Article

Examining the masculinity and femininity of critical attributes necessary to succeed in IT

Authors:

K. D. Joshi,

Kristine KuhnAuthors Info & Claims

SIGMIS CPR '05: Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on Computer personnel research

Pages 32 - 35

https://doi.org/10.1145/1055973.1055980

Published: 14 April 2005 Publication History

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Abstract

Some research findings show that women are even more likely than men to leave the information technology (IT) field and gender segregation in the types of jobs held within the broad field of IT is marked, with women especially rare in the higher paid job categories. Therefore, this study examines whether the gender segregation and turnover of women in IT, in part, shaped by the perception that the desired characteristics of IT workers that are necessary to be successful in IT occupations fit men more so than women. Research is being conducted at two organizations: a large international consulting firm and a Fortune 500 information technology company, limited to IT employees and stakeholders in the Northwest. This study is being conducted in two phases. The first phase activities involve focus group sessions and interviews at the participating organizations. In the second phase, a web-based company-specific survey will be developed and administered to a large sample of employees and stakeholders in each organization.

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Cited By

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Trauth ECain CJoshi KKvasny LBooth KAdya MHorton RHuang HQuesenberry J(2012)Embracing intersectionality in gender and IT career choice researchProceedings of the 50th annual conference on Computers and People Research10.1145/2214091.2214141(199-212)Online publication date: 31-May-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2214091.2214141
Gallivan MAdya MHorton RHuang HQuesenberry J(2012)Analyzing citation impact of IS research by women and menProceedings of the 50th annual conference on Computers and People Research10.1145/2214091.2214137(175-184)Online publication date: 31-May-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2214091.2214137
Hamade R(2009)Profiling the Desirable CAD Trainee: Technical Background, Personality Attributes, and Learning PreferencesJournal of Mechanical Design10.1115/1.4000455131:12(121009)Online publication date: 2009
https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4000455

Index Terms

Examining the masculinity and femininity of critical attributes necessary to succeed in IT
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing profession
      1. Computing occupations

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Reviews

Reviewer: Alexis Leon

Many studies have classified personality traits and cognitive attributes as masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral. It has also been found that, in the male-dominated occupations, successful professionals attribute their success and satisfaction to masculine traits. This paper claims to examine whether gender segregation and the high turnover of women in information technology (IT) are due to the perception that the characteristics needed to be successful in the IT field are found more in men than in women. The authors determine the personality traits and cognitive attributes required for IT professionals in different job segments, and assess the gendered nature of these traits, and their associated effects on individual attitudes. This paper only presents the preliminary results of the first phase of the study. These results indicate that top IT professionals, who are successful and satisfied, have more masculine traits than feminine and gender-neutral traits. The study also saw the emergence of traits whose gender dimensions could not be established by existing classification schemes. The main contribution of this paper is the identification and classification of traits and attributes for IT professionals. However, the study neither answers questions, like the reasons for the high turnover of women in IT, and fewer women in top IT positions, nor correlates the gendered nature of traits and its effect on IT professionals. This study is a good starting point, but needs more work to be of practical value. For people responsible for the recruitment, training, and development of IT professionals (human resources, training, management, and so on), this paper will be interesting. Online Computing Reviews Service

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Information

Published In

SIGMIS CPR '05: Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on Computer personnel research

April 2005

166 pages

ISBN:1595930116

DOI:10.1145/1055973

General Chair:
Mike Gallivan
Georgia State University, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Jo Ellen Moore
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, USA
,
Susan E. Yager
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, USA

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 14 April 2005

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SIGMIS-CPR05

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SIGMIS-CPR05: ACM SIGCPR/SIGMIS 2005 Computer Personnel Research Conference

April 14 - 16, 2005

Georgia, Atlanta, USA

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Cited By

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Trauth ECain CJoshi KKvasny LBooth KAdya MHorton RHuang HQuesenberry J(2012)Embracing intersectionality in gender and IT career choice researchProceedings of the 50th annual conference on Computers and People Research10.1145/2214091.2214141(199-212)Online publication date: 31-May-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2214091.2214141
Gallivan MAdya MHorton RHuang HQuesenberry J(2012)Analyzing citation impact of IS research by women and menProceedings of the 50th annual conference on Computers and People Research10.1145/2214091.2214137(175-184)Online publication date: 31-May-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2214091.2214137
Hamade R(2009)Profiling the Desirable CAD Trainee: Technical Background, Personality Attributes, and Learning PreferencesJournal of Mechanical Design10.1115/1.4000455131:12(121009)Online publication date: 2009
https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4000455

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Recommendations

Examining IT professionals' adaptation to technological change: the influence of gender and personal attributes

IT Professionals' Turnaway Intention and the Role of Technostress

Cross-cultural influences on women in the IT workforce

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