Is Information Technology a "Boundaryless" Profession? A Sequence Analysis of the Career Histories of It Professionals From 1979-1998.

Prior research on the Information Technology (IT) profession reflects two conflicting schools of thought. Some consider IT an occupational labor market (OLM) where careers comprise sequences of jobs within IT, while others view IT as a boundaryless profession where careers include job moves into and out of IT. However, there has been relatively little empirical support for either view of IT. In this study, we examine the structure of IT careers to test whether IT is an OLM or a boundaryless profession. Career histories from 1979-1998 for 412 IT professionals are drawn from the 1979 cohort in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) dataset. Using Optimal Matching Techniques in ClustalG, we analyze the job moves of these individuals. Our analysis reveals that the occupational orientation of IT professionals differs depending on whether an individual begins his or her career in IT. Of those who begin their careers in IT, 75% undertake a sequence of jobs primarily within IT. In contrast, of those who begin their careers outside of IT, 80% move into and out of IT. Our findings indicate that IT can be characterized both as an OLM and as a boundaryless profession. Individuals who begin their careers in IT tend toward OLMs, while those who begin their careers in non-IT jobs behave as if IT is a boundaryless profession. Thus, conceptualizing and examining IT careers from only one Academy of Management Proceedings 2001--HR Paper Abstracts: 29 perspective is insufficient. Instead, future research on IT professionals must consider and differentiate between these diverse IT career structures.