Information Technology Positions Research Articles

Exploring Information Systems (IS) curricula: a semantic analysis approach

PurposeToday’s in-demand skills may not be needed tomorrow. As companies are adopting a new group of technologies, they are in huge need of information technology (IT) professionals who can fill various IT positions with a mixture of technical and problem-solving skills. This study aims to adopt a sematic analysis approach to explore how the US Information Systems (IS) programs meet the challenges of emerging IT topics.Design/methodology/approachThis study considers the application of a hybrid semantic analysis approach to the analysis of IS higher education programs in the USA. It proposes a semantic analysis framework and a semantic analysis algorithm to analyze and evaluate the context of the IS programs. To be more specific, the study uses digital transformation as a case study to examine the readiness of the IS programs in the USA to meet the challenges of digital transformation. First, this study developed a knowledge pool of 15 principles and 98 keywords from an extensive literature review on digital transformation. Second, this study collects 4,093 IS courses from 315 IS programs in the USA and 493,216 scientific publication records from the Web of Science Core Collection.FindingsUsing the knowledge pool and two collected data sets, the semantic analysis algorithm was implemented to compute a semantic similarity score (DxScore) between an IS course’s context and digital transformation. To present the credibility of the research results of this paper, the state ranking using the similarity scores and the state employment ranking were compared. The research results can be used by IS educators in the future in the process of updating the IS curricula. Regarding IT professionals in the industry, the results can provide insights into the training of their current/future employees.Originality/valueThis study explores the status of the IS programs in the USA by proposing a semantic analysis framework, using digital transformation as a case study to illustrate the application of the proposed semantic analysis framework, and developing a knowledge pool, a corpus and a course information collection.

Understanding the career interests of Information Technology (IT) students: a focus on choice of major and career aspirations

Despite continuous growth in the number of positions in Australia’s Information Technology (IT) industry since 2015, only half of Australia’s IT graduates go on to work in IT positions. A much-debated challenge for graduates is that the transition to work is complex and often demands several attempts. Less discussed is why school students choose to study IT at university and whether these motivational factors inform their career choice. The motivation to study at university has many potential influences including social factors, prior experience, self-perceptions, intrinsic or personal utility values, or simply the prospect of a good salary. Students’ choice of university major has similar influences; however, many learners select their major and enter university without having thought about possible career pathways. As such, without appropriate support during their time at university, students may not translate interest and motivation into career identity or commitment, and they may not develop realistic career goals or job-seeking strategies. To understand the antecedents to career interest, this study investigated the choice of major and career aspirations of undergraduate IT students at an Australian university. The two-year study engaged students in two phases of data collection. First, students completed an online self-assessment of study and career confidence, answering two open questions on why they chose to study IT and how long they intended to work in the discipline. Students then responded to a short online survey about their short- and longer-term career aspirations and prior experience. The results show that the motivation to study IT is based largely on intrinsic interest and enjoyment of IT rather than on external factors such as salary or job security. Most students reported broad career aspirations related to IT; however, students were unable to articulate what these careers might entail and they were unsure about the amount of time they would spend in the IT profession. The study concluded that understanding IT students’ motivation for study could inform career development learning activities through which students transform their interest into career choice and pre-professional identity.

Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Structure and Content of Job Advertisements

Unternehmen sind immer mehr auf Informationstechnologie (IT) angewiesen, und das Schlagwort Digitalisierung ist überall präsent. Einige Unternehmen erfinden neue Geschäftsmodelle, die auf disruptiven Innovationen basieren, welche von Informationstechnologie unterstützt werden. Andere passen ihre Geschäftsmodelle als Follower an. Alle diese neuen Geschäftsprozesse und die zugrunde liegende Informationstechnologie müssen von IT-Organisationen gestaltet, gewartet und unterstützt werden. Die Covid-19-Pandemie im Jahr 2020 forderte Unternehmen und Organisationen auf verschiedene Arten heraus. Die wichtigste Veränderung ist, dass Arbeitnehmer im Homeoffice arbeiten mussten, während sie versuchten, den Geschäftsbetrieb aufrechtzuerhalten. Dies führte in einigen Unternehmen zu einem Digitalisierungsschub in Bezug auf flexibles Arbeiten. Um von außerhalb des Firmengeländes arbeiten zu können, musste in einigen Fällen neue IT-Infrastruktur aufgebaut und die Anpassung von Geschäftsprozessen durchgeführt werden. In der aktuellen Studie werden Stellenanzeigen analysiert, um herauszufinden, ob sich die Covid-19-Krise auf den Fokus und die Prioritäten der IT-Abteilungsleiter ausgewirkt hat. Die Annahme dieser Studie ist, dass sich der Inhalt neuer Stellenangebote durch den Einfluss von COVID-19 ändern würde. Als Forschungsmethode wurde eine strukturierte Textanalyse von IT-Top-Management Stellenanzeigen in Deutschland gewählt. Um Unterschiede vor und während der Pandemiekrise abzubilden, wurden Daten zu zwei verschiedenen Zeitpunkten im Jahr 2020 gesammelt. Nach dem Vergleich der codierten Schlagwörter in beiden Datensätzen ist in der Analyse keine signifikante Änderung der Anforderungen von Aufgaben oder der Struktur der Stellenanzeigen festzustellen. Dies führt zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass die Personalabteilungen in Unternehmen überwiegend vorhandene Templates nutzen und bei der Erstellung von Stellenanzeigen nicht ausreichend veränderte Rahmenbedingungen einarbeiten. Die einzige Spur, die COVID-19 in Stellenanzeigen hinterlassen hat, sind Hinweise auf Home-Office-Richtlinien.

Gender, Technology, and Libraries

Information technology (IT) is vitally important to many organizations, including libraries. Yet a review of employment statistics and a citation analysis show that men make up the majority of the IT workforce, in libraries and in the broader workforce. Research from sociology, psychology, and women’s studies highlights the organizational and social issues that inhibit women. Understanding why women are less evident in library IT positions will help inform measures to remedy the gender disparity.

Secondary School Business Educators’ Perceptions of the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Needed by Information Systems Majors Relative to Other Business Majors

Introduction As the economy rebounds, it will be clear that the need for greater numbers of highly qualified IT professionals has not disappeared (Brown, 2003). Although the growth rate of jobs in information technology (IT) slowed, there were approximately 3.5 million people directly employed in IT positions in September 2003 (Chabrow, 2003). Skilled IT professionals continued to be one of the most important success factors for organizations that want to stay competitive. The fact that so many people are involved in the IT function shows that demand crosses industry boundaries and is important to management in all industries. With an estimated ninety-two percent of IT workers working for non-IT companies (ITAA, 2002), this demand crosses industry boundaries and is not simply an IT issue alone. Secondary school students considering their careers should note that salaries for IT positions have not declined during the economic downturn, with the median pay remaining slightly above $100,000 in total compensation (McGee, Chabrow, & Hayes, 2003). In addition to pay, IT jobs tend to be professionally satisfying. In fact, 80 percent of IT staff and almost 90 percent of managers reported that they found their jobs to be intellectually challenging, and many studies have found that challenge is a vital component of job satisfaction (McGee, et al., 2003). As optimism about hiring in IT increases, concern over the gap between demand and supply is also apparent (ITAA, 2002). It is clear that the IT profession has a pressing need to attract the best and brightest students into the field. Unfortunately, public perceptions concerning the information technology (IT) profession are inconsistent and unflattering, resulting in the image of a lone, nerdy male scientist with a pocket protector (ITAA, 1998). Ideally, recruitment of students into the IT profession should address these perception problems. And, since many high quality students select a college major while they are in secondary school, efforts should begin before students have chosen a college and career field. Secondary school educators often have a large influence on students' choice of major. Unfortunately, evidence exists that these key professionals have an inaccurate perception of IT as a career (ITAA, 2002). In addition, there is evidence that those adults with little IT training may actually fear it as a career choice for themselves or others (ITAA, 1998). This uninformed perception of IT by secondary school educators may negatively influence the college major advice they give their students. To counteract this, the Image of the Information Technology Professions Task Force encourages school districts to target school career counselors and K-12 teachers and staff in an effort to evaluate and improve the IT image (McGee, 2001). This paper explores how a subset of secondary school teachers, namely tertiary level business teachers, perceives information systems (IS) as compared to other business majors on 14 attributes. Survey results from 248 secondary school business teachers suggests the IS profession is perceived rather negatively as compared to other majors these teachers might be recommending to their students. Purpose Literature suggests that a significant number of secondary school students make career choices during their secondary school years (Graves, Nelson, & Deines, 1993; Nelson & Deines, 1995) and that it is often too late to change a person's career choice by the time he or she finishes secondary school (Abtan, 1993). A Gallup poll indicated that secondary school teachers are second only to parents as the most important influence on secondary school students' career decisions (Dobson & Price, 1991). In addition, secondary school students' views are shaped in large part by the advice and counsel of their secondary school teachers and counselors (Dobson & Price, 1991; Graves et al. …

Telework and gender: implications for the management of information technology professionals

Attracting and retaining highly skilled information technology (IT) professionals has been a difficult task for IT managers since the early 1980s. With over 400,000 unfilled IT positions in the USA today, many IT professionals are moving from job to job looking for higher salaries and more satisfying working arrangements. Since men and women often perceive their professional and domestic roles and responsibilities differently, more flexible working arrangements, which permit them to accomplish these roles and responsibilities in a more satisfactory manner, can be an important motivation for accepting and remaining in a given IT position. The purpose of this study was to investigate the similarities and differences between men and women in the IT industry in terms of their motivations to telecommute, and to discuss the implications for managing IT professionals.