After Bubble Busts : The Generalist-Specialist Tradeoff in IT Career Mobility Post Dotcom
Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review
Author(s)
Related Research Unit(s)
Detail(s)
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | ICIS 2020 Proceedings |
| Publisher | Association for Information Systems (AIS) |
| ISBN (print) | 978-1-7336325-5-3 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2020 |
Publication series
| Name | International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS - Making Digital Inclusive: Blending the Local and the Global |
|---|
Conference
| Title | 41st International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2020) |
|---|---|
| Location | Virtual |
| Place | India |
| City | Hyderabad |
| Period | 13 - 16 December 2020 |
Link(s)
| Document Link | Links
|
|---|---|
| Link to Scopus | https://www.scopus.com/record/display.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85103438528&origin=recordpage |
| Permanent Link | https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/publication(033c20ba-86ec-4af3-826f-3e10c3341005).html |
Abstract
The advancement of information technology (IT) has profoundly changed the labor market in the last few decades. The IT labor market features rapid turnover, rendering IT career mobility a persistent challenge to organizations and a grand concern for IT workers. Past organizational research emphasizes the generalist-specialist tradeoff in career mobility. We examine the generalist-specialist tradeoff with 5 million IT-related job records from an online professional networking site. Using the 2000 dotcom crash as a natural experiment, we construct a matched sample for IT workers in internet and non-internet companies. We find that while individuals in internet companies are at higher risks of unemployment following the bubble bust, generalist employees are more likely hired by non-internet companies for IT and managerial positions. Generalist experience thus buffers market uncertainty and is more resilient than specialization, providing better job security and career prospect after the tech bubble bust.
Research Area(s)
- Dotcom bubble, Generalist-specialist tradeoff, IT career mobility, Market uncertainty
Bibliographic Note
Research Unit(s) information for this publication is provided by the author(s) concerned.
Citation Format(s)
After Bubble Busts: The Generalist-Specialist Tradeoff in IT Career Mobility Post Dotcom. / Lu, Angela; Xu, Yichao; Ge, Chunmian et al.
ICIS 2020 Proceedings. Association for Information Systems (AIS), 2020. 2205 (International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS - Making Digital Inclusive: Blending the Local and the Global).
ICIS 2020 Proceedings. Association for Information Systems (AIS), 2020. 2205 (International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS - Making Digital Inclusive: Blending the Local and the Global).
Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review
