Abstract
The influence of technology on our modern workforce is significant and has been instrumental in job creation. One group who have not benefitted are Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. With very few Māori employed in the IT sector, the benefits to Māori from the increased opportunities are still to be realised. The dominant narrative is that Māori are underachieving; that Māori will want to participate if they acquire technical skills or see the benefits of working in IT. The aim of this study is to push past this narrative and explore through the eyes of Māori IT workers why so few Māori work in IT. Seeking answers, I travelled throughout Aotearoa New Zealand to kōrero with Māori IT workers. A newly developed approach called Kaupapa Tika was used to gather, analyse, and understand their experiences. A key finding of this research is that for Māori IT workers, there were a core set of enacted values irrespective of connection to te ao Māori. They used these values to determine what was valued by other people, and based on harmonies and dissonances, if they could thrive in that environment. The dissonances present significant challenges for Māori IT workers and provide insights on the work required to support and encourage them.
Recommended Citation
Vanderklei, Mark and Todorova, Nelly, "Maori workers in the IT industry: Challenges and barriers" (2023). ACIS 2023 Proceedings. 63.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2023/63