What do women want?: an investigation of career anchors among women in the IT workforce

ABSTRACT

In an attempt to address the underrepresentation of women in the information technology (IT) workforce it is important to understand the values and motivations of female professionals. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to examine career anchors of women in the IT workforce and how these factors are manifested in their careers. In doing so, we examine data from a field study of 92 female IT practitioners. Three important findings resulted from this exploration. First, technical competence and managerial competence are mutually exclusive. Second, a combination of career anchors for a given individual can be found. Third, career anchors vary in terms of temporal characteristics.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY

General Terms:
Human Factors, Management, Theory

Keywords:
IT careers, IT profession, IT professionals, IT workforce, career anchors, careers of women in IT, diversity, gender differences, individual differences theory of gender and IT, women