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Article
Publication date: 5 June 2009

Indira R. Guzman and Jeffrey M. Stanton

As the shortage in the information technology (IT) workforce continues, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the cultural dimensions of IT occupations that attract…

3901

Abstract

Purpose

As the shortage in the information technology (IT) workforce continues, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the cultural dimensions of IT occupations that attract or drive away potential IT professionals. In the present study, the authors take an occupational culture approach to study the cultural fit of newcomers to IT occupations and to understand how young people perceive the culture embedded in this occupational community as they become part of it.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors take a sequential mixed methodology approach composed of two phases, one qualitative and the other quantitative. In the first phase of the study, nine focus groups and 27 interviews with college students were conducted to learn about the challenges and barriers that they personally experienced while becoming part of the IT occupational community. The second phase used results from the first qualitative phase to design a survey instrument that was administered to 215 IT college students who were currently or had recently been involved in IT work experience to evaluate their cultural fit to the IT occupational culture (ITOC) and its influence on their occupational commitment.

Findings

The results suggest that women, ethnic minorities and those with less work experience encountered greater difficulty fitting into different dimensions of ITOC. The results also showed that cultural fit is a good predictor of occupational commitment and affective commitment in particular.

Practical implications

An initial survey instrument was developed to measure cultural fit to ITOC. This instrument can be further modified and adapted to be used in the hiring process by HR departments to measure cultural fit to organizational subcultures, such as the one in the IT occupational group.

Originality/value

This paper constitutes an important contribution to the rigor and development of the theory and research of human resources in information technologies.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 June 2022

Diana K. Young, Alexander J. McLeod and Darrell Carpenter

In response to the tech skills gap, this research paper aims to examine the influence of occupational characteristics, gender and work-life balance on IT professionals'…

1716

Abstract

Purpose

In response to the tech skills gap, this research paper aims to examine the influence of occupational characteristics, gender and work-life balance on IT professionals' satisfaction with and commitment to their chosen occupation. In addition, the authors explore occupational differences across these investigated factors.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed a survey research method and partial least squares (PLS) modeling using 293 responses collected from professionals representing five clusters of Information Technology (IT) occupations. Authors further conducted exploratory post-hoc analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests to check for significant differences in key constructs across five IT occupational clusters.

Findings

Occupational characteristics were found to be significantly related to respondents' occupational satisfaction while work-life balance was associated with their level of occupational commitment. Authors also found that that the influence of work-life balance on occupational commitment was more positive for females than for males. Finally, significant differences were found for task significance, task variety, task autonomy, work-life balance and compensation across the five occupational clusters examined.

Originality/value

A key contribution of this study is the focus on IT professionals' satisfaction with and commitment to their chosen occupation rather than a job, organization or profession. Accordingly, the authors contribute a nuanced understanding of an occupation as a facet of job, professional and career outcomes. Authors also explore how gender moderates the influence of work-life balance on occupational commitment. Finally, rather than treating the IT profession as a unified whole as has been done in most prior studies, authors explore satisfaction and commitment related differences across occupational clusters.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. 36 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 November 2015

Verena Eberhard, Stephanie Matthes and Joachim Gerd Ulrich

Human beings are dependent upon social approval to strengthen their identities. Therefore, they practice impression management: They anticipate which behaviour provokes which…

Abstract

Human beings are dependent upon social approval to strengthen their identities. Therefore, they practice impression management: They anticipate which behaviour provokes which reactions in their social environment, and they tend to exhibit the kind of behaviour that promises positive feedback. Based on the assumption that human beings also show this behaviour in their choice of vocation, we hypothesise that young people are more likely to expect negative reactions from their social environment when choosing a gender-atypical occupation. Furthermore, we assume that the expected reaction of the social environment influences vocational orientation: The anticipation of negative reactions to gender-atypical vocational choice might contribute to explain why young people ignore this occupation. We tested both hypotheses with the help of data retrieved from a survey of young people in Germany who are interested in vocational education and training (VET). The results support our hypotheses; however, they also show that the relevance of a gender-typed vocational choice is weaker if adolescents have a higher educational background. In this case, the choice of an occupation that expresses a high educational status becomes more important. It may lead to an exclusive kind of social approval that is denied to people with a lower educational background.

Details

Gender Segregation in Vocational Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-347-1

Book part
Publication date: 1 April 2003

Trond Petersen, Eva M. Meyersson Milgrom and Vemund Snartland

We report three findings in a comprehensive study of hourly wage differences between women and men working in same occupation and establishment in Sweden in 1970–1990. (1) Within…

Abstract

We report three findings in a comprehensive study of hourly wage differences between women and men working in same occupation and establishment in Sweden in 1970–1990. (1) Within same occupation and establishment in 1990, women on average earn 1.4% less than men among blue-collar workers, 5.0% less among white-collar employees. This occupation-establishment level wage gap declined strongly from 1970 to 1978. (2) For white-collar employees, occupational segregation accounts for much of the wage gap, establishment segregation for little. For blue-collar workers both types of segregation are important. (3) The within-occupation gaps are small, below 4% and 7% for blue- and white-collar workers.

Details

The Governance of Relations in Markets and Organizations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-202-3

Article
Publication date: 4 October 2011

Gregor Gall

This paper aims to examine the more militant response of a minority of workers to collective redundancy and restructuring in Britain since 2007.

1759

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the more militant response of a minority of workers to collective redundancy and restructuring in Britain since 2007.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper deploys secondary sources to develop a series of grounded micro‐factors to help explain the presence and absence of the deployment of the occupation tactic.

Findings

Some headway is made in explaining why only a limited number of occupations took place against redundancy and restructuring.

Practical implications

The method of occupation was not shown to be as effective as might have been thought in opposing redundancies.

Social implications

These concern union strategies and tactics for resistance to redundancy and restructuring.

Originality/value

The paper provides a grounded explanation of the phenomenon and incidence of worker occupations against collective redundancy and closure.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 June 2016

Gianmarco Savio

Scholars have shown that organizations active in social movements are important because they carry out a number of critical tasks such as recruitment, coordination, and sustained…

Abstract

Scholars have shown that organizations active in social movements are important because they carry out a number of critical tasks such as recruitment, coordination, and sustained contention. However, these accounts do not explain how a number of recent movements using the tactic of occupation and featuring a seemingly minimal formal organizational structure nevertheless engaged in a number of critical organizational tasks. This paper draws from in-depth ethnographic research on the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City and finds that the movement’s sustained occupation of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan carried out four critical functions: messaging, recruitment, building commitment, and connecting participants to each other. These findings move past a general overemphasis in the literature on social movements on organizational structure, and instead point toward the utility of a perspective that accounts for the role of nonorganizational factors in the accomplishment of fundamental movement tasks.

Details

Protest, Social Movements and Global Democracy Since 2011: New Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-027-5

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 25 February 2016

Nicole Fortin and Thomas Lemieux

This paper seeks to connect changes in the structure of wages at the occupation level to measures of the task content of jobs. We first present a simple model where skills are…

Abstract

This paper seeks to connect changes in the structure of wages at the occupation level to measures of the task content of jobs. We first present a simple model where skills are used to produce tasks, and changes in task prices are the underlying source of change in occupational wages. Using Current Population Survey (CPS) wage data and task measures from the O*NET, we document large changes in both the within and between dimensions of occupational wages over time, and find that these changes are well explained by changes in task prices likely induced by technological change and offshoring.

Details

Inequality: Causes and Consequences
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78560-810-0

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

Susan Michie and Debra L. Nelson

The purpose of this study was to determine if perceptions that women and men hold toward careers in information technology (IT) and toward women working in IT create potential…

6575

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine if perceptions that women and men hold toward careers in information technology (IT) and toward women working in IT create potential barriers that may prevent women managers from pursuing careers in IT.

Design/methodology/approach

A field study was designed to test the hypotheses. The subjects were graduate students pursuing either an MBA or IT management degree.

Findings

The results revealed that males had greater self‐efficacy for IT occupations, greater passion for computing, and less positive attitudes toward capabilities of women in IT. Our prediction that career barriers would intensify for women who chose an IT management option was not supported. These findings suggest that traditional work role expectations concerning women's efficacy for careers in IT still persist.

Research limitations/implications

This research was limited by its focus on subjects in the early stages of a management career. To gain a better understanding of the barriers that women face in IT career fields, longitudinal studies are needed to track these barriers throughout the career development process.

Practical implications

If organisations want to attract, retain, and advance women managers in IT fields, they must proactively address gender role biases and create work environments that build self‐efficacy expectations for women, as well as for men.

Originality/value

Much of the research on career barriers women face in IT is based on qualitative studies and anecdotal evidence. This study provides empirical evidence that barriers still exist for women in IT despite the enhanced demand for IT professionals and managers over the past decade.

Details

Women in Management Review, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0964-9425

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 11 May 2017

Arnaud Chevalier

Employers regularly complain of a shortage of qualified scientists and advocate that to remain competitive more scientists need to be trained. However, using a survey of graduates…

Abstract

Employers regularly complain of a shortage of qualified scientists and advocate that to remain competitive more scientists need to be trained. However, using a survey of graduates from British universities, I report that 3 years after graduation less than 50% of graduates from science subjects are working in a scientific occupation.

Accounting for selection into major and occupation type, I estimate the wages of graduates and report that the wage premium of science graduates only occurs when these graduates are matched to a scientific occupation – and not because science skills are in demand in all occupations. I also provide additional evidence to assess whether science graduates are pushed or pulled into non-scientific occupations. Altogether, the evidence does not support the claim that science graduates are pulled by better conditions, financial or otherwise, into non-scientific jobs.

Details

Skill Mismatch in Labor Markets
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-377-7

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 December 2013

Bastian Ravesteijn, Hans van Kippersluis and Eddy van Doorslaer

Health is distributed unequally by occupation. Workers on a lower rung of the occupational ladder report worse health, have a higher probability of disability and die earlier than…

Abstract

Health is distributed unequally by occupation. Workers on a lower rung of the occupational ladder report worse health, have a higher probability of disability and die earlier than workers higher up the occupational hierarchy. Using a theoretical framework that unveils some of the potential mechanisms underlying these disparities, three core insights emerge: (i) there is selection into occupation on the basis of initial wealth, education and health, (ii) there will be behavioural responses to adverse working conditions, which can have compensating or reinforcing effects on health and (iii) workplace conditions increase health inequalities if workers with initially low socio-economic status choose harmful occupations and don’t offset detrimental health effects. We provide empirical illustrations of these insights using data for the Netherlands and assess the evidence available in the economics literature.

Details

Health and Inequality
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-553-1

Keywords

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