Association between different cultural levels and work-related attitudes of information technology professionals

There have been several calls to conduct researches about occupational culture since it is believed as a more important driver of behaviors when compared to organizational and national culture. However, in IS/culture literature, there is a lack of understanding on IT and occupational culture which requires critically thinking and deeply investigating. Related literature also suffers from the studies attempting to integrate different cultural levels into one research model. Thus, the main aim of this thesis is to develop a valid and reliable multicultural model in order to test their effects on IT professionals' job satisfaction. To do so, an exploratory sequential design (qualitative method dominates and shapes the next quantitative level) was followed by utilizing a Constructivist Grounded Theory approach. At the qualitative stage, eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with IT professionals who were experienced more than ten years in the industry. Obtained data were coded and analyzed by QDA Miner software. In the end, ten occupational cultural values were identified namely: adaptation, precision in communication, enjoyment, teamwork, 3U demands of the customers, management support, social image, group consciousness, technical jargon, and uncertainty of task limits. Following this stage, revealed cultural values were turned into measurable dimensions by compiling items derived from literature and interviews at the first phase of the qualitative stage. To transform occupational culture construct into a formative structure, an expert panel and a pilot study were also conducted. Finally, occupational culture was observed based on ten items that were determined as the best representatives for each ITOC value category. National culture was measured by Hofstede's Value Survey and organizational culture was determined by Wallach's Organizational Cultural Index. Finally, the theoretical research model was tested at the second phase of qualitative phase by using PLS-SEM procedure, and the results indicated that organizational and occupational culture had a significant (p=0.00) and positive (0.258 and 0.438, respectively) impacts on job satisfaction whereas national culture did not. Results also indicated that job satisfaction had a significant and positive effect on occupational commitment at the level of 0.05 (p= 0.000). This finding proved the fact that IT employees who are more adapted to their occupational cultural values rather than their organizational culture are inclined to feel more satisfied with their jobs. Thus, it can be simply stated that, among other cultural levels, occupational culture has the most critical role in IT professionals' job satisfaction that also causes higher occupational commitment.