Indian Information Technology Companies Research Articles

Teamwork self-efficacy and employee satisfaction: a sequential framework to build employee cohesion

The occupational psychological health of the employees is affected by the behavior of their peers in the workplace. To reduce psychological stress and improve the well-being of employees, organizations are focusing on developing coherence through various human resources practices. In the current business scenario, it is crucial to address psychological stress by building employee cohesion. The aim of this study is to analyze how employees’ teamwork self-efficacy influences group cohesion through employee satisfaction. This study followed a quantitative approach to test the data, which comprises 228 information technology (IT) professionals, working in top IT companies in India. This study used a partial least squares structural equation modeling approach to test the hypothesis. The results revealed that employees’ teamwork self-efficacy is not directly influencing employee cohesion, whereas it has a significant positive influence on an employee’s cohesion only with the mediation effect of an employee’s satisfaction. Predominantly, an employee’s extrinsic satisfaction has a greater influence on the aforesaid relationship than an employee’s intrinsic satisfaction. The results of this study suggest human resources development practitioners place more emphasis on delivering motivational benefits and providing collaboration-oriented interventions that strengthen teamwork self-efficacy, since these factors may directly affect employee cohesion given that a large portion of the respondents were young adults.

An adoption of sustainable business model: An empirical study identifying the success factors of IT service sector organizations

Being competitive has become essential to surviving in the current, rapidly evolving and highly dynamic corporate climate. Companies must streamline their operations if they want to remain competitive. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that have been applied successfully give businesses better practices and procedures. The article uses past literature to illustrate a new conceptual framework considering strategic, organizational, technological and environmental aspects for the effective implementation of ERP system in the information technology (IT) service sector. The primary focus is to find out the effectiveness of ERP deployment from the users’ perspective. For this analysis, information was gathered from 152 Indian IT companies that had already installed an ERP system. Factor analysis, both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, was used in the present study to find out the factors from the mentioned four perspectives. Structural equation modelling allows researchers to observe the relationships between the emerged factors. The findings suggest that end users of IT firms have recognized the value of emerging constructs for successful ERP implementation leading to sustainable firm growth, underscoring the significance of the suggested framework in their quest to become more competitive in the market.

The Relationship Between Stress and Remote Working in Indian Information Technology Companies

Purpose: While remote working is a common practice in Information Technology organization, it was mostly confined to a small percentage of employees. The COVID-19 pandemic forced several companies to swiftly adapt to a near 100 percentage remote working model. The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between Stress and Remote Working in the Indian IT companies. Design/Methodology/Approach: With multiple waves of infection, several companies are yet to return back to office. It is by now clear that, remote working is going to be way of life. Most companies are looking at a hybrid work model even after the pandemic era. However, it is important to realise that implementation of remote working is a much broader subject. Employees have been complaining of stress and fatigue while working from home. NASSCOM data has shown an increase in attrition across IT organizations. We decided to adopt the survey approach for studying work stress while working from home and the impact on the intent to stay amongst employees working in IT organizations. We followed the snowball sampling method and a total of 181 employees participated from IT Companies across India. A model was created to explore the relationship between Autonomy, Emotional Demands, Work Pressure, Work Engagement, Recognition, Intent to Leave and Stress. A PLS-SEM model was created and the relationships were analyzed. Findings: A total of six hypotheses were tested and the result was conclusive. The result corroborated with the fact that working from home is stressful and identified the factors that influence the stress. While remote working continues to be a preferred option, the concerns raised by the employees were valid and hence stress induing. We also spoke to a group of HR Managers to understand and solution some of the problems that surfaced in our survey. Together, we arrived at recommendations that could help address these concerns. As remote working is going to be a part of future work strategy, it is important to bring about these changes to immediately reduce the increasing attrition in Indian IT organizations. Research, Practical & Social implications: Organizations should understand that remote working is the future way forward. With more clients being open to have employees working from home it is important for the organizations to ensure that they provide a stress free work environment to their remote workers. While there could be other external factors that could induce stress, it is the responsibility of the organization to focus on the controllable factos. Originality/Value: While working from home is not new to Indian Indian IT companies they have allowed only a small percentage of their workforce to operate remotely. Most employees are allowed to work from home on a need basis. However, permanent work from home is generally discouraged. Remote working by majority workforce was uncommon before the pandemic and hence this topic was rarely researched. The recommendations provided based on our research study could help bridge the gaps and help organizations reduce the stress levels of their employees.

Organizational Inclusion and OCB: The Moderating Role of Inclusive Leadership

Diversity and inclusion are considered to be critical for organizational success. Increased workforce diversity due to multicultural organizations also increases the importance of maintaining harmony and productivity in the workplace. In light of the above, this research article aimed to find the effect of perception of inclusion practices in the workplace on organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Further, the moderating role of a leader was examined in the study to understand if the presence of an inclusive leader affects the relationship between organizational inclusion (OI) and OCB. Primary data was collected from 352 working professionals from 47 information technology companies in India indexed in BSE S&P (Bombay Stock Exchange) through a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical technique of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to analyse the data using AMOS 18. The study found that OI is positively associated with OCB. This indicated that if organizations initiate and manage inclusion in the workplace through their policies and practices, it will positively impact the organizational outcome. In a diverse country like India, the study is one of its kind to examine the interrelationships between inclusion, OCB and inclusive leadership. The study has strong policy implications highlighting the role of an inclusive leader, which is a niche research area.

Remote Onboarding Effectiveness in Indian it Industry During the Pandemic

Purpose: The outbreak and impact of COVID-19 has definitely caused the most drastic and rapid shift to the global workforce. The Information Technology (IT) industry was amongst early responders who adopted a remote working model. The aim of this study was to understand the effectiveness of remote onboarding experience in the IT companies. Design/methodology/approach: The perceived benefits of remote working such as creating valuable opportunities for cost saving and greater flexibility for staff has caused many businesses to understand it is a beneficial model of working in the future and hence adopt it. Now that remote working is here to stay, this research studied the experience of the employees who were recruited in the years 2019 and 2020 into various IT organisations. A survey was circulated to understand this effect and a total of 126 employees participated from 21 IT Companies across India. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was verified and the data was analyzed using SPSS V22. Findings: The results indicated that there is a significant difference in the joining experience between the two groups. The findings showed that the physical joining experience worked better as it helped in a higher employee satisfaction and hence helped learning the job faster. While the remote induction process seemed effective, the gaps pertain to lack of a structured onboarding process, knowledge transfer and supervisor interventions that are relevant for the remote working world. Research, Practical & Social implications: Organizations should understand the importance of making a good first impression with the new joiners. They should ensure smoother interventions that could enhance the culture immersion and knowledge transfer process. Originality/value: Most Indian IT companies have always allowed employees to work remotely. However, even these employees were required to be physically present for the onboarding process. Remote onboarding as a process did not exist prior to the pandemic and hence this study touches upon a lesser researched topic. The research recommendations provided in our study could help bridge the gaps and provide a better employee remote joining experience.

Technology enabled communication during COVID 19: analysis of tweets from top ten Indian IT companies using NVIVO.

The corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted industries across the globe. Lockdown was imposed to curb the spread of the deadly virus. This resulted in closure of the factories and manufacturing units. Few sectors switched to work from home (WFH) for the first time. The present study aims to understand and analyze the way in which Information Technology (IT) sector communicated on Twitter during the pandemic. The top ten IT companies in India were selected on the basis of net sales. Qualitative data analysis was employed to extract tweets, understand and analyze them. Tweets were extracted from the official Twitter handles of these top ten IT companies using N-Capture extension tool of NVivo 12 software from April 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021. To get insights out of collected data, Word Cloud, TreeMap and Sentiment Analysis of tweets were carried out using NVivo 12 software. The research found that IT companies focussed on digital transformation, business development, customer satisfaction and enriching customer experience, new product development for healthcare and insurance and organizational resilience. They also focussed on effective communication through Twitter in times of crisis. Most of the companies tweeted moderately positive. Very small numbers of tweets were found to be very negative.

Job security, value congruence, and work outcomes: revisiting the mediating role of work engagement

PurposeThough the concept of work engagement has been extensively explored in the academic literature, however, with engagement levels declining globally – causing hike in undesired employee attitudes and behaviours – there is a need to revisit its antecedents and consequences that bear higher current relevance. Within the context of the Indian information technology (IT) sector, this study aims to explore the role of job security and value congruence as two critical antecedents which not only lead to increased engagement levels but also consequently yield the enhanced perception of change, amplified general life satisfaction and reduced intent to leave among employees.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 363 software developers (SDs) in India using the survey questionnaire method and structured equation modelling was used to test the proposed measurement and structural model. The results supported the proposed hypotheses and confirmed the role of work engagement as a mediator between the studied antecedents and consequences.FindingsResults from a study of 363 SDs across India support the proposed hypotheses and confirm the role of work engagement as a mediator between the studied antecedents and consequences.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was cross-sectional; therefore, caution is necessary while making any causal inferences. Further work based on longitudinal data would strengthen these findings.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study will provide the decision-makers of IT companies with tools to increase engagement among SDs thereby increasing favorable outcomes for organizations and individual employees in the current times.Originality/valueThe study establishes job security and value congruence, as two critical yet cost-effective measures that today’s organization need to integrate into its human resources functions not just to boost employee engagement levels but also to control spiraling costs due to unintended turnover, employee’s resistance of organizational changes and employee ill-being. Future research avenues and practical implications have been discussed.

Workplace isolation amongst home-based teleworkers: Can psychological capital make a difference?

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: With the advent of COVID-19 pandemic, home-based teleworking has become the new normal. Researchers have suggested workplace isolation as the most frequently reported employee concern of teleworkers. Workplace isolation is reported to have many undesirable outcomes. However, limited studies have examined the influence of workplace isolation on mental health and its underlying mechanisms. Drawing from the emotion-centered model of occupational stress and conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between workplace isolation and mental ill-health with negative emotions as a mediator and psychological capital as a moderator. METHODS: The data was collected from 322 home-based teleworkers working in Information Technology companies in India using a survey method. The data was analyzed using SmartPLS, SPSS and PROCESS macro. RESULTS: The results suggest the following. First, workplace isolation was associated with mental ill-health and negative emotions mediated this relationship. Second, psychological capital was found to buffer the effects of workplace isolation on negative emotions. Third, the conditional indirect effect of workplace isolation on mental ill-health through negative emotions was weaker in the presence of high psychological capital. CONCLUSION: The current study is the first one to examine the mediating role of negative emotions and the moderating role of psychological capital in the relationship between workplace isolation and mental ill-health among home-based teleworkers. This study demonstrates the importance of psychological capital as a personal resource that can help in coping with the negative effects of workplace isolation.

Assessment of the mediating effect of benchmarking workspace usage on portfolio optimization and client satisfaction: Indian information technology companies

PurposeMany corporates in India are constantly adapting real estate benchmarks to reduce the workspace maintenance cost. However, anecdotally benchmarking the experience of clients while designing the workspace maintenance policies is not adequately taken into consideration in India. The focus of this study is on benchmarking workspace usage based on client usability.Design/methodology/approachThe research is descriptive in nature. A structured questionnaire was sent to Information Technology (IT) companies in India to collect data through SurveyMonkey. Stratified sampling was used to collect a sample of 697 respondents which was also verified using G* software. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics and partial least square–structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to investigate the mediating effect of benchmarking the workspace usage on portfolio optimization and client satisfaction.FindingsThe structural model results obtained through the bootstrapping technique show that benchmarking workspace usage for real estate management positively impacts client satisfaction in the Indian IT workspace. The findings of this study support the full mediation effect (97%) and indicate that benchmarking practices are necessary for developing strategies for optimal portfolio asset utilization and are essential to survive in the current competitive business environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study were influenced by the feedback from the top 100 IT clients in India. The research findings vary according to the cost-benefit analysis of adopting benchmarking measures in small and medium-sized IT companies which still benchmark the workspace usage based on cost-saving measures. Also, very sparse research has been conducted in the workspace management domain of IT firms, so the results of this study can further be used as a reference to explore this area.Practical implicationsThe study provides useful insights into how benchmarking in the workspace management domain of the CRE industry can be applied to address portfolio-related challenges, divergent client needs and improve workspace usability following energy-efficient policies. Practitioners can use this study as a guide to develop more effective workspace management policies.Social implicationsThis study may guide other firms to benchmark their current workspace usage and evaluate the impact of their workspace management policies based on the theoretical framework of value-added balanced benchmarking criteria.Originality/valueThis research adds value to the limited literature available on the impact of technology-enabled portfolio optimization techniques through benchmarking which can reduce workspace usage and enhance the usability of the workspace.

An Empirical Study on Impact of Work/Family Conflict on Occupational Future of IT Employees

Introduction: In recent years, with the increase in growth of Information Technology (IT) companies and diversified workforce, there is an increased research on Work\family conflict and occupational future. Objective: The objective is to study about the work\family conflict relation with occupational future with the effect of environmental support (support from organization and family) as moderator. Methodology: The data is gathered from 392 Information Technology employees working in different Information Technology companies in India. The data is analyzed with hierarchical regression and correlation Results: The outcomes of the study divulged a positive relation between work\family conflict and occupational future. And also, the results showed that every environmental item does not moderate between work family conflict and occupational future. Conclusion: Therefore work and occupational future is significant for the existence of IT industry, provide practical awareness of employee welfare and improve balanced life which might differ under certain specific conditions.

Analysing the financial state of selected Indian information technology companies: the assessment towards foreseeing the future of industry

The Indian economy is growing and has a huge potential market with ability to garner wide businesses due to unique business environment and reforms from the government. The economic indicator of comparative gross domestic products has indicated the accelerated growth for India from the last decade. Currently, Indian IT firms are targeting newer business domains with wide and newer footprints across the globe with acquiring new subsidiaries and incorporating new partnerships to fuel this growth. Moreover, Indian IT-ITES industry has a lower debt to equity profile and analysis of stocks is considered as safe investment. Therefore, it becomes essential to study and access the state of financial health in the industry. In this paper, the Indian IT-ITES industry is analysed with the help of financial metrics and standard models of Altman Z-score and Piotroski F-score to compare performance, predict solvency of companies, test the strength of the companies and foresee the future of Indian IT-ITES industry.

“Knowledge management practices” as moderator in the relationship between organizational culture and performance in information technology companies in India

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to empirically examine knowledge management (KM) practices as a moderator in the relationship between organizational culture and performance. The effect of four types of organizational culture on organizational performance was studied. In addition to direct effects, most importantly, KM practices as a moderator in strengthening the culture-performance relationship were empirically examined.Design/methodology/approachA carefully crafted survey instrument was distributed and data was collected from 1,255 respondents from 10 information technology companies in India. After checking the psychometric properties of the instrument, this paper performs hierarchical regression to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results reveal that: cooperative culture, innovative culture, consistent culture and effectiveness culture were all positively and significantly related to organizational performance; KM practices were positively and significantly related to organizational performance, KM practices moderate the relationship between various dimensions of organizational culture and organizational performance.Research limitations/implicationsAs with any survey-based research, the present study suffers from the problems associated with self-report measures. These are common method bias and social desirability bias. However, this study attempts to minimize these limitations by following appropriate statistical techniques.Practical implicationsThis study contributes to both practicing managers and the literature on KM and organizational culture. The study suggests that managers use KM practices, which are all-pervasive and very important for improving organizational performance. The results highlight the importance of implementing KM practices in organizations.Originality/valueThis study provides new insights into the importance of KM practices in achieving sustained competitive advantage by achieving organizational effectiveness. To the knowledge, the importance of KM practices is underemphasized in organizational culture research.

Emotional Maturity and Employer Satisfaction

The present research study examines emotional maturity and its relationship with employer satisfaction in recruiting fresh engineering Information Technology graduates. Four hundred sixty-five employers of multinational and national information technology companies in India were considered as respondents. These employers conduct the campus placement drives in the public and private technical universities of India for the recruitment of fresh engineering graduates with specialization in information technology. The collected data was analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results revealed that all the four dimensions of emotional maturity are defined by emotional stability, emotional progression, social adjustment, and personality integration. Emotional maturity had a significant positive relationship with employer satisfaction. The study is useful for employers investing in India to recognize employability skills in young graduates. The findings of the study will also give insight to academicians to recognize the need for soft skills in their course curriculum.

Determinants of perceived employability in current career context: evidence from India

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how the indicators of perceived employability in the current career context impact employees well-being on the backdrop of conservation of resources theory. The study also examines whether the underlying mechanisms towards employee well-being vary as a function of gender.Design methodology approachResearch data are gathered from a sample of 421 software engineers in private information technology companies in India. Structural equation modelling (SEM) using IBM-AMOS was conducted to examine the impact of protean attitude and employability culture on employee well-being and the mediating mechanism.FindingsEmpirical analysis using SEM unravelled that perceived employability played a vital role as a mediator of employability culture, protean attitude – well-being relationships, confirming the underlying mechanisms of this association.Originality valueThe study specifically examined the modern age indicators of employability perception amongst Indian software engineers and their impact on employee well-being.

Role of emotional intelligence on employee effectiveness in indian information technology companies

Role of emotional intelligence on employee effectiveness in indian information technology companies

Career growth and development: the buzzword is continuing education

This paper focuses on the importance of continuing education among employees in information technology companies in India. The study identifies the factors which influence employees for continuing education and its impact on their career growth and development. A systematic survey of the 315 employees working in the top ten IT companies was conducted to accumulate primary data. The analysis of the study stipulates that factors including - financial investment, time requirements for completing the course, employment opportunities and acquiring new skills play an important role among employees for continuing education. This study also reveals that continuing education has a positive impact on career growth and development. With the help of continuing education, employees get professional growth (better career opportunities, job security, salary increment, and promotion) and personal growth (personality development, development of interpersonal skills, development of technical skills and self-confidence).

Job crafting, workplace civility and work outcomes: the mediating role of work engagement

PurposeThe antecedents and consequences of work engagement have been extensively discussed and analyzed in the previous literature; however, identifying cost-effective measures that can sustain work engagement to boost work outcomes has received sparse attention in the Indian information technology (IT) context. This study aims to provide new insights concerning the associations of job crafting and workplace civility with work engagement and its corresponding outcomes, such as change perception, general life satisfaction and intention to quit.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling on data obtained from 369 software developers in India using questionnaire surveys.FindingsResults confirmed that work engagement partially mediated the association of job crafting and workplace civility with the perception of change and general life satisfaction. The negative associations of job crafting and workplace civility with the intention to quit were also partially mediated by work engagement. The findings can be used to inform human resources strategies to boost work engagement and subsequent work outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this empirical work will offer insights to managers who are looking for cost-effective interventions and behaviors aimed at increasing work engagement and, consequently, achieving effective work outcomes.Originality/valueThis study contributes by empirically testing the application of novel employee-driven practices in improving work engagement and work outcomes, particularly in the context of IT companies in India.

Do Institutional and Macroeconomic Factors Matter in IT companies M&As? Evidence from India

The liberalisation of the Indian economy, along with targeted policies of the Indian government for the information technology (IT) sector, has led to tremendous growth in this sector. While there has been substantial foreign investment in India in the IT sector through setting up of subsidiaries, joint ventures and acquisitions, Indian firms have also aggressively invested within and outside India through multiple modes. Among different sectors, the IT sector has been the most dominant in terms of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). This article focuses on host country (macroeconomic and institutional) determinants of M&As undertaken by Indian IT firms. Random effect negative binomial model in panel set up was selected to estimate the models. Four models were estimated as per the availability of data for 35–42 countries and for the period 2000–2015. The results for most of the variables in four models were very similar, reflecting robustness of the methodology. Most of the macroeconomic and institutional factors were found to be important determinants of the M&As by Indian IT companies. However, the economic recession of 2008–2009 was found to significantly reduce the M&A activities by Indian IT companies.

Intellectual Capital in Information Technology Companies in India

The purpose of this research is to study how intellectual capital impacts firm performance in information technology companies in India. Based on an extensive review of the existing literature, critical factors of intellectual capital (human capital, structural capital, and relational capital), and firm performance (financial performance and brand reputation) were defined to build a theoretical (causal) model. Senior executives of Indian IT companies (N=112) formed the sample for the empirical study. Using structural equation modeling, the study found human capital and structural capital impact brand reputation and financial performance. Interestingly, relational capital impacted financial performance and not brand reputation. The outcome of this research is significant in two ways: one, it explored the impact of intellectual capital on brand reputation and financial performance, which underpins research directions from the literature, and two, it contributed to the comparatively less-researched contextual relevance from an Indian information technology company perspective.

Estimating technical efficiencies of Indian IT companies for setting improvement targets for inefficient companies: An empirical analysis with workers' effort as key input.

The Information Technology (IT) industry of India has proved its capabilities in delivering both on- and off-shore services to clients globally over the years. However, the technological advances and innovations taking place at the global level not only present a whole new range of growth prospects, but also challenges for this highly competitive industry. Moreover, the IT sector of India also witnessed the economic recession in 2008, which had an adverse impact on the prospects of this industry. In this scenario, it is imperative for Indian IT companies not only to maintain their focus on increasing their technical efficiencies, but also to deal with the increased competition emanating from the Asia Pacific region. This study aimed to estimate the relative efficiency of the top 18 selected Indian IT software service companies in order to determine benchmarks, output slacks and target settings. Data envelopment analysis has been used for achieving the stated objective. The paper found mixed trends in efficiency. The top five IT companies exhibited higher efficiency as compared to the rest of the selected IT companies. Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies Ltd. and Tech Mahindra Ltd. are more efficient while Infosys Ltd. and Mphasis have lower efficiency. The inefficient companies have to increase their workers' productivity to become more efficient, and have to catch-up and follow the best practices of the benchmark company HCL.