Trekking the globe with the World IT Project
28 Mar 2018-Journal of information technology case and application research (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro)-Vol. 20, Iss: 1, pp 3-8
TL;DR: It is widely acknowledged that information systems/information technology (IS/IT) academic research is mostly Western centric (i.e., U.S. and Western Europe based) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: It is widely acknowledged that information systems/information technology (IS/IT) academic research is mostly Western centric (i.e., U.S. and Western Europe based). Several surveys have clearly pointed out that most of the publications are based in the West, the authors are from the West, the research itself is conducted in the West, and even the topic areas pertain to the needs and concerns of the West. Given that IS/IT has pervaded the entire globe, such a dominant Western bias does not do justice to the rest of the world as other nations do not find their particular topics investigated or have to rely on Western results, which may not be necessarily applicable to their context.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the role that job satisfaction has in turnover intention and turn-away intention (i.e., moving to another industry other than IT) in South Africa.
Abstract: Aim/Purpose: This study forms part of the World IT Project, which aims to gain a deeper understanding of individual, personal and organisational factors influencing IT staff in a modern, work environment. The project also aims to provide a global view that complements the traditional American/Western view. The purpose of this study is to investigate and report on some of these factors, in particular, the role that job satisfaction has in turnover intention (i.e., changing jobs within the IT industry) and turn-away intention (i.e., moving to another industry other than IT) in South Africa. Background: Several studies have reported on the importance of an employee’s job satisfaction to organisation success, and the various factors that influence it. Most studies on job satisfaction adopted a Westernised and not a global view. Very few empirical studies have been conducted on job satisfaction of IT workers in South Africa. This paper reports on the individual, personal and organisational factors that influence the job satisfaction of IT staff in South Africa. Methodology: The study uses statistical analysis of survey data acquired through the World IT Project. Both online and paper based questionnaires were used. A sample size of 301 respondents was obtained from the survey, which was conducted over a period of 6 months during 2017. The factors that influence IT job satisfaction were analysed using correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and discriminant analysis. The factors investigated were employee and organisational demographics, aspects of occupational culture, and various job-related individual issues. Contribution: This paper presents the only study focused specifically on turnover and turn-away intention amongst IT staff in South Africa. The final proposed model, grounded in the empirical dataset, clearly shows job satisfaction as a strong mediating construct explaining most of the variance in the IT professional’s intention to leave the organisation (i.e. their turnover intention) and the industry (i.e. their turn-away intention). Findings: The findings revealed that there was a significant correlation between job satisfaction and turnover intention as well as between job satisfaction and turn-away intention of IT staff. Perceived professional self-efficacy, strain and experience were also highly correlated with turnover intention. Professional self-efficacy was also significantly correlated with turn-away intention. Based on the analyses that were conducted, a research model is presented that shows the relationships between the various antecedents of turnover and turn-away intention. Recommendations for Practitioners: Managers in organisations dealing with the shortage of IT skills can use the model to plan interventions to reduce IT staff turnover rates by focussing on addressing the identified individual issues such as strain, job (in)security and work load as well as the personal value and IT occupational culture issues. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers in the field of IT staff recruitment and management can find value for their research in the proposed refined model of IT job satisfaction and turnover intention. Future research could possibly replicate the study in other countries or could focus on different factors. Impact on Society: IT skills play a crucial role in society today and are therefore in high demand. However, this demand is not being satisfied by the current rate of supply. Research into what factors influence IT staff to leave the organisation or the industry can assist managers with improving their employee relations and job conditions so as to reduce this turnover and increase organisations’ and society’s competitiveness and economic growth. Future Research: It would be interesting to determine if the findings are similar for a sample of smaller organisations and/or younger IT employees since this study focussed on larger organisations and more experienced staff. Future research could also compare the findings of South African organisations with those in other countries.
8 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report the information technologies rated as important by IT professionals in thirty-seven countries of the world, thus enhancing our understanding of the global technology landscape, and analyze the nature of these differences based on the economic level of the country and its IT infrastructure capability.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , a model was constructed and tested with data collected from 284 Japanese IT professionals, and the effects of work exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and friendship networks on turnover intention were fully mediated through job satisfaction.
Abstract: The Japanese information technology (IT) workplace is unique compared to that of other nations. IT represents a large sector of the country’s economy, and organizations need to develop proactive approaches to retain their IT workforce. In order to manage employee turnover, they need to understand the distinctive factors influencing employee turnover intention, as turnover intention is known to be a reliable predictor of actual turnover. In this study, a model was constructed and tested with data collected from 284 Japanese IT professionals. Our findings show that the effects of work exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and friendship networks on turnover intention are fully mediated through job satisfaction. Work-home conflict has no impact on job satisfaction. The strength of the relationships is stronger for younger than for older organizations. Furthermore, individualistic factors (i.e., work exhaustion and personal accomplishment) have a stronger impact on job satisfaction than collectivistic factors (i.e., work-home conflict and friendship networks). These results show the fragility of the notion of long-term employment, which is supposed to be embraced within the entire Japanese work culture.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored whether there is diversity of occupational culture among IT workers and revealed the existence of ITOC segments and theorizes about the relationship of these to innovation-orientation, job satisfaction, individual motivation, work styles and national culture.
Abstract: PurposeThe study aims to explore whether there is diversity of occupational culture among IT workers. Prior work conceptualizes IT occupational culture (ITOC) as based around six distinctive values (ASPIRE) but has not explored whether there is variation in ITOC.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data from 496 New Zealand IT workers was used to create factors representing IT occupational values based on the ASPIRE tool. Hierarchical cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were applied to identify distinctive segments of ITOC.FindingsFour ITOC segments were identified: fun-lovers, innovators, independents and institutionalists. These differed in the relative emphasis ascribed to the ITOC values with each segment being distinguished by 1–2 dominant values. Segment membership varied according to level of responsibility and birth country. Institutionalists and innovators had higher concern about organizational and IT issues than fun-lovers and independents. Job satisfaction was lowest among innovators and highest along institutionalists.Research limitations/implicationsThis study challenges the concept of a unified ITOC, suggesting that ITOC is pluralistic. It also theorizes about interactions between ITOC, individual motivation and values and national culture.Practical implicationsManagement needs to be cognizant of the fact that IT occupational culture is not homogeneous and different IT occupational segments require unique management approaches, and that their own values may not match those of others in IT work. By understanding ITOC segments, managers can tailor support, assign tasks appropriately and design teams to optimize synergies and avoid conflict.Originality/valueThis study reveals the existence of ITOC segments and theorizes about the relationship of these to innovation-orientation, job satisfaction, individual motivation, work styles and national culture. The combination of cluster and discriminant analysis is a valuable replicable inductive method that is underrepresented in Information Systems (IS) research.
3 citations
Proceedings Article•
01 Jan 2020
TL;DR: Results from SEM analysis suggest that both self-efficacy and friendship networks have a positive impact on job satisfaction, while work exhaustion negatively impacts job satisfaction.
Abstract: This study investigates the IT workplace in Japan in the context of rapidly changing technological innovation and a long-standing collectivist culture in Japanese firms. Particularly, it examines a) the determinants of job satisfaction, such as self-efficacy and friendship networks on the positive side, and work exhaustion and work-home conflict on the negative side; and b) how these factors affect job turnover intention. Results from SEM analysis suggest that both self-efficacy and friendship networks have a positive impact on job satisfaction, while work exhaustion negatively impacts job satisfaction. Comparing workplace-derived factors (self-efficacy and work exhaustion) with collectivism-derived factors (friendship networks and work-home conflict), the former has a greater impact on job satisfaction than the latter. Additionally, this study examines the effect of organizational age on the relationships between the model constructs.
2 citations
Cites background from "Trekking the globe with the World I..."
...This project is part of empirical studies being coordinated by the World IT Project (WITP) (Palvia et al. 2018; Palvia et al. 2017), and it attempts to answer two important research questions in the Japanese business and cultural context....
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...It should also be noted that the survey instrument was developed in order to “build theory-based models using individual-level constructs to predict personal outcomes such as stress, turnover, etc. and test them in different countries” (Palvia et al. 2018, p. 7)....
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...First, this work is part of empirical studies being coordinated by the WITP, and it focuses on the two research questions....
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...The items for the operationalization of all constructs were consistent with the WITP survey instrument (Palvia et al. 2017)....
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...Our empirical data were collected as part of the WITP....
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References
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01 Jul 2006
TL;DR: The GLOBE culture and leadership scales as mentioned in this paper were developed by the Globe Research Program at the University of Southern California (U.S.A. in the early 1990s).
Abstract: Foreword - Harry Triandis Preface - Robert J. House Part 1 Introduction Chapter 1 Introduction - Robert House Chapter 2 Overview of the Globe Research Program - Robert House and Mansour Javidan Part 2 Literature Chapter 3 Literature Review - Mansour Javidan and Robert House Chapter 4 Cultures and Leadership - Peter Dorfman and Robert House Chapter 5 The Impact of Societal Culture and Industry on Organizational Culture - Marcus Dickson, Renee BeShears, and Vipin Gupta Part 3 Project GLOBE: Research Methodolgy - Overview by Paul Hanges Chapter 6 Research Design - Robert House, Paul Hanges, and Peter Dorfman Chapter 7 The Linkage Between GLOBE Findings and Other Cross Cultural Information - Mansour Javidan and Markus Hauser Chapter 8 The Development and Validation of the GLOBE Culture and Leadership Scales - Paul Hanges and Marcus Dickson Chapter 9 Multi-source Construct Validity of GLOBE Scales - Vipin Gupta, Mary Sully de Luque, and Robert House Chapter 10 Regional and Climate Clustering of Social Cultures - Vipin Gupta, Paul Hanges, Peter Dorfman, and Robert House Chapter 11 Rational for GLOBE Statistical Analysis: Societal Rankings and Test of Hypotheses - Paul Hanges, Marcus Dickson, and Mina Sipe Part 4 Empirical Findings - Intro by Mansour Javidan Chapter 12 Performance Orientation - Mansour Javidan Chapter 13 Future Orientation - Neal Ashkanasy, Vipin Gupta, Melinda Mayfield, and Edwin Trevor-Roberts Chapter 14 Cross-Cultural differences in Gender Egalitarianism: Implications for Societies, Organizations, and Leaders - Cynthia G. Emrich, Florence L. Denmark, and Deanne Den Hartog Chapter 15 Assertiveness - Deanne Den Hartog Chapter 16 Individual and Collectivism - Michele J. Gelfand, D.P.S. Bhawuk, Lisa H. Nishii, & David J. Bechtold Chapter 17 Power Distance - Dale Carl, Vipin Gupta with Mansour Javidan Chapter 18 Humane Orientation in Societies, Organizations, and Leader Attributes - Hayat Kabasakal and Muzaffer Bodur Chapter 19 Uncertainty Avoidance - Mary Sully de Luque, Mansour Javidan, and Ram Aditya Chapter 20 Societal, Cultural, and Industry Influences on Organizational Culture - Felix Brodbeck, Paul Hanges, Marcus Dickson, Vipin Gupta, and Peter Dorfman Chapter 21 Leadership and Cultural Variation: The Identification of Culturally Endorsed Leadership Profiles - Peter Dorfman, Paul Hanges, and Felix Brodbeck Part 5 Conclusion Chapter 22 Conclusions, (theoratical and practical) Implications, and future directions - Mansour Javidan, Robert House, Peter Dorfman, Vipin Gupta, Paul Hanges, and Mary Sully de Luque Appendix A Correlations GLOBE Scales - Paul Hanges Appendix B Response bias Outliers - Paul Hanges Appendix C Hierarchical Linear Modeling - Paul Hanges, Mina Sipe, and Ellen Godfrey Appendix D Confidence Internval Demonstration - Paul Hanges
4,582 citations
TL;DR: Computer simulations suggest that using only survey responders to calculate Dissimilarity typically results in underestimation of true dissimilarity effects and that these effects can occur even when response rates are high.
Abstract: The extensive research examining relations between group member dissimilarity and outcome measures has yielded inconsistent results. In the present research, the authors used computer simulations to examine the impact that a methodological feature of such research, participant nonresponse, can have on dissimilarity-outcome relations. Results suggest that using only survey responders to calculate dissimilarity typically results in underestimation of true dissimilarity effects and that these effects can occur even when response rates are high.
1,481 citations
TL;DR: This year’s SIM survey added questions about cybersecurity, software development and cloud computing, and expanded the questions on IT organization structure and governance, IT performance measures, management practices, work activities and spending.
Abstract: Since 1980, the Society for Information Management (SIM), in collaboration with a team of MIS academics, has surveyed its members, asking questions about themselves and their IT management concerns. These studies have expanded over the years to become one of the most comprehensive investigations of IT and IT leadership in organizations. Continuously improving the relevance and accuracy of the studies, this year we have: (a) added questions about cybersecurity, software development and cloud computing; (b) expanded the questions on IT organization structure and governance, IT performance measures, management practices, work activities and spending; and (c) included 2014’s questions about service catalogs and chargebacks (which were omitted intentionally in 2015). We emailed a personal link to the online questionnaire to each of the 5,332 SIM members and received 1,213 responses, including 490 CIOs, representing 801 unique organizations with average annual revenues of $4.75 billion. Total revenue of these organizations was nearly
175 citations
"Trekking the globe with the World I..." refers background in this paper
...https://doi.org/10.1080/15228053.2018.1451942 issues and technology issues (e.g., Kappelman et al., 2017)....
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...For example, the top issues in the latest U.S. study include: alignment of IT with business, security & privacy, innovation, and IT agility (Kappelman et al., 2017)....
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...In the latest survey (Kappelman et al., 2017), the technology issues which were listed at the top include: data analytics, application development, security, cloud computing, customer relationship management, and enterprise resource planning (ERP)....
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TL;DR: The project’s objectives and history, its general framework, governance, important decision points, and recommendations for future researchers based on lessons learned will provide a world view of IT issues that will be relevant to stakeholders at the firm, national, and international levels.
Abstract: We conceived The World IT Project, the largest study of its kind in the IS field, more than a decade ago. This ambitious mega project with an enormous global scale was formally launched in 2013 and is expected to finish by 2017. Major publications on the project should appear through 2019. The project responded to the pervasive bias in IS research towards American and Western views. What IS research glaringly lacks is a global view that tries to understand the major IS issues in the world in the context of unique cultural, economic, political, religious, and societal environments. The World IT Project captures the organizational, technological, and individual issues of IT employees across the world and relates them to cultural and organizational factors. This first major paper provides the project’s objectives and history, its general framework, governance, important decision points, and recommendations for future researchers based on lessons learned. Ultimately, we hope to provide a world view of IT issues that will be relevant to stakeholders at the firm, national, and international levels. We also invite scholars to send their recommendations for analyzing and writing papers using our vast database.
27 citations
"Trekking the globe with the World I..." refers background in this paper
...The history, process, and challenges of the project are described in detail by Palvia et al. (2017)....
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...To quote from (Palvia et al., 2017, p. 391): At the national level, it [World IT Project] would allow stakeholders, such as policymakers, governments and vendors, to address the pressing issues of the times....
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...The goals of the project were established as (Palvia et al., 2017, p. 390): . . . the project will examine various IT employee issues [worldwide], such as organizational IT issues, technology issues, and individual issues....
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01 Feb 2018
TL;DR: This study investigates how to measure differences by developing a new, expanded theoretical framework of IT occupational culture (ITOC), which includes: Artifacts, Values, and Tacit Assumptions.
Abstract: Many have conjectured that people in the IT occupation are different from non-IT business users and that such differences can lead to negative organizational outcomes. This study investigates how to measure these differences by developing a new, expanded theoretical framework of IT occupational culture (ITOC). This framework includes: Artifacts, Values, and Tacit Assumptions. Values form the core of any culture, and a cohesive set of cultural values is termed an "ideology." Using a mixed methodology, research was conducted in two parts to develop and measure an ideology of ITOC. A qualitative investigation based on interview data provided evidence of six core values in the ideology: Autonomy in Decision-Making, Structure in Environment, Precision in Communication, Innovation in Technology, Reverence for Technical Knowledge, and Enjoyment at the Workplace (ASPIRE). The quantitative investigation sought to validate the values and ultimately reduced the number of values to five based on factor analysis of survey data: Autonomy in Decision-Making, Structure/Precision, Innovation in Technology, Reverence for Technical Knowledge, and Enjoyment at the Workplace. IT respondents rated these values significantly higher than non-IT business personnel. Our findings have implications for practitioners and researchers and can provide a path to bridge the gap between IT and business users.
15 citations