Vocational Theory and Personality Traits of Information Technology Professionals peRsOnAlITy TRAITs AnD cAReeR sATIsfAcTIOn Of InfORmATIOn TechnOlOgy pROfessIOnAls

Drawing on Holland’s (1985, 1996) vocational theory and based on a sample of 9,011 IT professionals, two research questions were investigated. On what personality traits do IT professionals differ from other occupations and which of these are also related to their career satisfaction? Five traits met both these criteria—Emotional Resilience, Openness, Tough-Mindedness, and Customer Service--for which IT professionals had higher scores, and Conscientiousness, for which they had lower scores. IT career satisfaction was also positively related to Extraversion, Agreeableness/Teamwork, Assertiveness, Optimism, Tough-Mindedness, Work Drive, and Visionary Style. Results are discussed in terms of the fittingness of these traits for IT work as well organizational functions such as selection, training, professional development, and career planning. Personality Traits – IT Professional 3 Personality Traits and Career Satisfaction of Information Technology Professionals The purpose of this chapter is to apply Holland’s (1985; 1996) vocational theory to the occupational field of Information Technology (IT) using a large, empirical sample of IT professionals. Original findings are presented on key personality traits of IT professionals and implications of these results are discussed. John L. Holland is, arguably, one of the most eminent and influential vocational theorists of our times and is famous for his psychological theory of careers, including career choice, vocational preference, and a taxonomy of personality types for occupations. He contended that all occupations can be understood in terms of six main vocational interest themes: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional (see The Career Key, 2008). Holland summarized the key features of his vocational theory as follows: “Studies show that people flourish in their work environment when there is a good fit between their personality type and the characteristics of the environment. Lack of congruence between personality and environment leads to dissatisfaction, unstable career paths, and lowered performance.” (Holland, 1996, p. 397). There are two logical corollaries of Holland’s fit model which have been generally verified by subsequent research and are germane to the present study. 1) There are differences in average scores on personality characteristics associated with occupations which help determine fit; and 2) higher scores on these personality characteristics are related to higher levels of satisfaction. Thus, for example, under the Holland model artists tend to have higher mean scores on the Artistic vocational interest scale and higher artistic scores are associated with greater job satisfaction of artists (Holland, 1976; 1996). Using the Holland taxonomy, computer programmers and IT workers have typically (e.g., O*NET, 2008) been considered as exemplifying three of the Holland dimensions—Investigative, Realistic, and Conventional— Personality Traits – IT Professional 4 reflecting, respectively, its scientific-research orientation, its emphasis on practical concerns including working with machinery and equipment, and typically working in a structured office setting. An alternative approach to the study of careers and occupations involves the use of personality traits (which are relatively enduring characteristics of individuals that are relatively consistent over time and across situations). In recent years a broad-based consensus has emerged that all normal personality traits can be parsimoniously described by five traits, termed the Big Five model of personality (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness). The Big Five personality traits have been replicated across a wide range of settings (e.g., De Raad, 2000), and they have been validated against many different criteria, including job performance (Salgado, 1997), job satisfaction (Judge, Heller, & Mount, 2002), career success (Judge, Higgins, Thoresen, & Barrick, 1999), life satisfaction (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998), and academic performance (Lounsbury, Sundstrom, Gibson, & Loveland, 2003). More recently, some researchers have argued that the Big Five taxonomy is too broad and that more narrow-scope personality constructs may augment their ability to predict behavior. These arguments have received verification in work and academic domains (e.g., Lounsbury, Sundstrom et al., 2003; Paunonen & Ashton, 2001). As a case in point, Lounsbury, Loveland, Sundstrom, Gibson, Drost, and Hamrick (2003) found that six narrow traits (Assertiveness, Customer Service Orientation, Optimism, Image Management, Intrinsic Motivation, and Work Drive) were positively related to career satisfaction for individuals in various occupational fields. There has been some work attempting to logically map personality traits onto various occupational classes (see, for example, O*NET, 2008), but an empirically-validated personality trait profile for IT professionals has not, as yet, been developed. Using judgments provided by subject matter experts, O*NET links the following personality traits to computer programmers: attention to detail, dependability, initiative, achievement, flexibility, independence, integrity, persistence, and cooperation. However, there is currently no empirical evidence showing that any of these traits reliably differentiate IT professionals from members Personality Traits – IT Professional 5 of other occupational groups nor is there evidence that possession of these traits by IT professionals results in enhanced career satisfaction. Returning to the goals of the present study, the following research questions were examined: RQ1: On which personality traits do IT professionals differ from other occupations? This research question is based directly on Holland’s vocational theory. Scores on traits important for an occupation should differ in magnitude from scores on the same traits obtained from other occupations. The personality traits assessed were the Big Five personality traits and a set of narrow-scope traits studied previously by Lounsbury, Loveland et al. (2003). RQ2: Which personality traits are related to career satisfaction for IT professionals? This question is also derived from Holland’s vocational theory, which indicates that salient traits for an occupation will be related to satisfaction with that occupation. Under Holland’s vocational theory, personality traits that differentiate IT professionals from other occupational groups and relate to career satisfaction provide a theoretical perspective for understanding the psychological makeup of IT professionals. This knowledge may also assist organizational decision makers performing such functions as career planning, selection, counseling, and succession planning for IT professionals. It may also help to inform interventions designed to optimize person-environment fit for IT professionals. Personality Traits – IT Professional 6