Cultural Characteristics of IT Professionals: An Ethnographic Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to present data and analysis from research that focused on the human side of IT. In an effort to determine the potential effects of outsourcing on the shared norms, values, beliefs, and assumptions of IT professionals, a two-part study was conducted using ethnographic research methods. Its first goal was to identify the cultural characteristics of IT professionals as an occupational group. The second goal was to determine how the cultural characteristics might potentially be affected by the phenomenon of outsourcing. The data and analysis that follow pertain to the first part of the study.