272 International Journal of Electronic Business Management, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp.272-281 (2010)
IS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CAREER UNIQUE?
EXPLORING DIFFERENCES IN CAREER COMMITMENT
AND ITS DETERMINANTS AMONG IT AND NON-IT
EMPLOYEES
Jen-Ruei Fu
Department of Information Management
National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences
Kaohsiung (807), Taiwan
ABSTRACT
Using investment model as a theoretical lens, this study provides a compelling theoretical model that helps understand the differences between IT professionals and non-IT employees on their career commitment. Data to test the hypotheses were drawn from a cross-sectional field study of top-1000 large-scale companies in Taiwan. The results generally supported the research model. Career satisfaction was the most important determinant of career commitment. Additionally, career investment and professional self-efficacy were significant in predicting individuals’ career commitment. The moderating analysis revealed distinct patterns that IT professionals and non-IT employees seemed to hold different attitudes about career. Interestingly, the threat of professional obsolescence and professional self-efficacy is more salient to ITPs, compared with non-IT employees. Insight and implications on management strategy for IT/HR managers are discussed.
Keywords: Career Commitment, Investment Model, Professional Obsolescence, Professional Self-Efficacy, IT Professionals
1. INTRODUCTION
*
The global economy is undergoing a fundamental change. Increasingly, the organizations can no longer ensure the stability and security of personal career development. This process affects the lives of most people in the age of knowledge economy, but it has a special significance for information technology (IT) professionals who are directly engaged in the mainstream of information systems work, i.e., those who design, develop, implement, and support computer-based information systems. Carson and Bedeian [3] have suggested that coping with the uncertainty associated with changes such as mergers, acquisitions, downsize and layoffs has caused many employees to intensify their focus on, and commitment to, the aspect of their work life and professional career, instead of their working organizations.
Blau [2] defined career commitment as “one’s attitude towards one’s profession or vocation”. It is conceptualized as the extent to which someone identifies with and values his or her profession or vocation and the amount of time and effort spent acquiring relevant knowledge. Career commitment is
* Corresponding author: fred@cc.kuas.edu.tw
important because of its potential links to work performance. Past research indicates that individuals who are highly committed to their careers have been shown to spend more time in developing skills, and show less intention to withdraw from their careers and jobs, and have better job performance [21]. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for IT professionals (hereafter ITPs) to commit to their careers. ITPs today perceive significantly more occupational stress than their counterpart. Long working hours, unexpected user demands, unmet deadlines, and skills’ obsolescence are not uncommon for ITPs [32]. Thus, there are many compelling social and economic reasons why ITPs decide or be obliged to consider changing careers.
Past research noted that ITPs have lower social needs than non-IT individuals. And ITPs have a higher need for achievement than those in some other occupations [12]. Couger et al. [9] showed that users and IT staffs have different beliefs and views of company policies. Therefore, these findings challenge the assumption that all employees are homogenous in their work value and thus the “one size fits all” arrangements seem not feasible. Focusing on the career concerns of employees, this study explores differences in career commitment and its determinants among ITPs and non-IT employees.
Investigating career commitment contributes to our understanding of how people develop, make sense of, and integrate their multiple work-related commitments. To our knowledge, career commitment has been examined to a limited extent in the literature. However, the career at hand and its future potential may be much more important and consciously contemplated by an employee. We propose that relationship factors (e.g., investment, availability of alternatives, and satisfaction) and individual variables (e.g., professional self-efficacy) play an integral part in whether an individual stays in or leaves a career. Important situational variables (the threat of professional obsolescence) were also employed. Moreover, we examined the differences in career concerns between ITPs and non-IT employees.
2. THEORETICAL
BACKGROUND
2.1 Interdependence Theory and Investment Model
One model seems ideal to the investigation the relationship factors involved in the relationship between a professional and his/her career is the investment model. The investment model is based on Kelley and Thiabaut’s [19] interdependence theory, which holds that interdependence in a relationship is characterized by satisfaction and dependence. Rusbult [27] extends these notions by introducing the concept of investment which is defined as the resources (e.g., time, energy, effort, or money) that a person has put into a relationship. Rusbult postulates that such investments would be lost if the relationship ends. Using investment model as a theoretical lens, it can be reasonably inferred that the present situation and the anticipated future situation (alternative career, and loss of previous investments) may determine ITPs’ behavior and attitudes toward career changes.
The primary goal of investment model is to predict the degree of commitment to ongoing relationships. The investment model is considered a rich interdisciplinary model predicted on psychological and sociological constructs. It has been applied to wide range of relationships: employee’s commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover [28], satisfaction and commitment in friendship [29]. Findings in past research suggest that investment model is robust and explains the maintenance and termination of a variety of different types of relationships across a variety of contexts.
2.2 Professional Obsolescence and Self-Efficacy of IT Professionals
One major factor contributing to the turnover of ITPs is the work exhaustion triggered by constant changes and obsolescence in technology [22,26].
Many ITPs realize that they either must constantly engage in retraining or seek out another field of employment [17]. Additionally, in an environment of constant change, Trimmer et al. [33] suggested that ITPs’ self-efficacy would stimulate their motivation to participate in updating activities. Cherniss [5] suggested that professional self-efficacy plays a central role in the maintenance of individual career commitment. However, little work has been done to understand how the threat of professional obsolescence and professional self-efficacy influence their career changing decisions.
3. RESEARCH MODEL AND
HYPOTHESES
Career Investment (INV) Availability of Career Alternatives (ALT) Career Satisfaction (SAT) Career Commitment (COM) Threat of Professional Obsolescence (TPO) Professional Self‐Efficacy (PSE) Investment ModelFigure 1: The research model
3.1 Investment Model
Satisfaction refers to the positive versus negative affect experienced in a relationship. Career satisfaction is defined as the level of overall happiness experienced through one’s choice of career. All things considered, it is easier for a relationship to continue when it feels good than when it feels bad. A satisfied employee is expected to like his or her career and will most likely to have a favorable disposition and be committed to his or her career. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that the more satisfied professionals are with their careers, the higher their career commitment.
H1: Career satisfaction positively influences individuals’ career commitment.
Rusbult et al. [29] suggests the commitment to a relationship depends on how much we have already invested in the relationship. Career investment reflects accumulated investments in one’s career that would be lost or deemed worthless if one were to pursue a new career. ITPs invested a lot of time to learn programming languages, operating systems, methodologies and tools, etc. However, these specialized techniques and knowledge are specific and non-portable and are valuable only in designing and implementing information systems. The loss of
J. R. Fu: Is Information Technology Career Unique? 279
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jen-Ruei Fu is an assistant professor in the
Department of Information Management at the National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Taiwan, R.O.C. He received a Ph.D. degree in business administration from the School of Management, National Central University, Taiwan, R.O.C. His current research interests include human resource management, e-commerce, and topics on IT implementation and applications. His research has appeared in Information & Management, Journal of Government Information, International Journal of Information Management, Journal of Information Management (in Chinese), and Sun Yat-Sen Management Review (in Chinese). This study was supported by a grant from the National Science Council in Taiwan, R.O.C. (Grant Number: NSC 98-2410-H-151-005)
(Received May 2010, revised August 2010, accepted September 2010)
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