Building an Inclusive Talent Pipeline: A Study on Women of the Indian Informational Technology Sector

• Published in: Journal of international women's studies Vol. 22; no. 4; p. COV7
• Main Authors: Alok, Swati, Banerjee, Sudatta, Khan, Mohammed A.R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bridgewater State College 01.04.2021
• Subjects: Employment; Industrial psychology; Information technology workers; Management; Psychological aspects; Social aspects; Working women; Workplace multiculturalism; India
• ISSN: 1539-8706; 1539-8706

Of the many women that are a part of the Informational Technology (IT) workforce, very few make it to senior roles. Occupational commitment measured as affective (AC), normative (NC), and continuance (CC) as well as career satisfaction (CS) are considered to be crucial in understanding this pattern of women not making it to senior roles. AC explains one's emotional attachment to their career, NC is the obligation to stay the course in a career, and CC explains the opportunity cost to transfer from one career to the next. This study aims to understand the role of individual determinants (career identity, career adaptability) and occupational culture fit (the concept of screening potential candidates that is focused on aligning employees and employers with shared values, beliefs, and attitudes). This study also focuses on forms of organizational support (managerial support, job autonomy) that either act as enablers or barriers to sustaining commitment and satisfaction in IT occupations. Data collected from 200 IT women with at least 5 years of experience working in top 20 NASCOM companies were regressed to test the hypotheses. The result indicated that women with high scores in occupational culture (i.e., greater congruence with IT occupational demands) show higher career satisfaction (CS), affective commitment (AC), and normative commitment (NC). This indicates that there is a chance for organizations to actively improve women's occupational demand of long, late, and erratic work schedules by looking at their safety and providing flexi-timing to help them manage a work-life balance. A performance evaluation system that focuses on results, rather than hours of effort, and that allows women flexibility to attend to certain late-night commitments at home could go a long way in helping them achieve a better culture fit. Women with strong career identities show higher AC and CC. Women that have high career identities are intrinsically motivated and place a high value on their work; hence, they continuously seek skill improvement opportunities. Employers can utilize this knowledge to proactively identify female employees with high career identities early in their professional journey then engage them in tasks that are meaningful and aligned with their interests and values. Further, results indicated that job autonomy--a person's ability to have an influence over what happens in their work environment, in particular, the ability to influence matters that are relevant to their personal goals--led to higher CC; higher managerial support leads to career satisfaction, thereby indicating that managers can provide support by providing a participative decision-making mechanism and flexible timing for better work-life balance.