Career management strategies among IT professionals in offshore outsourced IT firms in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is explore career management strategies used by information technology (IT) professionals full‐time employed in offshore outsourced IT firms in Sri Lanka; and to evaluate those against hierarchical plateau, job content plateau, firm size, and individual demographic characteristics that may predict the use.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey methodology was used and a random sample of 119 IT professionals responded. Multiple regression was used for the data analysis.

Findings

Career management strategies used by IT professionals could be broadly categorised into four areas. Hierarchical career plateau and age significantly predict the use of career strategies.

Originality/value

The study provides useful information for both practitioners and academics to better understand career strategies used by IT professionals in managing their own careers and factors that predict the use of career strategies.

Citation

Wickramasinghe, V. and Jayaweera, M. (2011), "Career management strategies among IT professionals in offshore outsourced IT firms in Sri Lanka", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 30 No. 9, pp. 914-926. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711111164376