Informing the HR Hiring Decision of IT Personnel: The HR Professional's View of IT Certification, Education, & Experience

This study examined the importance of IT Certification from the HR Professional’s perspective, specifically the value of certification in relation to education and experience in a hiring decision. We found that an increase in formal education was subsidized by a decreasing emphasis on experience until a balance was reached. The relative weight of certification, however, was generally stable. A repeated measure analysis showed a statistically significant main effect and interaction effect. An exploratory factor analysis yielded five underlying dimensions which may be possible value drivers of IT certification on HR Professional’s hiring decisions: internal organizational benefits, external organizational benefits, same-job employee benefits, different-job employee benefits, and certification credibility. A mixed-design analysis also yielded five statistically significant interactions which shed further light on possible moderators of the value drivers of certification value: years of management experience and certification perception.