Genç, Y., Ustabaşı Gündüz, D., & Çöpoğlu, M . (2019). Göç ve kalkınma ilişkisi. Avrasya Uluslararası Araştırmalar Dergisi, 7(18) , 479-498 . google scholar
26. Grubel, H. B., & Scott, A. D. (1966). The International flow of human capital. The American Economic Review, 56 (1/2), 268-274. google scholar
27. Gupta, M., Shaheen M., & Reddy KP. Qualitative techniques for workplace data analysis. Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global. 2018. google scholar
28. Güler, E., & Başer, E. (2020). Kanada geyikleri. Erişim adresi: http://kanadageyikleri.com/index.php/hakkimizda/ google scholar
29. Halıcı, E. (2005). Sürdürülebilir gelişme, bilişim ve beyin göçü. İstanbul Organizasyon (Ed.), 8-11 Aralık 2005 Uluslararası Göç Sempozyumu Bildiriler içinde (s.257-260) İstanbul, Zeytinburnu Belediyesi. google scholar
30. Hart, S., & Staveland, L. (1988). Development of NASA-TLX (Task Load Index): Results of empirical and theoretical research. In P. Hancock & N. Meshkati (Eds.), Human mental workload (pp. 139-183). North Holland google scholar
31. Heller, F. A. (1971). Research on five styles of managerial decision-making: A study of leadership styles and power sharing. Tavistock Publication: London. google scholar
32. Hennink M., & Kaiser B.,N. (2022). Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: A systematic review of empirical tests. Soc Sci Med, Jan;292: 114523. google scholar
33. Hirschman, O. A. (1973). The changing tolerance for income inequality in the course of economic development. World Development, 1 (12), 29-36. google scholar
34. Hoppe, A., & Fujishiro, K. (2015). Anticipated job benefits, career aspiration, and generalized self-efficacy as predictors for migration decision-making. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 47, 13-27. google scholar
35. Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. (2nd ed.). Wiley. google scholar
36. Lindgren B-M, Lundman B., & Graneheim UH. (2020). Abstraction and interpretation during the qualitative content analysis process. Int J Nurs Stud. 108:103632. google scholar
37. Lowell, B. L., & Findlay, A. (2001). Migration of highly skilled persons from developing countries: impact and policy responses. (International migration papers 44), Report prepared for the International Labour Office (ILO), Geneva. google scholar
38. Malta, M. (2004). Stress at work, a concept in stress human factors limited. Business Psychology Strategy Development, 33, 125-133. google scholar
39. Mazzolari, F. (2009). Dual citizenship rights: Do they make more and richer citizens? Demography, 46 (1), 169-191. google scholar
40. Merdiyen Haber (2022). Yazılımcı göçü de başladı! https://www.meridyenhaber.com/bilim-teknoloji/yazilimci-gocu-de-basladi-bir-yilda-on-binlerce-kisi-gitti-h63336.html google scholar
41. Oğuzkan, T. (1971). Yurt dışında çalışan doktoralı Türkler. Türkiye’den başka ülkelere yüksek seviyede eleman göçü üzerinde bir araştırma. Ankara: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniveristesi Fen ve Edebiyat Fakültesi google scholar
42. Önder, E (2017). Seküler göç. Erişim adresi: https://140journos.com/sekuler-goc-d9515ff2d3a8 (Erişim tarihi: 21.07.2020). google scholar
43. Qureshi, K., Varghese, V. J., & Osella, F. (2013). Indian Punjabi skilled migrants in Britain: Of brain drain and under-employment. Journal of Management Development, 32(2), 182-190. google scholar
44. Rosenblatt, Z., & Sheaffer, Z. (2001). Brain drain in declining organizations: Toward a research agenda. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22(4), 409-424. google scholar
45. Sak, G. (2007). Sanayi politikaları. DPT Özel İhtisas Komisyonu: Ankara. google scholar
46. Salda, Ş. (2020). Göç hikayeleri. Erişim adresi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A05XHlScf0&t=42s google scholar
47. Schermerhorn, J. R. (1989). Management for productivity. Wiley: Ney York. google scholar
48. Shah, S. S., Jaffari, A. R., Aziz, J., Ejaz, W., Ui-Haq, I., & Raza, S. (2011). Workload and performance of employees. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(5), 256-267. google scholar
49. Statista (2022). World revenue of software. Retrieved from: www.statista.com google scholar
50. Tekin, U. (2011). Avrupa’ya göç ve Türkiye. İstanbul Üniversitesi Siyasal Bilgiler Fakültesi Dergisi, 0 (37), 43-56. google scholar
51. Tezcan, M. (1996). Küreselleşmenin eğitimsel boyutu. Eğitim ve Bilim, 22(108), 24-27. google scholar
52. Tonks, G. R., & Nelson, L. (2008). HRM: A contributor to employee alienation. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 16(1),1-17. google scholar
53. Tusiad (2022). TÜSİAD yazılım eko sisteminin geleceği. Erişim adresi: file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/turkiye-de-yazilim-ekosisteminin-gelecegi.pdf google scholar
54. United Nations. (2017). International migration report 2017: Highlights. Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Population Division, https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/migratio nreport/docs/MigrationReport2017_Highlights.pdf, Erişim Tarihi: 01.07.2022.University of Pittsburgh Press google scholar
55. University of Würzbur (2020). Turkey ranking. https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking google scholar
56. Wanniarachchi, H. E., Arachchilage J., Jayakody K, S., & Jayawardana, A. (2022) An organizational perspective on brain drain: What can organizations do to stop it? The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 33(8), 1489-1525. google scholar
57. Weng, Q. X., & Hu, B. (2009). The structure of career growth and its impact on employees’ turnover intentions. Industrial Engineering and Management, 14(1), 14-21. google scholar
58. Wong Kar-yiu , & Yip, Chong Kee (1999). Education, economic growth, and brain drain. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 23, 699-726. google scholar
59. World Justice Project (2022). Turkey ranking. Retrieved from: https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/country/Turkey google scholar