IT Workforce Research Articles

Health, lifestyle and occupational risks in Information Technology workers.

BackgroundInformation technology (IT) and the IT workforce are rapidly expanding with potential occupational health implications. But to date, IT worker health is under-studied and large-scale studies are lacking.AimsTo investigate health, lifestyle and occupational risk factors of IT workers.MethodsWe evaluated self-reported health, lifestyle and occupational risk factors for IT workers in the UK Biobank database. Using logistic regression, we investigated differences between IT workers and all other employed participants. Regression models were repeated for IT worker subgroups (managers, professionals, technicians) and their respective counterparts within the same Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) major group (functional managers, science and technology professionals, science and technology associate professionals).ResultsOverall, 10 931 (4%) employed participants were IT workers. Compared to all other employed participants, IT workers reported similar overall health, but lower lifestyle risk factors for smoking and obesity. Sedentary work was a substantially higher occupational exposure risk for IT workers compared to all other employed participants (odds ratio [OR] = 5.14, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.91–5.39) and their specific SOC group counterparts (managers: OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.68–1.99, professionals: OR = 7.18, 95% CI: 6.58–7.82, technicians: OR = 4.48, 95% CI: 3.87–5.17). IT workers were also more likely to engage in computer screen-time outside work than all other employed participants (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.35–1.51).ConclusionsImproved understanding of health, lifestyle and occupational risk factors from this, the largest to date study of IT worker health, can help inform workplace interventions to mitigate risk, improve health and increase the work participation of this increasingly important and rapidly growing occupational group.

A quarter century of gender and information systems research: the role of theory in investigating the gender imbalance

This study analyses the role of theory in gender and information systems (IS) research by providing a descriptive review of 25 years of IS journal publications on the topic of gender and IS. Trauth performed a critical literature analysis on research papers that appeared in information systems journals between 1992 and 2013. This paper extends the analysis by Trauth adding a literature analysis for research papers from 2012 to 2020. Decades of research on the under-representation of women in information systems (IS) has revealed a checkered landscape of studies ranging from completely atheoretical to theoretically well-informed work. Contained in this considerable body of knowledge is a collection of explicitly theorized gender and IS studies. These are the only types of study that allow researchers to build upon each other’s work, and allow the field to progress from purely descriptive studies to studies that are more analytical in nature, with the goal of suggesting interventions aimed at broadening participation in the IT workforce. This study examines only explicitly theorized research and finds that IS research has indeed progressed from gender essentialist studies toward gender intersectional studies. The intersectional approach encourages explanatory studies that investigate relevant issues in today’s diverse global IT workforce and allows the identification of suitable interventions.

IT 기술인력의 직무자율성이 잡크래프팅과 성과에 미치는 영향: 인구통계학적 특성에 따른 집단분석을 중심으로

본 연구는 직무자율성-잡크래프팅-직무성과로 이어지는 잡크래프팅의 작동 매커니즘이 IT 기술인력에게도 동일하게 적용되는지 실증분석을 통해 검증하고, 이러한 관계 내에서 인구통계학적 변수들은 어떠한 역할을 하는지 살펴보는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이를 위하여 중국 5개 이동통신사 기술인력을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하였으며, 구조방정식을 활용하여 직무자율성, 잡크래프팅, 직무성과 간 인과관계를 확인하였다. 또한, IT 기술인력의 나이, 성별, 학력 및 근속연수에 따라 집단을 나눈 후 집단 간 직무자율성, 잡크래프팅, 직무성과 간 인과관계가 다르게 나타나는지 확인하기 위하여 다집단 분석을 실시하였다. 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 직무자율성은 잡크래프팅을 매개하여 직무성과에 정(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 직무자율성이 잡크래프팅에 미치는 영향력은 나이에 따른 집단 간 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 20대의 경우 직무자율성이 잡크래프팅에 미치는 영향력이 가장 작았으며, 20대를 제외한 모든 집단에서 잡크래프팅에 대한 직무자율성의 영향력이 매우 강하게 나타났다. 셋째, 학력에 따른 집단 간에는 변수 간 모든 영향관계에 차이가 있는 것으로 드러났다. 전문대 이하 학력에서는 직무자율성이 잡크래프팅을 매우 강하게 예측하였지만, 이에 비하여 잡크래프팅이 직무성과에 미치는 영향력은 상대적으로 줄어들었고, 직무자율성이 직무성과에 직접적으로 미치는 영향력은 유의하지 않았다. 대졸 학력 집단에서는 직무자율성, 잡크래프팅, 직무성과 간 모든 경로에서 유의한 정(+)의 관계를 갖는 것으로 나타났다. 대학원 이상 학력 집단에서는 직무자율성이 높을수록 잡크래프팅과 직무성과가 높아지는 정(+)의 관계가 관찰되었으나, 잡크래프팅이 직무성과를 예측하지는 못하였다. 넷째, 근무경력에 따른 집단 간에는 잡크래프팅-직무성과 경로에서만 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 근무경력이 1-3년인 집단에서 잡크래프팅이 직무성과에 미치는 영향력이 가장 강한 것으로 나타났으며, 근무경력이 5년 이상인 집단에서는 잡크래프팅이 직무성과에 유의한 영향을 미치지 못하였다. 본 연구는 비교적 직무요구 수준이 높고, 남다른 직업적 의식을 가진 IT 기술인력에게도 직무자율성-잡크래프팅-직무성과로 이어지는 잡크래프팅 작동 매커니즘이 동일하게 적용됨을 확인하였고, 잡크래프팅 매커니즘에 영향을 미치는 나이, 성별, 학력 및 근속연수의 실제적 효과를 확인함으로써 잡크래프팅의 이론적 바탕을 마련하였다는 점에서 의의를 갖는다. Rudolph 등(2017)의 연구에서도 이러한 시도가 있었으나, 이들은 선행연구를 활용한 메타분석 방법을 사용하였기 때문에 변수 간 관계를 직접적으로 규명하지 못하였다. 이에 반해 본 연구는 실증데이터를 활용하여 잡크래프팅과 인구통계학적 변수 간 관계를 직접적으로 살펴보았기 때문에 더욱 실재적이고 명확한 변수 간 관계를 증명하였다는 점에서 의의를 찾을 수 있다. 또한, 본 연구는 중국 내 이동통신 기업의 기술인력을 대상으로 하였기 때문에 잡크래프팅을 활용한 인사관리 실무차원의 명확하고 구체적인 근거를 제시한다는 점에서 의미가 있다. 그러나 연구대상을 한정하고 있기 때문에 연구결과의 일반화에 주의를 기울일 필요가 있다. 마지막으로, 연구결과 및 논의를 토대로 본 연구의 한계점 및 미래연구 방향을 논의하였다.

FinTech Innovation in the Western Balkans: Policy and Regulatory Implications and Potential Interventions

Technology-enabled financial and regulatory innovation is still in early stages of development in many countries and regions globally and this is also the case in the Western Balkans. As such, the limited empirical data makes a thorough impact assessment challenging. Beside desk-based market, legal and regulatory research, this study is primarily based on semistructured interviews with 13 regulatory authorities in the Western Balkans1, around 80 individuals working in senior positions in the financial sector, as well as other subject matter experts from the development and policy sectors within the six jurisdictions covered in this study. Where possible, the research team conducted multiple interviews to gather data from multiple sources, verify claims, and mitigate sample bias. This report presents some indicative recommendations to regional regulators and policy makers and advocates a need for proactive, pre-emptive regulatory action. These include increasing stakeholder engagement, collection of industry data, improving access to finance for MSMEs and consumers and the provision of regulatory clarification for non-bank financial services firms. Key findings • In the Western Balkans, despite high growth in the use of card and digital payments, there remains unexplored potential for other fintech services due to high mobile and internet penetration and a skilled IT workforce. In order to explore these opportunities further, the region will need to address limited access to capital and finance, high cash use, low access to payment and information systems, and regulatory barriers, amongst others. • There is moderate to high market concentration in the financial sector, which limits the levels of competition and innovation. Given the high levels of foreign ownership in the region’s banking sector, innovation at a local level is lagging. This means that certain services, e.g. payments, remain expensive for consumers and MSMEs and eCommerce is underdeveloped. • Regional regulatory frameworks are not explicitly adapted to the fintech sector. This can lead to a lack of certainty for firms with atypical business models wishing to operate in the region.

When IT Professionals Choose Nonstandard Work: The Fit between Individuals and Work Arrangements

As organizations face the reality of rapidly evolving technology and the labor shortage of IT professionals, the externalization of their IT workforce is a viable way to handle IT costs and human capital needs. This workforce externalization increasingly is providing IT professionals with various alternatives to standard work arrangements, i.e., nonstandard work arrangements (NSWAs) such as independent contracting, remote work, and contract firm work. While the NSWA literature has shown that voluntarily choosing such arrangements relates to positive work-related outcomes, not much is known about the mechanism behind an individual’s voluntary pursuit of a nonstandard rather than a standard work arrangement, or of one type of NSWA over another. In this study, we use person-environment (P-E) fit as a theoretical framework to provide an explanation for voluntary choice of various NSWAs. Specifically, we draw connections between a variety of individual difference characteristics and the work arrangement characteristics of some of the most prevalent NSWAs for IT professionals in the United States, highlighting the important role of personality variables and individual needs in work arrangement choices. Our conceptual framework provides a new understanding of volitional choice of NSWAs. It may serve as a blueprint for future NSWA research as well as for recruiting and selection tactics for organizations utilizing nonstandard workers.

Identifying student retention factors of a UK university using the concept of a learning community: a qualitative approach

ABSTRACT The UK will need a skilled IT work force to maintain its position as a world leader in computing research and development. This study investigated the experience of learning communities amongst first year undergraduate computing students at a UK university. The concept of a learning community was used to examine its influence on student academic and social integration, the issues students need to overcome and the knowledge they need to acquire to become successful. A qualitative approach was employed using the ‘unfolding matrix’, which was completed during group interviews. The data analysis results revealed that learning communities critically affect students’ academic and social integration. Specifically, the importance of student support and guidance from academic staff was considered, as well as student relationships with other students and academic staff. Furthermore, developing a sense of personal awareness and the need to develop an effective academic skill-set to succeed were identified as critical.

Increasing Employability of Indian Engineering Graduates through Experiential Learning Programs and Competitive Programming: Case Study

Background, Motivation and Objective With regard to engineering, there have been serious concerns about the employability of Indian graduates. There are alarming statistics in a NASSCOM report, which estimates that, of the 3 million joining the IT workforce, only twenty five percent of graduates with engineering background are employable. The figures are grave in the context of graduates from sciences and humanities, which is less than fifteen percent. Aspiring Minds has been administering a computer-based test called AMCAT to lakhs of students in 650+ engineering institutions measure employability of technical graduates. This considers parameters like Business Communication & English, Logical & Numerical skills, analytical & problem-resolution skills and coding. The results are a revelation, 47% of graduates cannot be employed in any domain or sector of the knowledge economy. 17.91%, 3.67% and 40.57% are the employability figures for software services, software products and BPO. Only 3.84% graduates are start-up ready and 6.56% are design job ready and the same trend for other core engineering jobs. There is an urgent need to improve employability of our engineering graduates. This calls for lateral thinking and out-of-the-box initiatives such as experiential learning programs and competitive programming; implementations of which we explore in a top-ranking private university as a case study. Statement of Contribution/Methods The case study of implementation of initiatives in experiential learning programs and competitive programming in a private university is highlighted. An Experiential learning program titled Live-in-Labs as part of the curriculum is explored. This program is student-centric, learner-centric, participatory and hands-on and they provide students an avenue to apply their acquired engineering knowledge, concepts and skills and deploy on a real-time basis in India’s villages. It’s Course Outcomes (CO) such as human-centered design concepts to document observations and user experiences, user-needs assessment and prioritization are enlisted. A very strong mapping to several Program Outcomes (PO) is observed unlike various regular courses in curriculum. Structured competitive programming initiative in which students compete with others in a contest environment in parameters such as program correctness, execution time, and development time is yet another effort towards student-centered learning. Platforms such as CodeChef, HackerRank and contests such International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), which is considered as the Olympics of Collegiate Programming with annual participation of 50,000 students in 2000+ universities in 100+ countries are efforts in this direction. Competitive Programming initiative’s learning objectives also spans several POs. Results, Discussion and Conclusions. Strong mapping of COs to POs inherent in the experiential learning programs improves the employability as also the progression and prospects of the students. Live-in-Labs® program exposes students to pressing issues confronted by village communities in India, through experiential learning opportunities, in order to apply theoretical concepts into application & deployment, by the devising of innovative technology remedies, and facilitation of crucial and collaborative problem-resolution capabilities of the students participating in the program. The participation of several students from foreign universities also enriches learning, collaboration and diversity. Every Live-in-Labs project results in a student paper published in reputed journals and conferences. It also improves student progression in terms of higher studies and high-paying jobs. Competitive programming dramatically improves student skills and capabilities in problem solving, coding, team work, innovation and creativity. It is also observed that code geeks from competitive programming initiatives are invariably the ones to secure the highest paying jobs in dream companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook.

Algorithmic equity in the hiring of underrepresented IT job candidates

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer a critical analysis of talent acquisition software and its potential for fostering equity in the hiring process for underrepresented IT professionals. The under-representation of women, African-American and Latinx professionals in the IT workforce is a longstanding issue that contributes to and is impacted by algorithmic bias.Design/methodology/approachSources of algorithmic bias in talent acquisition software are presented. Feminist design thinking is presented as a theoretical lens for mitigating algorithmic bias.FindingsData are just one tool for recruiters to use; human expertise is still necessary. Even well-intentioned algorithms are not neutral and should be audited for morally and legally unacceptable decisions. Feminist design thinking provides a theoretical framework for considering equity in the hiring decisions made by talent acquisition systems and their users.Social implicationsThis research implies that algorithms may serve to codify deep-seated biases, making IT work environments just as homogeneous as they are currently. If bias exists in talent acquisition software, the potential for propagating inequity and harm is far more significant and widespread due to the homogeneity of the specialists creating artificial intelligence (AI) systems.Originality/valueThis work uses equity as a central concept for considering algorithmic bias in talent acquisition. Feminist design thinking provides a framework for fostering a richer understanding of what fairness means and evaluating how AI software might impact marginalized populations.

European Nearshoring Index - Is Eastern Europe Attractive for Swiss IT Firms?

The main goal of this paper is to identify the major factors for the decision of Swiss IT service firms to nearshore their locations and to quantify their relative importance. Moreover, we develop an IT Nearshoring Index ranking the attractiveness of different European regions. We use a quantitative survey of 56 Swiss IT service firms that are either actively engaging in nearshoring or planning to nearshore parts of their business. Using the survey, we identified five main factors for the nearshoring location decision of Swiss IT firms: economic, labour, institutional, social and location. We pin down the relative importance (weights) of the aforementioned factors using the survey results and expert interviews. The labour factors (including labour costs on the one and the availability of skilled IT workforce on the other side) proved to be most important. We use the obtained weights to construct a (weighted) IT Nearshoring Index. Based on the IT Nearshoring Index, we find that in contrast to general belief, the most attractive locations cannot be found in Eastern Europe, but in Southern UK or Western Germany. The first is due to their high availability of IT workforce, the latter due to their cultural and geographical proximity. Eastern European regions can base their competitive advantage on offering attractive labour costs, but this cannot make up for the disadvantage of greater cultural and geographical distance to Switzerland.

Strategic Information Technology Compensation

The 2008 financial crisis has made many high-tech firms vulnerable. Some non-American firms (e.g. in Taiwan) have even granted their IT professionals a “no-pay break” to reduce firms' financial uncertainty. The crisis leads to a need to re-examine managerial compensation thinking from a cross-cultural perspective. Drawing on cross-cultural case studies in Taiwan, a collectivist culture, and in the United States, an individualist culture, this research explores managerial thinking on how to align strategic IT compensation with personnel's immigrant status and IT sourcing strategies in different industrial and national/cultural contexts. It also explores how firms utilize nonmonetary compensation in different cultures. Compensation for IT professionals in Taiwan are reportedly to be more uniform because of the feature of collectivist culture. Compensation for IT professionals in the United States are reportedly more fluid thanks to a frontier culture and individualism. Therefore, negotiable competitive pay is emphasized. Both Taiwan and the US have suffered from wage stagnation for decades. In Taiwan, this stagnation may be related to a depreciation of higher degrees since the number of university graduates has been increased fivefold in two decades and IT related degrees have been amidst popular majors which lead to oversupply in IT workforce. In the US, this stagnation may be related to economic recession and reduced IT investment/full-time positions, dropping IT enrollment, IT skill/education-job mismatch, and increased reliance on IT contractors in an emerging IT gig economy. From a cultural perspective, “still under employment” in a Confucian society which emphasizes face-saving that has value in its own right and it explains why some firms in Taiwan granted IT professionals a “no-pay break” instead of immediate layoff to cope with the 2008 crisis. Meanwhile, to cope with the challenge of IT skill/education-job mismatch in the United States, using a domestic training program as nonmonetary compensation may be a viable alternative to IT firms whose IT compensation strategies emphasize lucrative pay or poach IT talents rather than nurturing IT talents. Theoretically, economic/organization theories derived from western experiences or ideologies in 1900s, where industrialization, private/hierarchical organizations, and higher education were booming, may not fit non-western countries' experiences or today's world where the trends of outsourcing, IT contracting, gig economy and depreciation of education are emerging.

How Consumer Technology Is Changing the IT Function: A Multi-Case Study of Three Fortune 500 Companies

ABSTRACTThis study investigates how three different IT departments responded to IT consumerization. Using dynamic capabilities theory, we classified IT departments’ responses as sensing, seizing or transforming. This research shows how IT consumerization impacts each IT department’s deep structure and how the resulting changes can move beyond the scope of consumer tools and impact IT department operations. We demonstrate how consumerization, while creating struggles, creates shared governance, power redistribution and innovation for the IT workforce.

Understanding IT-Specific Job Embeddedness to Prevent Turnover of IT Professionals

A large number of job alternatives, work exhaustion and shock events like project failures lead to particularly high turnover rates in IT. When coping with this issue, organizations cannot always directly influence the aforementioned antecedents. However, they can help IT professionals build resilience against shock events by increasing job embeddedness. In our study, we identify IT-specific job embeddedness factors and investigate their influence on the turnover behavior of IT professionals with a large archival dataset provided by a German IT organization. By analyzing more than 1,500 turnover cases of IT professionals between 2008 and 2012, we examine the influence of five IT-specific job embeddedness factors on IT workforce. Using a survival analysis, we demonstrate that parallel projects, a high number of coworkers, training, and location significantly affect IT turnover. Surprisingly, we could not measure any effects of promising career prospects within the organization. Our study contributes to the turnover literature by identifying IT-specific job embeddedness, demonstrating its influence on turnover and as a result suggesting factors to counteract the negative effects of shocks in the IT environment.

The Effect of Memorization on the Retention and Learning Acquisition of Programming Practice

To foster a skillful IT workforce, it is crucial to balance fundamental programming concepts and advanced coding skills that students can apply to complicated real-life problems. One of the biggest deterrents for students to succeed in a computing field is the struggle with learning new programming languages and how to code effectively. Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, this study develops a holistic view of the student learning process in computer programming and suggests the pedagogical insights to improve students’ programming skills. This study shows the positive impact of memorization toward learning in fundamental programming class and its potential linkage to improved retention in computing programs.

A demographic snapshot of the IT workforce in Europe

A demographic snapshot of the IT workforce in Europe

Analysis of Emotional Intelligence Factors Using the Gray Relational Analysis Method

The results of this study show significant gender differences in emotional intelligence and job performance. The study also shows that women perform better than men. In the last few decades, emotional intelligence (EI) has gained popularity worldwide. Intelligence alone is not enough to achieve success in developing a person’s skills nowadays. The fields of psychology and neuroscience highlight the importance of EI as a response to a person’s feelings and emotions. With the IT sector making a significant contribution to the Indian economy in terms of GDP and employment; it is important to study the factors affecting the performance of the IT workforce.

An Exploratory Study on Motivation 3.0 among the Indian IT Workforce

An Exploratory Study on Motivation 3.0 among the Indian IT Workforce

Occupational outcomes for Australian computing/information technology bachelor graduates and implications for the IT bachelor curriculum

ABSTRACTIn Australia, the IT workforce and employment outcomes for university IT bachelor graduates have a complex interrelationship. The likelihood of IT bachelor graduates to work in a professional IT role is infrequently discussed in the research literature. It has been suggested that “deficient” undergraduate IT curricula are one contributor to poor employment outcomes for graduates. Using the latest available Australian national census data, we present a detailed analysis of the occupational outcomes for graduates of undergraduate IT programmes, and the makeup of the IT workforce in Australia. This analysis presents important findings for those designing undergraduate IT curricula that seek to equip students to prepare for the best employment outcomes. The finding that, even immediately post-graduation, a significant proportion of Australian IT bachelor graduates do not work in IT roles, even though professional IT job roles outnumber IT bachelor graduates nearly two-to-one, has implications for undergraduate IT education.

Motivating Information Technology Professionals: The case of New Zealand

IT professionals play a critical role in organizations. Research indicates that they may be unique in their attitudes toward motivation and job satisfaction. In New Zealand, a shortage of skilled professionals may contribute to or impact on motivation. Using a modified model of Herzberg’s two-factor theory by Smerek and Peterson (2007), this research seeks to answer the question: what motivates New Zealand IT professionals? In response, an online questionnaire was distributed to a population of New Zealand IT professionals and the data analysed using Partial Least Squares to understand the relationship between the various dimensions of job satisfaction, the impact of personal and job characteristics, and turnover intention. The findings show that the New Zealand IT professional is primarily motivated by the nature of his or her work, followed by perceptions of responsibility, and how supervisors encourage an environment for such. Satisfaction with salary is a predictor to a lesser degree. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, professional growth opportunities, career advancement, and recognition do not have a statistically-significant positive association with motivation. We conclude that, to motivate their IT workforce, organizations should: 1) focus on the nature of the jobs that IT professionals undertake; 2) train supervisors to provide an empowering environment; 3) offer competitive salaries to retain top talent; 4) not hesitate to employ IT professionals born outside New Zealand; and 5) take account of the singularities of the New Zealand labour market in seeking to attract, recruit and retain IT professionals. Implications for policy, practice and theory are discussed.

The effectiveness of social science research in addressing societal problems: Broadening participation in computing

One important rationale for federal funding of social science research is its role in addressing pressing social problems. In this article we examine the impact of the National Science Foundation’s Information Technology Workforce Program (ITWF) on broadening participation in computing and IT careers. Established in 2000 in response to the declining participation of women and minorities in computer science education and IT careers, the ITWF Program awarded almost US$30 million in research funding through its final solicitation in 2004. We document the quantitative and qualitative effects of this research funding, both to illustrate the complex ways in which R&D funding can advance scientific understanding and to identify the challenges that such problem-driven social science research may encounter. The problem of diversity in the IT workforce has not been solved. Nonetheless, the ITWF program had important effects on the understanding of this problem and efforts to address it.

English

Women account for a sizeable number of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) workforce in India. This paper makes an attempt to find out women’s status in emerging areas of IT in India. This paper firstly tries to find out factors affecting women’s access to ICT education in India. It also tries to find out factors affecting participation in ICT employment. The paper addresses issues regarding IT education availability for all women. Policy recommendations are given regarding women participation in IT sector. Key words: Women, information and communication technologies (ICT), access to ICT, IT workforce.