Information Technology Enabled Service Research Articles

Stuck between the ideal worker and the bread winner: experiences of motherhood and work during the COVID-19 pandemic in India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the experiences of middle-class working mothers from the ITES (Information Technology Enabled Service) sector in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their experiences of work from home are studied in the backdrop of the ideal worker model at work and the adult worker model at home. Further, the study aims to identify the need for sustainable, inclusive practices for working mothers in Indian organizations to break the male breadwinner model in middle-class households.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach to collect data from 39 middle-class mothers working in MNCs in four metro cities in India. The semi-structured, in-depth interviews focused on their experiences of motherhood, care and work before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsThe pandemic made it evident that the ideal worker model in organizations and the adult worker model at home were illusions for working mothers. The results indicate a continued obligation of the “ideal worker culture” at organizations, even during the health crisis. It made the working mothers realize that they were chasing both the (ideal worker and adult worker) norms but could never achieve them. Subsequently, the male breadwinner model was reinforced at home due to the matrix of motherhood, care and work during the pandemic. The study concludes by arguing the reconstruction of the ideal worker image to make workplaces more inclusive for working mothers.Originality/valueThe study is placed in the context of Indian middle-class motherhood during the pandemic, a demography less explored in the literature. The paper puts forth various myths constituting the gendered realities of Indian middle-class motherhood. It also discusses sustainable, inclusive workplace practices for mothers from their future workplaces' standpoint, especially in post-pandemic times.

Coping strategies mediating the effects of job insecurity on subjective well-being, leading to presenteeism: an empirical study

Coping strategies mediating the effects of job insecurity on subjective well-being, leading to presenteeism: an empirical study

A Study on Hesitancy among Information Technology Employees to Resume Work from Office Post COVID-19 Lockdowns

There is a belief that there is a latent hesitancy to return to work from office among Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Service employees who are used to working from home since the beginning of COVID-19 Lockdowns. There is a dearth of credible research on the hesitancy to return to work from office. Keeping this in mind, this study has been conducted to analyze the facts that why there is a latent hesitancy among Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services employees. Study surveyed about stress on employees about to return to work from office, their major concern areas, and safety measures expected by employees to be implemented by the employers. A well designed online questionnaire was rolled out to 51 Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services employees of different IT companies of Bangalore city currently working from their homes. Data analyzed using Pareto Analysis, Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation. Results clearly show that, presumed latent hesitancy does exist among majority of employees. Working with masks on for longer period of time and risk of infection are two major concerns among employees to return to work from office.

Working Rural Women - Acknowledgement on Various Roles

There are transformations happening in the social and economic front in the rural areas of India. Among the many changes, perception on women’s employment in information technology-enabled service companies among the rural society is emphasised in this study. This paper focuses on the views among the rural public towards changing woman’s roles and responsibilities in the family beyond the roles as a mother or wife due to an increase in women’s employment in information technology-enabled services companies. The article tries to examine whether there is a change in the perception between males and females in the rural area towards women’s employment. Besides, the study tries to see whether the working woman’s contribution to family wellbeing is influenced by childcare, more earning by husband, household duties and good relationship with children. Eight hundred and eleven samples were collected from four different districts of two states in India. The statistical tools used for the study are T test, Anova, multiple regression and discriminant analysis. The demographic variables considered for this study includes age, gender and education. The regression analysis revealed that wellbeing of the family is related to woman’s involvement in taking care of children, involving in household activities and maintaining good relations with children. The discriminant analysis reveals that there is no difference between the genders regarding her employment. The mind set of women taking care of children and household activities still remain priority but their perception that husband’s earning should be more than wife and spending extra time outside for official purpose is not given significance. There is a positive change in the attitude of the rural society towards woman’s employment. Her involvement in childcare and household activities is for the wellbeing of the family and for the future generation. This positive outlook encourages more women to the workforce in rural areas.

Goal Clarity, Trust in Management and Intention to Stay: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement

Drawing from the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, the study explores the relationship between goal clarity, trust in management, work–family conflict and intention to stay among managers in the IT and Information Technology Enabled Service sectors. It also analyses the mediating role of employee engagement in the relationship between job resources (i.e., goal clarity and trust in management), job demands (i.e., work–family conflict) and intention to stay. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire from 200 managerial level employees in India. The model was tested using structural equation modelling techniques. Results indicate that employee engagement fully mediates the relationship between goal clarity, trust in management and intention to stay. This study makes significant theoretical contributions by exploring and establishing the relationship between goal clarity and intention to stay. It also contributes to relevant literature by demonstrating the mediating effects of employee engagement with goal clarity, trust in management and intention to stay of managerial level employees. In addition, this article describes the practical implications of work engagement and intention to stay.

A Study on Role Stress among the Executives in Information Technology with Special Reference to Bangalore City

Over the last few decades, Indian Organizations had never bothered about the issues related to human behavior. But, presently, organizational behavior has become a separate field of study, and the Indian organizations have also started thinking about the pattern of Multi-National Corporations, which are successfully running their business in India. Stress is the way human beings react both physically and mentally to changes, events, and situations in their lives. This change has occurred in terms of science and technology, industrial growth, urbanization, modernization, and automation, on the one hand, and an expanding population, unemployment, and stress on the other. It has become important for the management to understand training effectiveness behavior-related problems of people who are working in the organizations for achieving the predetermined goals. However, the last two decades, with the inflow of many corporate sectors, namely Information Technology (IT), Information Technology Enabled Service Sector (ITES), Banking, Insurance, and Educational Institutions, are commonly labeled as stressful environments. During the last decade, fast growth has been observed by the information technology sectors. Particularly in developing countries, mostly in information technology and information technology - enabled service sectors due to higher competition, the organizational climate has deteriorated. Due to this overburden, the executives of the information technology sector and information technology enabled the service sector to have undergone more stress. This stress leads the executives to become unhealthy, and Stress at work can be a real problem for the organization as well as to the executives.

Employee Performance as Function of Performance Management System: An Empirical Study Information Technology Enabled Services Companies around Hyderabad

In this manuscript we report the results outcome of an empirical study carried out on, how the employee performance is a function of performance management system in Information Technology Enabled Service Companies around Hyderabad. A survey was carried on the employees of IT Enabled Services companies around Hyderabad using a sample of 924 employees, consisting of 545 men and 379 women employees. The influence on performance management system was measured against the a) Factors responsible for improved employee performance and b) Factors that impact on performance management system. Using a structured survey instrument a five-point Likert-type scale, 13 factors of dependent variable performance management system was measured against the two independent variables 9 factors responsible for improved performance and 5 factors that impact the performance management applying multiple regression analysis. The survey instrument reliability and internal consistency was measured using reliability statistic Cronbach Alpha which is 0.84, 0.76 and 0.73 respectively, for performance management system, factors responsible for improvement performance management and factors that impact performance management system. The results reveal that both the independent variables significantly influencing the performance management system and there were statistically significant gender differences observed in the sample. However, there were no significant differences in different age groups of the employees.

An Empirical Study on HR Skills for Employees Recruitment Decision Making with special Reference to Information Technology Enabled Service Sector in Bangalore City

The recent developments in the sector of Information technology enabled services business have assumed considerable significance for the Indian economy. The role of IT and IT-enabled services (ITES) is particularly worth mentioning in this perspective. The growth of this sector has not only helped to improve the current balance of payment of India, but also generated income and employment to the Indian citizens. Human resource management aims at obtaining capable manpower for achieving the objectives of the organization and for ensuring effective utilization of their services. As the success of any organization largely depends on the quality of its human resources and the extent to which they are motivated, human resource management acquires special significance in an organisation. This paper analyses HR Skills required in making effective recruitment decisions to manpower hiring in this sector with special reference to Bangalore city the silicon valley of India. In particular, the paper attempt to find out the core skills required to be a better employee in ITES sector. IT is observed as a change enabler and a source of business value for organizations.

Cognitive Factors and its Impact on Job Satisfaction- A Study on Selected Information Technology Enabled Service Companies in Bengaluru

Everybody agrees that, the most valuable asset of any business for that matter it is the human beings who work there. Satisfied employees become productive assets of the company and they play a very important role in the overall development of the company. In order to get the employees involved, both physically as well as emotionally companies must assure that they satisfy the physical as well as emotion needs of the employees. Employees’ job satisfaction plays a vital role in the long run. This article tries to find out the role of cognitive factors on job satisfaction. Keeping job satisfaction as dependent variable and cognitive factors as an independent variable the study has been undertaken. For the purpose of the study the data has been collected from 1000 employees working in 10 different ITeS companies in Bengaluru. Respondents were selected through stratified random technique. The result of the study has shown that cognitive factors significantly influence job satisfaction among the employees of ITeS companies in Bengaluru.

Comparing entrepreneurial communities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare entrepreneurial attributes of MBA students, the next generation business people, from two important Asian countries, India from South Asia and Japan from East Asia (India, being an emerging country and Japan, a developed country). Design/methodology/approach – Survey responses from MBA students in India and Japan were measured on an entrepreneurial personality index. Bateman and Crant’s scale consisting of 17 traits is used to identify if entrepreneurial traits are a learned cultural behaviour or intrinsic personality factors. Findings – Although the findings indicate that India has benefitted from entrepreneurship in the information technology and information technology-enabled service ventures during the past two decades, the country still has a long way to go when compared to developed countries like Japan, where entrepreneurship is widespread. Research limitations/implications – The results are based on a single survey, using cross-sectional data. Originality/value – The level of entrepreneurship differs considerably across countries and periods. The authors put forward a theoretical framework to denote the linkage between entrepreneurial attitude, pro-active personality and culture, besides highlighting the three pillars of entrepreneurship.

Consumers in Information Technology Enabled Service Encounters

This study examines information technology enabled, multi-channel service context from the end-user's perspective and, more specifically, from the perspective of a consumer, in particular the extent to which the multi-channel interaction experience results in consumer satisfaction and any tradeoffs that consumers make in the evaluation of the context of service. Empirical results from our online survey with mobile consumers indicate that the variables included in the model have a direct impact on consumer satisfaction when considered individually. There are, however, tradeoffs between variables (e.g., problem-handling and record accuracy; scalability and usability of service) when considered simultaneously. This paper contributes to the discussion of development and use of IT enabled services and particularly how users of such should be considered as consumers. Practitioners designing services need to consider not only the technological artifact but also the entire service offering.

Analysis of Dynamic Development Initiative frame work for Knowledge Processing Outsourcing

Indian economy growth changed due Indian business operational approach with convergent technologies. The current economy growth supported by Information Technology Development and Information Technology Enabled Service. As part of the Information technology enabled upcoming Knowledge processing outsourcing provide huge opportunities to develop Indian business with our human resources. The KPO business sector basis and frame work can be achieve through Development Dynamic initiatives. This paper discuss about the basis of KPO and Dynamic Development Initiative frame work strategic compact components and its characters.

English

Since the early 1960s, many innovations on information technology-enabled services (IISs) that fulfill underserved customers and create competitive advantages for firms have been examined on the realization of their values. However, even with much theoretical promise, most IIS experiments have failed. Extant argumentsattribute this to initiatives, business models, institutional challenges, professions, sector characteristics, market segments or geographic locations. However, the issue on how to proactively manage the development, deployment and diffusion of new IT-enabled services still remains unclear. This study provides a comprehensive picture of (potential) challenges of IISs, explains how values and expenses are transformed within IIS projects. Moreover, we can conclude that elaborate IT-enabled services enable service-for-service exchanges and produce innovations and challenges. Nevertheless, successful IT-enabled services need not only toeliminate retardants from different levels-societal, industrial, organizational, group and individual, but also to maximize values while controlling expenses during theprocess of IISs.   Key words: Service, service innovation, information technology-enabled service, proactive management, value.

Factors Influencing Performance of ITES Firms in India

Firms from developed countries are increasingly offshore outsourcing services to developing countries to have cost as well competitive advantages. Although this is a growing practice, there has been limited empirical attention in understanding the outsourcing phenomenon, particularly from the perspective of service provider firms that execute important business processes for their overseas clients. Despite growing trends to outsource, only a few service provider firms report success. This puts the service provider firms under increasing pressure to add value and improve quality of relationship. They have to depend not only on tangible factors but some intangible factors also play an important role in their performance. In this paper, the authors try to find out factors that influence performance of service provider firms. Multiple regressions using four indicators of firm performance are carried out to see the influence of certain factors on information technology enabled service (ITES) firms’ performance.

A Study of Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intent among the IT and ITES Sector Employees

Of late, the Indian economy is booming by leaps and bounds, mainly powered by the service sector. In turn, Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) industries are the prime movers of the service sector. Although these two industries are somewhat related, they differ in significant ways. In addition, a large number of women are entering workforce, posing new challenges for organizations in managing diversity at the workplace. There is evidence that high job satisfaction leads to greater productivity. Research also shows that committed employees have less turnover intent. The present study examines the impact on industry background and gender on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intent. A total of 313 respondents were selected through convenience sampling from different IT and ITES organizations of National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi. The results showed that the IT group had lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment compared to the ITES group, while it displayed higher turnover intent. The male group showed significantly higher job satisfaction and significantly lower turnover intent compared to the female group. Further, job satisfaction increased organizational commitment. Finally, both job satisfaction and organizational commitment decreased turnover intent. The findings are discussed in the light of the expectations of employees and the future directions for research are outlined.

BPO

In an era of change, restructuring and growing, business is becoming more competitive and demanding day by day. Utmost importance is given to profitability at every level and by all processes. If any business process or function is nonproductive or non-profitable, that is, non-core but necessary business processes, then the better strategic alternative is to outsource that process to a firm that specializes in that function, ensuring better economical performance. India, with its cost and time differential advantages, backed by an educated workforce, could commit quality of service. India is fast emerging as a preferred destination for outsourcing. Business process outsourcing (BPO)/information technology enabled service (ITES) is emerging as the next big opportunity for India after collapse of the dot com bubble and the economic slowdown. The present study is an attempt to elucidate the evolutionary cycle of outsourcing. A SWOT analysis has been carried out to evaluate India's competitiveness to meet global standards and thereby emerge as a preferred destination for outsourcing.