Paper Number
1727
Abstract
To remain competitive in the fast-paced information technology (IT) industry, companies will have to rely heavily on the next generation of IT professionals. Yet we know little about future IT professionals’ career plans: Are contemporary career attitudes tempting IT students to leave the IT profession? And can early professional identification prevent potential exit plans? Based on a survey with 180 IT students, we investigate how their turnaway intention from IT is shaped by their boundaryless career attitudes (BCAs), namely the desire for interdisciplinary work and the desire for inter-organizational mobility, and how professional identification influences this relationship. We find divergent effects of the two BCA forms on turnaway intention. In addition, we find a reducing effect of professional identification on turnaway intention, but also surprising interaction effects with BCAs. Our findings indicate that IT students with different BCAs follow distinct career paths across organizations and professions. Our study contributes to research on IT careers and provides guidance for organizations on how to employ future, boundaryless IT professionals.
Recommended Citation
Prommegger, Barbara; Arpaci, Selin; and Krcmar, Helmut, "Leaks in the IT Workforce Pipeline: Investigating IT Students and Their Plans to Leave or Stay in the IT Profession" (2022). ECIS 2022 Research Papers. 130.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2022_rp/130
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