Just Let Me Do My Job!

This study seeks to broaden our understanding of the popular, yet under-researched, concept of micromanagement in the IT workforce by exploring IT professionals' trust in the competence of their supervisor as an antecedent to their perceptions of being micromanaged. The study also explores whether felt responsibility is the mechanism via which micromanagement negatively affects IT professionals' job satisfaction and organizational commitment, both proximal factors of turnover. These relationships are explored under the aegis of the Management Control Systems models, leader-member exchange theory, and the job characteristics model. Results indicate that trust in supervisor competence is a significant antecedent to IT professionals' perceptions of being micromanaged and that felt responsibility fully mediates the relationship between micromanagement and organizational commitment. The findings underscore the importance of building IT professionals' trust in their supervisor's competence and suggest that organizations proactively provide early intervention to negate the potential adverse impact on organizational outcomes.

Chapter 23: Information technology issues in New Zealand

© 2020 The Author(s). Our results suggest that New Zealand's information technology (IT) workforce is aging and evolving to become more gender-balanced (28% of survey responses were from women) and more diverse (45% of survey respondents were born in another country). It is generally a happy workforce: on average, survey respondents reported that they were satisfied with their jobs and that they felt a sense of accomplishment, without expressing excessive concern about work pressure, workload, work-life balance, or losing their jobs. Respondents of this survey were concentrated in financial services, the public sector, and educational organizations. Those in financial services tended to be particularly focused on outward-looking organizational issues and mobile app development, and those working for public sector organizations tended to be more particularly focused on inward-looking organizational issues and enterprise-level technologies. The only issues where those working for educational institutions attributed greater importance than other respondents were bring your own computing device (BYOD) and globalization.

Chapter 23: Information technology issues in New Zealand

© 2020 The Author(s). Our results suggest that New Zealand's information technology (IT) workforce is aging and evolving to become more gender-balanced (28% of survey responses were from women) and more diverse (45% of survey respondents were born in another country). It is generally a happy workforce: on average, survey respondents reported that they were satisfied with their jobs and that they felt a sense of accomplishment, without expressing excessive concern about work pressure, workload, work-life balance, or losing their jobs. Respondents of this survey were concentrated in financial services, the public sector, and educational organizations. Those in financial services tended to be particularly focused on outward-looking organizational issues and mobile app development, and those working for public sector organizations tended to be more particularly focused on inward-looking organizational issues and enterprise-level technologies. The only issues where those working for educational institutions attributed greater importance than other respondents were bring your own computing device (BYOD) and globalization.

Computing, Girls and Education: What we need to know to change how girls think about information technology.

Despite significant efforts and many intervention programs over the years to encourage girls to study computing, we continue to see a declining interest. Girls’ lack of engagement with technology at school is resulting in fewer women entering the Information Technology (IT) workforce. Our research investigated whether a long-term intervention program with a specifically designed school-based curriculum could change girls’ minds about computing generally and increase their confidence and interest in an IT career. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from girls and teachers before, during, and after this program was implemented. A conceptual model of the school-based influences on girls’ attitude was developed from the literature and used to explore the data. Findings from this four-year project added rich insights and resulted in a comprehensive model of ‘Factors that Influence Girls’ Attitude to IT.’ This research demonstrates that a carefully designed IT curriculum, delivered in single-sex classes, reinforced by opportunities to interact with role models, and timetabled in regular class time, can and does change girls’ attitudes to IT. We also found that the students reported improved confidence and increased interest in IT. We posit that our refined model of ‘Factors that Influence Girls’ Attitude to IT’ is a valuable reference tool. Teachers, academics and professionals who are implementing programs to promote IT to girls can use it.

Algorithmic equity in the hiring of underrepresented IT job candidates

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical analysis of talent acquisition software and its potential for fostering equity in the hiring process for underrepresented IT professionals. The under-representation of women, African-American and Latinx professionals in the IT workforce is a longstanding issue that contributes to and is impacted by algorithmic bias. Design/methodology/approach Sources of algorithmic bias in talent acquisition software are presented. Feminist design thinking is presented as a theoretical lens for mitigating algorithmic bias. Findings Data are just one tool for recruiters to use; human expertise is still necessary. Even well-intentioned algorithms are not neutral and should be audited for morally and legally unacceptable decisions. Feminist design thinking provides a theoretical framework for considering equity in the hiring decisions made by talent acquisition systems and their users. Social implications This research implies that algorithms may serve to codify deep-seated biases, making IT work environments just as homogeneous as they are currently. If bias exists in talent acquisition software, the potential for propagating inequity and harm is far more significant and widespread due to the homogeneity of the specialists creating artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Originality/value This work uses equity as a central concept for considering algorithmic bias in talent acquisition. Feminist design thinking provides a framework for fostering a richer understanding of what fairness means and evaluating how AI software might impact marginalized populations.