The Effect of Academic Environment on Turnover Intention of High-Skilled Scientific and Technology Professionals: Empirical Evidence from China’s First-Class Universities

The study constructs a theoretical framework for how the academic environment and job satisfaction affect the turnover intention of high-skilled science and technology talents (STPs), based on academic ecology theory and job satisfaction theory. Conducting a quantitative analysis based on survey data collected from 482 national-level STP recipients across 14 first-class universities, the study integrates descriptive statistics, ANOVA, OLS regression, and bias-corrected bootstrap mediation analysis to examine the relationships between these variables. Findings reveal that STPs exhibit relatively low overall turnover intention; however, significant regional disparities exist, with higher turnover intentions observed in central and western regions. Academic environment shows moderate overall positivity, with competition receiving the highest mean score. Both academic environment and job satisfaction significantly and negatively predict turnover intention. Furthermore, job satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between collaboration/democracy and turnover intention. Based on the findings, the study recommends that universities strengthen the institutional development of the academic environment to provide a favorable environment for talent development and scientific and technological innovation.