As organizations' reliance on information technology (IT) continues to grow, the information technology personnel who support end users play an increasingly important role in the proper functioning of those organizations. In the present study, we interviewed information technology personnel (N=32) as well as other employees (N=89) to examine their intra-group and inter-group communications and assess the existence and importance of the occupational culture of IT personnel within organizations. We applied Trice's Occupational Subculture theoretical framework (1993) to examine the characteristics of the occupational culture of IT personnel and its relationships with other type of personnel within organizations. The results of our study suggest that IT personnel have established a distinct occupational culture within organizations, characterized, for example, by the use of technical jargon, primary value of technical knowledge, extreme and unusual demands on people in the profession related to the constant change of IT, feelings of superiority and a general lack of formal rules. Conflicts between IT occupational subcultures and other extant subcultures arise from cultural differences. ACM Categories: K.7.1

PurposeAs the shortage in the information technology (IT) workforce continues, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the cultural dimensions of IT occupations that attract or drive away potential IT professionals. In the present study, the authors take an occupational culture approach to study the cultural fit of newcomers to IT occupations and to understand how young people perceive the culture embedded in this occupational community as they become part of it.Design/methodology/approachThe authors take a sequential mixed methodology approach composed of two phases, one qualitative and the other quantitative. In the first phase of the study, nine focus groups and 27 interviews with college students were conducted to learn about the challenges and barriers that they personally experienced while becoming part of the IT occupational community. The second phase used results from the first qualitative phase to design a survey instrument that was administered to 215 IT college students who were currently or had recently been involved in IT work experience to evaluate their cultural fit to the IT occupational culture (ITOC) and its influence on their occupational commitment.FindingsThe results suggest that women, ethnic minorities and those with less work experience encountered greater difficulty fitting into different dimensions of ITOC. The results also showed that cultural fit is a good predictor of occupational commitment and affective commitment in particular.Practical implicationsAn initial survey instrument was developed to measure cultural fit to ITOC. This instrument can be further modified and adapted to be used in the hiring process by HR departments to measure cultural fit to organizational subcultures, such as the one in the IT occupational group.Originality/valueThis paper constitutes an important contribution to the rigor and development of the theory and research of human resources in information technologies.

No abstract

No abstract

The telework option has been noted by researchers as a way to save costs and increase productivity for organizations; allow flexibility, savings, and relieve stress for employees; and be environmentally friendly for society.While research has examined generational attitudes regarding work, there are limited studies on the expectations of this newest workforce, the Millennials (born 1981Millennials (born -1999, and even fewer concerning their attitudes towards teleworking. This study looks at the Millennials' attitudes toward autonomy, work/life balance, perceived computer competence and its relationship with telework preference. Using a survey instrument, a sample of Millennials and non-Millennials (GenXers, Baby Boomers and Traditionalists) were scrutinized to determine their preferences by group. A sample of 263 university students, faculty and staff represented 195 Millennials and 68 non-Millennials. Partial support was found for the effect of autonomy and work/life balance toward the preference to telework. Based on our results, Millennials do not seem to prefer teleworking. However, our analysis of differences between males and females depicted greater interest in males.