Perceptions of the mutual obligations between employees and employers: a comparative study of new generation IT professionals in China and the United States

Abstract

This study examines the psychological contract from the perspective of new IT recruits that are located in the US and China. Psychological contract emphasizes the mutual exchange between employees and employers. Three hundred and ninety-five questionnaire responses from the graduating classes in the information technology discipline in the US and China (Shanghai and Beijing) were analysed. The results of this exploratory study reveal that new IT recruits from China and the US hold many similar beliefs on employer–employee obligations, such as employers' obligations to provide high pay, job autonomy, long-term job security, financial reward for obtaining IT certificates, exciting projects and opportunities to work on leading-edge technology, and employees' obligations to work extra hours when needed, to be loyal and to volunteer to do non-required tasks. Cross-cultural differences do exist however. US IT recruits as a whole place greater emphasis than their Chinese counterparts on rapid career advancement, having a motivating boss and completion of assignments on time, but less emphasis than their Chinese counterparts on receiving project milestone bonuses. Findings also suggest that, although employees can be from the same overarching culture such as the Chinese culture that emphasizes collectivism, there exist strong subculture differences even within the same country. New IT recruits in Shanghai tend to have beliefs that are at times closer to the US IT professionals than to their fellow IT new recruits in Beijing. The differences across cultures and subcultures are more extensive among female than male IT new recruits.