Does Professionalism Matter in the IT Workforce? An Empirical Examination of IT Professionals

This paper investigates the role of professionalism in the information technology (IT) workforce. We develop a model that describes how professionalism relates to attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors among IT professionals. Specifically, we hypothesize that dimensions of professionalism influence attitudes (including intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment), perceived job alternatives, job performance, and turnover. We test the research model with data, which includes supervisor evaluations and actual turnover data drawn from 214 IT professionals. Results show that some dimensions of professionalism demonstrate a positive relationship with intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, and job performance. Other dimensions have no effect or positively influence awareness of job alternatives, driving turnover intention. As the IT workforce grows increasingly professional, managers may benefit from more satisfied, harder-working IT personnel at the cost of having a workforce more connected to the labor market

Early Career Development Processes of Women and Men Resource Managers in the USDA Forest Service

The purpose of this study was to understand the similarities and differences in the early careers of women and men resource managers in Regions 4 and 6 of the U.S. Forest Service (FS). Since the early family socialization of boys and girls has been shown to differ, it was hypothesized that differences would also be found in the early career goals of men and women and in their ability to fit into an organization like the Forest Service, experience personal satisfaction, and become contributing, productive members. Although more similarities than differences were observed, women had slightly different definitions of two important career goals: service to an important cause and becoming a competent manager. Both men and women possessed similar career goals and were experiencing similar levels of early career success. Immediate supervisors on first permanent FS assignment had a much stronger influence on the early careers of the women in the study

Work Alienation among IT Workers: A Cross-Cultural Gender Comparison

Information Technology (IT) has experienced a worrisome decline in female participation over two decades, much of which can be attributed to fewer women choosing IT careers. However, women IT professionals also demonstrate mid-career turnover for reasons such as work-life balance, work exhaustion, role ambiguity, role conflict, and growth needs. This study explores alienation among women IT professionals and examines factors that lead to work alienation and abandonment of IT careers. Such alienation appears to be less prevalent in Asian countries where women perceive IT careers to be more conducive to female participation. A comparison among women from American and Asian cultures is proposed

Measuring career anchors and investigating the role of career anchor congruence

This thesis empirically examines the career orientations inventory (COI) as a measure of career anchors and then, using this measure, it goes on to investigate the relationship between career anchor congruence and work related outcomes, specifically job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The psychometric properties of the 40 item COI (presented by Igbaria and Baroudi,\ud 1993) were explored by the administration of the measure to a sample of 658 individuals from 27 organisations in the UK. Through factor analysis an eight factor structure was demonstrated in line with that proposed by Schein (1993). The factor structure was replicated with a second sample. The COI demonstrated good levels of internal consistency (.59-.83) and test retest reliability (.68-.90). Similarly it was deemed to have acceptable levels of face validity and construct validity when compared to Mantech’s (1983) Work Values Questionnaire (WVQ). An analysis of the prevalence of career anchors and the demographic differences\ud within the current sample was undertaken. This analysis provided evidence to suggest that certain career anchors may be increasing in prevalence while others are\ud decreasing. These findings are in line with current research on the way in which workplace changes are impacting upon careers (Baruch, 2004). Evidence was found\ud that indicated gender differences in scores on the COI subscales. Specifically women were found to score higher on the lifestyle anchor and men to score higher on the general management anchor. Differences were also found between the age groups considered in this study in the general management, creativity, pure challenge and lifestyle anchors. Interaction effects for age and gender were found\ud for the general management and sense of service anchors.\ud The COI was then used to develop a commensurate measure of job career anchors. This job career anchor measure discriminated between jobs within one police\ud organisation. The measure was then used to explore the relationship between career anchors, career anchor congruence (congruence between individual and job\ud career anchors), job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Evidence was found to suggest that career anchors and career anchor congruence have a direct\ud effect on job satisfaction (predicting 10% and 4% of the variance respectively). The analysis also showed support for the role of career anchor congruence as a\ud moderator to the relationship between career anchors and job satisfaction. This thesis makes full consideration of the academic contributions and practical implications of the research presented whilst also considering its limitations. A number of suggestions for the direction of future research have been made

Ghanaian Teachers’ Career Orientations and Their Turnover Intentions

The study empirically investigated what career anchors were dominant among Ghanaian teachers, and whether the teachers’ career orientations significantly influenced their turnover intentions. The study employed the quantitative survey design and sampled 297 teachers (141 males, 156 females) from basic schools (year 1-9) and senior high schools (year 10-12). The average age of the participants was 31.4 years. Two sets of standardized instruments – Schein’s 8-factor Career Orientations Inventory and the 3-item Turnover Intention Scale from the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire were adapted to collect data for the study. The data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that, of the eight measures of the Career Orientations Inventory, service and dedication to a cause, entrepreneurial creativity and functional competence were the most dominant among the teachers. Concerning the influence of the various career anchor measures on turnover intentions, the results indicate that, all the anchors, except security and stability and service and dedication to cause, significantly influenced turnover intentions of teachers. The implications of these results are discussed and recommendations made to help curb teacher attrition in Ghanaian schools. Keywords: Career orientation, carer anchor, turnover intentions, teachers, Ghanaian

Entrepreneurship by circumstances and abilities: the mediating role of job satisfaction and moderating role of self-efficacy

Prior studies have found that job dissatisfaction and self-efficacy are significant factors influencing individuals’ entrepreneurial propensity. Existing literature on entrepreneurship often regards job dissatisfaction as an entrepreneurial push factor and self-efficacy as an entrepreneurial pull factor. The argument is that individuals who are dissatisfied with their jobs are more likely to seek alternative mode of employment such as self-employment. In other words, poor job circumstances may push individuals to leave their paid employment to start their own businesses. On the other hand, personal abilities such as self-efficacy may pull individuals toward starting their own businesses in areas where they are confident and competent in. Despite the importance of job dissatisfaction and self-efficacy for new venture creation, few if any studies have examined the entrepreneurial phenomena from a holistic perspective. Utilizing concepts from the P-E fit and self-efficacy literatures, this paper argues that the path to entrepreneurship is a multi-faceted interactive process between individuals’ personal attributes and their work environment. We specifically examined how IT professional’s personal attributes such as innovation orientation and self-efficacy condition individuals for an entrepreneurial career in unsatisfactory work environments.

Measuring Career Anchors and Investigating the Role of Career Anchor Congruence.

This thesis empirically examines the career orientations inventory (COI) as a measure of career anchors and then, using this measure, it goes on to investigate the relationship between career anchor congruence and work related outcomes, specifically job satisfaction and organisational commitment. The psychometric properties of the 40 item COI (presented by Igbaria and Baroudi, 1993) were explored by the administration of the measure to a sample of 658 individuals from 27 organisations in the UK. Through factor analysis an eight factor structure was demonstrated in line with that proposed by Schein (1993). The factor structure was replicated with a second sample. The COI demonstrated good levels of internal consistency (.59-.83) and test retest reliability (.68-.90). Similarly it was deemed to have acceptable levels of face validity and construct validity when compared to Mantech’s (1983) Work Values Questionnaire (WVQ). An analysis of the prevalence of career anchors and the demographic differences within the current sample was undertaken. This analysis provided evidence to suggest that certain career anchors may be increasing in prevalence while others are decreasing. These findings are in line with current research on the way in which workplace changes are impacting upon careers (Baruch, 2004). Evidence was found that indicated gender differences in scores on the COI subscales. Specifically women were found to score higher on the lifestyle anchor and men to score higher on the general management anchor. Differences were also found between the age groups considered in this study in the general management, creativity, pure challenge and lifestyle anchors. Interaction effects for age and gender were found for the general management and sense of service anchors. The COI was then used to develop a commensurate measure of job career anchors. This job career anchor measure discriminated between jobs within one police organisation. The measure was then used to explore the relationship between career anchors, career anchor congruence (congruence between individual and job career anchors), job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Evidence was found to suggest that career anchors and career anchor congruence have a direct effect on job satisfaction (predicting 10% and 4% of the variance respectively). The analysis also showed support for the role of career anchor congruence as a moderator to the relationship between career anchors and job satisfaction. This thesis makes full consideration of the academic contributions and practical implications of the research presented whilst also considering its limitations. A number of suggestions for the direction of future research have been made

Understanding turnover intentions and behavior of Indian information systems professionals: A study of organizational justice, job satisfaction and social norms

Despite the phenomenal growth projected for the Indian information technology (IT) industry, one of the biggest challenges it faces is the high rate of turnover in offshore Indian-based supplier firms (Everest Research Group 2011). In this dissertation, we explored the following determinants of turnover intentions—social norms job attributes, job satisfaction, organizational alternatives, first order supervisory justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice) and second-order organizational justice measured by the first order justice dimensions. The research design was longitudinal to assess turnover behavior and its relationship with turnover intentions. Telephonic interviews were conducted with 75 Indian IS professionals based in India. Ten months later the respondents were contacted again to determine their actual turnover behavior. Data was quantitatively analyzed using PLS graph. Qualitative analysis using content analysis was also performed to gain deeper insights. Seven out of the 11 hypothesized relationships were supported. Three out of 4 dimensions of justice were found to be significantly and negatively related to turnover intentions- distributive, procedural and informational justice. Also, the second-order latent construct of overall organizational justice was found to be negatively related to turnover intentions. The hypothesized relationships between social norms and turnover intentions and between organizational alternatives and turnover intentions were not supported. Job attributes for tasks not involving client interaction (programming, testing and project management tasks) was found to be negatively related to job satisfaction. Finally, turnover intentions was found to positively relate to turnover behavior. We made important contributions to the literature of turnover by being one of the few studies actually measuring turnover behavior. Also, we addressed a gap in the literature of IS turnover of studying IS populations across different nations. We contributed to theory by testing a model of turnover that had new constructs not tested before, like overall organizational justice (second-order) and supervisory focused four first-order justice dimensions, and social norms. For future research, revised model of turnover relevant for Indian IS professionals is proposed-this involved adding new constructs like work life balance, stress, organizational satisfaction and removing constructs that did not find support in Indian contexts like organizational alternatives and social norms

The Relationship Between Retention Factors and Career Commitment

The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between retention factors and career commitment. The five factors that measured retention were compensation,training and development, job characteristic, supervisor support and promotion.Data were gathered through questionnaire survey of employee at ACM Sdn. Bhd. (n=253). Correlation and regression analysis were used of examine the relationship between retention factors and career commitment. The results indicated that compensation, training and development, job characteristic, supervisor support and promotion were positively correlated with career commitment. The multiple regression results suggest that compensation were the most important factors in influencing career commitment. The findings were discussed and recommendations for further research were also addressed