Identifying with the Information Technology Profession: Implications for Turnaway of IT Professionals

As a profession, IT provides tremendous and irreplaceable resources to organizations. In an effort to understand individual attitudes related specifically to the profession, outside the bounds of any one organization, this paper extends research on the IT professional by examining the relationship between professional identification and profession-level outcomes. Results from more than 300 IT professionals across several organizations indicate professional identification is directly related to key outcome variables including affective commitment to, and satisfaction with, the IT profession. Identification with the IT profession was also found to have a significant indirect effect on intention to leave the profession (also known as turnaway intention). The analysis provides insight into the importance of affect to identification and lends support to previous discussions on the dual nature of identification. Findings maintain that there is more than cognitive belief driving the influence of identification on outcomes for IT professionals. Implications derived from the results of this study and directions for future research on professional identification and the IT professional are discussed.

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